Some Comply While Some Defy: Elementary Teachers' Responses to Leadership Mandates on Reading Comprehension Instruction

There are many different ways that the literacy block is structured and used across Australian elementary schools, and participants indicated an overall sense that they perceive that their literacy block is effective for students. There is, however, evidence of tension between teachers and decision makers when the teachers' pedagogical position does not align with the locally prescribed instructional approach. In these cases, teachers report choosing to either defy or comply with the mandated approach. Although formal decisions about how this block is to be used are made by school leaders, teachers make individual decisions about the degree to which they comply with those. Departures from these mandates, regardless of their rationales, have significant implications for data monitoring and interpretation at the school level.