Dialogic theories, literacy practices and initial teacher education

Abstract

Initial Teacher Education has been informed by diverse perspectives in recent years; while the debates around what constitutes teacher quality and adequate preparedness focus on the structure and focus of programs, entry and exit requirements, the current era presents new challenges to which teachers must respond such as an increased call for cultural responsiveness. In this context, the way that literacy itself is conceptualised within teacher education requires expansion. We argue in this paper that literacy plays a key role in the ontological and epistemological development of quality teachers, beyond the way it is currently conceived as either a hurdle requirement for the successful completion of an ITE program (Barnes & Cross Teachers and Teaching, 26(3-4), 307-325, 2020) or as a set of skills to support students to develop content knowledge across the disciplines (Scott et al. Teaching and Teacher Education, 73, 1-13, 2018). We contend that literacy is central to teacher’s professional becoming (Matusov et al., 2019) and explore how a dialogic approach to teaching can support pre-service teachers’ professional meaning making. The paper proposes a dialogic framework to embrace different levels of dialogue not merely as a means of ‘doing’ in the classroom, but as central in the process of knowing, being and becoming a professional teacher.