Foundation phase BEd teacher education : bridging the theory-practice divide in reading literacy teacher preparation through work-integrated learning

Abstract

The gap between theory and practice experienced within teacher preparation programmes is a persistent issue worldwide. This divide is also entrenched in the lack of an evidence-based knowledge base for content knowledge within reading literacy teacher preparation programmes. National and international literature has indicated that to bridge this divide, institutions responsible for initial teacher preparation will have to redesign their programmes so that they produce expert practitioners who know how to use the knowledge of the profession to advance learners learning. This can only be achieved if teacher preparation programmes incorporate clinical practice into their programmes. Teacher preparation programmes incorporate WIL to integrate theory and practice but in order to do this successfully, WIL needs to be fully grounded in practice and interwoven with academic content and professional development in order to achieve this. This study drew on the theory and practice divide in order to address the lack of the knowledge base to teach reading literacy. Shulman’s theoretical framework for teachers content knowledge was used to form the knowledge base for reading literacy teacher preparation programmes. Additionally, WIL was analysed to determine what constitutes an aligned WIL programme within reading literacy teacher education as well as to determine how WIL should be incorporated into foundation phase teacher preparation programmes. The findings of this study suggest that establishing collaborative partnerships among the key stakeholders for WIL is imperative to integrate theory and practice. A roadmap for WIL was devised which acted as a catalyst to address the changes needed for WIL so that students can optimally benefit from WIL in reading literacy teacher education.