Perceptions of infant education teachers towards the process of teaching reading and writing: an approach to the classroom practices

Abstract

Despite the multiple changes that society is experiencing, the educational methodologies applied in schools seem to undergo very few modifications. There seems to be a certain degree of adherence in the classroom to the guidelines set out in the curriculum and adaptation to the individual characteristics of the students is minimal, maintaining repetitive patterns from the educational tradition in the teaching practice. Based on this idea and linking it to the teaching of reading and writing at an early age, this research was conducted with the main objective of examining the attitudes of Early Childhood Education teachers in the city of Badajoz towards the teaching of reading and writing, the methodologies they use, and the possibility of incorporating innovative and alternative pedagogies into their teaching processes. A structured questionnaire was designed, which was answered by a total of 93 teachers. The results show a greater tendency towards initiation in pre-literacy skills rather than complete instruction. The results also show that mixed methodologies are the most used and the learning outcomes derived from their use are insufficiently adapted to all students. Moreover, the majority report being unfamiliar with alternative methodologies and consider it necessary to extend their training, as the current methods are limited and repetitive.