Knowledge and practice standards for pre-service language and literacy teachers: Looking back, looking forward

Abstract

Background: In 2016, the South African Department of Higher Education and Training initiated a project to develop standards to guide English and Mathematics teacher educators in curriculum design and implementation. Objectives: The investigation aimed to identify key affordances and limitations of the Primary Teacher Education (PrimTEd) knowledge and practice standards for the teaching of English, and to identify directions for their refinement and take-up. The article traces the conceptual foundations of the draft standards, examines their alignment with current language and literacies education scholarship, with South African directions in language education, and with conceptions of teacher knowledge. It also explores how the standards are being interpreted in teacher educator practice. Method: Using the frame of reflection-on-action, reflection-in-action, and reflection-for-action, the study makes use of documentary sources and vignettes to provide a literature and practice-informed account of the standards. It draws on archival material, recent scholarship in the field of language and literacies teaching and learning, South African education policy documents, and accounts of language teacher educators’ engagement with the standards. Results: While the draft standards reflect widely accepted content and pedagogic knowledge required of language and literacies teacher educators and classroom teachers, the role of learners’ full linguistic repertoires in learning could be more central to the standards, as could the increasing importance of digital literacy. Furthermore, the standards need to be more accessible to the community of teacher educators. Conclusion: The standards provide a valuable benchmark against which teacher educators of English can reflect on their own practice and develop their curricula. Some revisiting of the standards is needed to foreground emerging directions in research and practice. Contribution: Greater clarity, accessibility, and official endorsement of the standards are recommended to strengthen implementation and enhance teacher education in language and literacies.