The ACT public school system should move towards consistent, evidence-based teaching of literacy and numeracy, a landmark report has recommended.
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Schools should prioritise explicit teaching and should be given more guidance from the Education Directorate on how to teach a knowledge-rich curriculum, an expert panel recommended.
Year 1 students should do a phonics and numeracy check and all students should do consistent assessments that go into a central data system.
The report marks a significant departure from the current approach in the ACT where schools have autonomy over how core skills are taught and place an emphasis on student-led, inquiry learning.
Chair of the expert panel, Professor Barney Dalgarno, said a focus on explicit teaching meant setting clear goals and ensuring students were engaged in their learning.
"We don't think there's a one-size-fits-all [approach]," Professor Dalgarno said.
"Really, the mix of the different teaching approaches that a teacher will use will depend on the topic area that they're teaching, the year level and the particular needs of the children."
Education Minister Yvette Berry was quick to accept the report's eight recommendations in principle.
"I've heard there is a broad desire across the ACT community for a more consistent system-wide approach to teaching and learning in ACT public school," Ms Berry said.
"Teachers and school leaders have told us they want more centralised curriculum support and consistent assessment tools that provide real-time feedback, so they can use their professional judgement on what really matters - delivering high-quality teaching."
The report recommends the ACT school system have a culture of high expectations that prioritises learning and that a multi-tiered system of support be put in place at every public school to meet every students' needs.
Schools should implement an ambitious, knowledge-rich curriculum backed by appropriate resources and teacher training in order to lift learning outcomes, the report says.
A panel of experts were tasked with reviewing evidence on what makes high-performing schools and systems effective as well as specific practices for teaching literacy and numeracy.
It came after NAPLAN data showed a growing gap between students from advantaged backgrounds and their less-advantaged peers.
The expert report confirms previous research that shows that when the socio-economic status has been factored in, the ACT is underperforming in literacy and numeracy compared to similar students across the nation.
Literacy and numeracy overhaul
The report recommends schools stop using a multi-cueing technique for teaching children how to read.
This method encourages beginning readers to look for clues around the page, including pictures and context of the sentence, to try to figure out what an unfamiliar word says.
Explicit teaching of phonological awareness and phonics are recommended in primary school with decodable readers preferred over predictable readers to teach students how to sound out words.
"It's certainly clear that some of the historic approaches to the teaching of reading were multi-cueing," Professor Dalgarno said.
"The evidence suggests that at a stage when children haven't yet mastered decoding, that they shouldn't be using those techniques, and that they should be focusing on decoding and blending."
The report recommends running records should be discontinued as an assessment method for learning progress in literacy, however it could be use to complement other rigorous and reliable testing.
Primary school teachers should focus on foundational numeracy concepts, using concrete resources to demonstrate abstract ideas.
Secondary maths teachers should ensure numeracy is taught in a systematic and sequential way across the school with regular assessments.
The panel proposes a four-year implementation process, starting with achieving consistency in the early years and primary school and gradually moving on to high schools and colleges.
Professor Dalgarno said the first step would be creating sample scope and sequences and samples of units of work to guide teachers' practice.
Teachers will need to be progressively trained on the new, consistent approach to literacy and numeracy.
The panel visited 52 schools, met with educators, parents and education experts and received 96 submissions and 295 survey responses over the course of the inquiry.
The panel's final report made eight recommendations on how the public school system can improve and 14 findings from the evidence.