Standards Description

1.2 Teachers know their subject

Accomplished English/Literacy teachers have a broad, deep and critical knowledge and understanding of the academic discipline (or fields of knowledge) from which their subject and curriculum area are derived, including specialist knowledge relevant to the age ranges they teach. They know the history of their subject and understand the nature of and reasons for curriculum change. They have a comprehensive knowledge of current and relevant curriculum documents and courses of study. They are informed about contemporary issues and debates regarding language, literacy and literature and possess a critical understanding of recent theory and practice relevant to their field, including language acquisition, literacy learning and development, reader response and literary theory. They demonstrate high standards of performance in their own literacy practices and have a firm grasp of the application of new technologies in their field. They have a wide knowledge of different texts and types of texts, classic and contemporary literature (including poetry, fiction and drama), everyday texts, visual, media and electronic texts.