Navigating Accountability in Writing Teacher Preparation: Teacher Educators’ Response to Restrictive Literacy Policy

• In Event: Unforgetting Professional Ethics: Educators Resisting Policy Mandates Misaligned with Justice

Abstract

Teacher educators (TEs) are held accountable to accreditation requirements while balancing their commitments to develop preservice teachers (PSTs) equity-minded perspectives. Prompted by recent shifts in literacy policy, this paper explores the impacts of legislative mandates on literacy education, particularly focusing on the transition from balanced literacy to approaches informed by the Science of Reading (SOR). Using sensemaking theory and critical literacy as frameworks, the author explores how TEs perceive their role in policy implementation and how these policies influence their decisions around course design. Findings highlight how reading policy restricts how writing is taught in teacher education, the impact policies have on educators, and the importance of pedagogical agency.

Author

• Kristen Driscoll, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign