Raising the grade: How schools in the Australian Capital Territory can lift literacy outcomes for students and the economy
Summary
A new report by Equity Economics has found that children in ACT classrooms are not being taught to read in a way that aligns with the science and research on literacy instruction.
Investing $11 million in 2023-24 in an evidence-based literacy reform package will lead to students in the ACT earning an additional $198 million over their lifetimes – about 18 times the cost of the package. Canberra’s economy demands a more educated workforce, and reading proficiency is the key.
Findings
If we want to ensure that children are exposed to high quality literacy instruction, the ACT Government needs to invest in five key areas.
Firstly, all primary schools in Canberra need to invest in adopting the latest version of the Australian Curriculum. The Curriculum was changed last year and requires schools to stop teaching children who are learning to read to guess words and instead teach them to sound out words. This is not a simple change, it requires an investment in new classroom materials and in the decodable books beginner readers use.
Secondly, principals need training and support to lead the cultural change required within schools to move from long held teaching practices and beliefs. Teachers need professional development and coaching in high-quality, research backed explicit, systematic, and sequential reading instruction.
Thirdly, the ACT needs to implement the Year 1 Phonics Check to identify students who require additional support in learning early and before they fall behind. The ACT is one of the last three jurisdictions in Australia to announce support for the Year 1 Phonics check and this means it is a lottery about whether children who are struggling to learn to read get identified early enough to provide effective intervention. Other age-normed screening tools should be used to identify children in other years who are struggling.
Fourthly, small group tutoring and one-on-one support needs to be provided to students who are falling behind so that they can catch up with their classmates.
Finally, universities need to train pre-service teachers in the skills required for reading. At the moment pre-service teachers are being exposed to a range of reading strategies, some are informed by science and others are informed by ideology.
Read the full report
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