Pedagogy as Work: Educating the Next Generation of Literacy Teachers

What do new teachers need to know about literacy and how to teach it? Given the changing demographics of the teaching and teacher education workforce, the chang-ing populations of young people, and the changing nature of literacy, what counts as essential pedagogical knowledge is increasingly open to question. In the midst of such complexity, many governments are taking a stronger position on normative standards for literacy and teacher training. Publishers have moved in to play key roles in the professional development of teachers on authorised approaches. The insider knowledge of generations of teachers is now under threat as large percentages of the teaching population head for retirement. In this article I argue that we need to radi-cally rethink teacher education. Taking the case of literacy, I demonstrate the kinds of pressures and doubts experienced by many teachers about their knowledge and prac-tice. I offer some recommendations for educating the next generation of literacy teachers, which are informed by historical, political, demographic, and futures analy-ses of the contemporary scene. Human resource staff in departments of education speak in whispers about statis-tics of the percentage of teachers over 50 years old and their predictions of retire-ments over the next decade. At the same time, the worrying statistics of teachers leaving the profession within the first 5 years of teaching remain under wraps, with estimates varying from 25 % to 40 % (see Johnson and The Project on the next Gen-eration of Teachers, 2004). Australian English-speaking teaching graduates can earn attractive salaries by working in schools in the United Kingdom and interna-tional schools worldwide and teaching English to adults in countries such as Japan and Taiwan. Whereas teaching was once seen as a job for life, the new mobility of