Document Type

Journal Article

Publication Title

Australian Journal of Education

Publisher

Sage

School

School of Education

RAS ID

47168

Funders

Victorian Department of Education and Training

Comments

Serry, T., Snow, P., Hammond, L., McLean, E., & McCormack, J. (2022). Educators’ perspectives about teaching and supporting students with learning difficulties in reading. Australian Journal of Education, 66(3), 292-313.

https://doi.org/10.1177/00049441221130551

Abstract

We explored the perspectives of school-based educators located in Victoria, Australia, regarding their support of students who have reading difficulties. An anonymous survey was completed by 523 participants, including educators, educational leaders and Student Support Services staff. Results revealed multiple areas of concern related to their capacity to work on reading intervention with these students. Although participants reported that students with reading difficulties were present in most classes, confidence to work effectively with these students was mixed. They described feeling poorly prepared by preservice programs and indicated that insufficient time and mentorship prevented them from serving these students optimally. As a group, they privileged many approaches that align with best practice for struggling readers, such as explicit instruction, but perceived that such practices are not always feasible to implement. Support was also strong for practices considered non-evidence-based, such as adhering to students’ preferred ‘learning-style’. Recommendations for school-based practice, with a specific focus on students with reading dif- ficulties, are made.

DOI

10.1177/00049441221130551

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 License

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