Generating data, generating knowledge: professional development in the Strathclyde literacy clinic

This chapter describes how student teachers working in the Strathclyde Literacy Clinic “translate an experience of the landscape, both its practices and boundaries, into a meaningful moment of service (Wenger-Treyner et al 2015, p. 25). The Literacy Clinic is a collaborative learning project for student teachers undertaking the four-year BA in Education and Teaching at Strathclyde University. The project is designed to build student teachers’ fluency in real-time teaching responses in ways that provide a strong emotional and social dimension to their learning. They do not follow an externally-derived programme of work, but use an innovative assessment tool to collect data about the child’s cultural and social capital, identity as a reader, writer and learner, and cognitive knowledge and skills. Each team uses this to make decisions about the learning mix the child needs. The chapter details how the experience shapes their values, identity, understanding and practices as literacy teachers.