Greek Preschool Teachers’ Professional Features and Their Knowledge and Views of the Official Standards of Early Writing Teaching

Abstract

Background/purpose – The purpose of this study was to explore three null hypotheses regarding the association between Greek preschool teachers’ professional features with their knowledge and views of the official standards of early writing teaching which emphasize real communicative purposes. Materials/methods – 494 teachers participated in an Internet-based survey and their answers to a 21-item digital questionnaire were analyzed through descriptive (calculation of frequencies) and inferential statistics (chi-squared tests). Results – Two of the three null hypotheses cannot be supported and two statistically significant associations emerged: (a) teachers’ education level was associated with a comprehensive knowledge and use of the official standards, and (b) teachers with lower level academic qualifications and teaching experience of more than 10 years seem to reproduce a “phonics” approach. Conclusion – It is argued that the introduction of curricula per se cannot alter teachers’ implementation of the phonics method, which is contrary to the official curriculum standards. It is suggested that redesigning writing practices to make them more compatible with the official standards should be a long-term and reciprocal project among teachers and policymakers.

Keywords

• early writing
• emergent literacy
• phonics method