'At a school like this': implementing policy in a kindergarten reading program

This paper examines influences in a teacher's working context on policy implementation in a Kindergarten reading program. This exploration is based on a year's observations, interviews and artefact collection in the teacher's classroom; and is framed by Bernstein's notion of the pedagogic device (2000). Positioned between policy and the history of her own beliefs and practices, this paper describes the operational space that Sandra carved out. In this space, a number of messages converged which mediated the teacher's policy implementation. These mediating messages are described in terms of teaching philosophy; children's needs, predispositions and resources; parents' expectations; collegial interactions; and organisational priorities, norms and provisions. In light of this study, policy implementation in the class reading program is seen to be anything but clear-cut; and recent unilateral approaches to literacy policy reform and their underlying assumptions are brought into question.

International Research in Early Childhood Education, vol. 1, no. 1, p. 50-59