Initial teacher training in initial literacy. Nicaragua

This research focuses on identifying the strengths and weaknesses in the initial teacher training curriculum for primary school teachers, according to the scientific evidence on what a teacher who will teach reading and writing in Nicaragua should know and be able to do.

The study set out to answer how closely the initial teacher training curriculum was aligned with the latest evidence on how children learn to read and what teachers need to know and be able to do to successfully teach reading. It was also important to identify the strengths and weaknesses in the initial teacher training curriculum with regard to the most recent evidence, and look at how the prescribed curriculum differed from the curriculum actually applied in the classroom when teaching initial literacy to trainee teachers.

The findings indicate that the mapped initial training curriculum is not fully aligned with the evidence on what a teacher who will be teaching reading and writing should know and be able to do. This is due to a lack of focus on the neuroscience of initial literacy; the impact of context on initial literacy learning; bilingualism; the concept of printed text; the alphabetic principle; and reading fluency. Among the main weaknesses are the absence of an initial literacy teaching approach. A traditional linguistic approach dominates, which contradicts the curriculum’s general prescription of constructivism. On the other hand, the curriculum emphasizes graphomotor development when it comes to teaching initial literacy, thereby reducing the process to prioritizing decoding over comprehension and the development of oral expression.