ABSTRACT
The main aim of the project was to explore the factors underpinning the teaching practices of effective teachers of literacy, and in subsequent chapters we will discuss the features of knowledge and beliefs that characterised the effective teachers we studied. First, though, we will outline our ®ndings concerning the literacy-teaching practices that these effective teachers said they used and those that we actually observed them using. In doing this we will show how their knowledge and beliefs were operationalised into classroom practice. It should be remembered that most of the teachers we will describe in this chapter were individuals who could demonstrate high learning gains in literacy for children in their classes.
