Navigating a Rapidly Changing Landscape for Teaching Literacy: A Mixed-Methods Study of Kindergarten Educators' Self-Efficacy Beliefs

Abstract

In response to a rapidly changing context for teaching literacy, including the impact of recommendations in the Ontario Human Rights Commission’s 2022 Right to Read report calling for changes to beginning reading instruction in schools, this study investigated the role, experiences, and beliefs of n=48 kindergarten educators. Given the inquiry- and play-based learning framework currently in place in Ontario kindergarten classrooms, many educators face uncertainty and are frustrated by the lack of clarity in the messaging they have received about how to integrate explicit and systematic reading instruction into their programs and the pressure they feel due to the rapid change from responsive literacy instruction to more direct instructional approaches with limited support. The study documented the experiences of educator participants and supported them in enhancing instructional approaches for teaching foundational literacy skills, investigating ways to be both explicit and responsive with students as they learn to read. The study sought to identify (a) the self-efficacy beliefs of kindergarten educators related to foundational reading skills instruction in the current context of education in Ontario, and (b) how professional learning focused on enhancing the instructional repertoire for teaching foundational reading skills influences the self-efficacy beliefs and instructional approaches of kindergarten educators in inquiry- and play-based programs. This design-based mixed-method study used an online survey to identify the current self-efficacy beliefs for teaching reading and the professional learning needs of a sample of 48 kindergarten educators, who consisted of Ontario certified teachers (OCT) and registered early childhood educators (RECE). The project’s second phase documented the experience of a subsample of seven OCTs and three RECEs who each participated in two interviews and a series of professional conversations focused on instructional practices for beginning reading instruction. The study found that kindergarten educators, no matter their role, had only moderate self-efficacy for teaching literacy. Educators who participated in the professional conversations reported that this experience had increased their self-efficacy. Providing collaborative and job-embedded professional learning, including three suggested frameworks for effective professional learning, has the potential to build educator self-efficacy and potentially improve literacyinstruction among educators.