On-going professional teacher development programme on reading in the foundation phase : towards an intervention strategy

Abstract

Ongoing professional teacher development programmes have been found to be the most important strategy to empower the in-service teachers in the public and private i schools in South Africa. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of on-going professional teacher development programmes on reading in the Foundation Phase, and to design an intervention strategy on reading on the teaching of reading in the Foundation Phase. The study followed a qualitative research approach, where, a case study design was adopted. For the purpose of this study, eight Foundation Phase teachers were purposively selected to take part and two Curriculum Advisers from curriculum section in the Department of Education, Limpopo Province. Data was collected through the use of semi-structured interviews, observations and document analysis. Data was analysed through a thematic content analysis strategy, where five findings emerged. Foundation Phase teachers showed a clear understanding of a series of on-going professional development programmes on reading which were cries-crossing throughout the entire Province; Foundation Phase teachers were not satisfied with the amount of time allocated for the ongoing professional development programmes on reading; In addition, the teachers expressed their feeling on the content that was covered by this development programmes, and lastly, the availability of resources has been found have serious challenges for the programmes. The findings revealed the following implications, (a) The ongoing professional teacher development programmes on reading conducted are insufficient, as foundation phase teachers cannot find a leeway to remedy the problem. (b) The model of equipping foundation phase teachers with the relevant skills and knowledge required for the teaching of reading was not sufficient, therefore, new strategies need to be developed to empower the foundation phase teachers in a better way. Keywords: Reading, ongoing professional development, foundation phase, assessment, Literacy