The teaching practices of effective teachers of literacy

The nature of effective teaching has been widely explored in the past, using a number of methodologies. There have, however, been few studies which have specifically attempted to apply the insights from effectiveness research to an understanding of the nature of effective teaching of literacy. This article reports some of the results of research, commissioned by the Teacher Training Agency, into the characteristics of teachers who could be shown to be effective in teaching literacy to primary pupils. The findings are based on a close study of a sample of teachers whose pupils make effective learning gains in literacy and of a sample of teachers who were less effective in literacy teaching.