Greek Preschool Teachers' Professional Features and Their Knowledge and Views of the Official Standards of Early Writing Teaching

Background/purpose: The purpose of this study was to explore three null hypotheses regarding the association between Greek preschool teachers' professional features with their knowledge and views of the official standards of early writing teaching which emphasize on real communicative purposes. Materials/methods: 494 teachers participated in an internet-based survey and their answers of a 21-item digital questionnaire were analyzed through descriptive (calculation of frequencies) and inferential statistics (chi-squared tests). Results: Two of the three null hypotheses cannot be supported and two statistically significant associations were emerged: (a) teachers' high academic qualification is associated with a comprehensive knowledge and use of the official standards and (b) teachers with low qualifications and with a teaching experience of more than 10 years seem to reproduce a "phonics" approach. Conclusion: It is argued that the introduction of curricula per se cannot alter teachers' implementation of the phonics method which is contrary to the official curriculum standards and it is suggested that redesigning writing practices to make them more compatible with these standards should be a long-term and reciprocal project among teachers and policy makers.