Initial teacher training in initial literacy. Guatemala

This research explored how initial literacy is taught to trainee teachers at the Universidad del Valle de Guatemala. The research is part of a regional study developed by the Red para la Lectoescritura Inicial de Centroamérica y el Caribe [Network for Initial Literacy in Central America and the Caribbean – RedLEI] in Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua.

In Guatemala there is a lack of detailed evidence around best practices for training, teaching and learning initial literacy. This study aims to establish an initial baseline, with a relatively small sample, which could nevertheless contribute to the design of public policies in the area of initial teacher training.

One research objective was to answer three questions: how does the initial teacher training curriculum align with the most recent evidence on successful literacy learning and teaching? What are the strengths and weaknesses of the region's initial teacher training curriculum in terms of initial literacy, with respect to current evidence on teaching literacy? Finally, how does the prescribed initial teacher training curriculum differ from the curriculum that is actually applied to teach initial literacy to trainee teachers?

Based on the results, the following recommendations were made: (1) review the curriculum within the current programme and restructure it based on national and international evidence around teaching and learning initial literacy; (2) define the basic content for each course, so that the teacher trainer does not have the academic freedom to design the content, simply to implement it how they choose in the classroom; (3) offer ongoing training on the topics that each teacher trainer must teach;(4) improve systems to monitor and evaluate teacher trainers’ performance to ensure quality; and (5) redesign the provision of spaces for trainee teachers to practise, both inside and outside of the university classroom, thus ensuring they meet graduation criteria and are therefore competent to teach initial literacy.