Teaching children to read is core business for schools. It might seem like an obvious statement to make but the reality is many schools are relying on teaching methods not in keeping with the current scientific evidence.
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Year after year, the territory's NAPLAN results show students are underachieving in literacy. Compared to the national average, the results look good. But if you compare the results to students of a similar background, Canberra's schoolkids are not where they should be.
Within the ACT there are large achievement gaps between students whose parents went to university and those whose parents finished year 12.
If you look at a year 3 student with parents who did not do higher education, the 2022 NAPLAN reading results showed they were one year and seven months behind their peers with university-educated parents.
By the time they are in year 9, the achievement gap in reading grows to three years and 11 months.
In the ACT, 18.9 per cent of year 9 students are achieving at or below the national minimal standard for reading. That's almost one in five students who cannot read or can only read at a basic level.
How is that setting them up for a successful life? How will they be able to navigate the twists and turns of a career?
A new group called the ACT Alliance for Evidence-Based Education has been meeting with parents, teachers, school administrators and politicians in recent months. They've called for all ACT schools to adopt teaching methods in line with the science of reading and the science of learning.
We shouldn't blame teachers for the achievement gaps in reading. Most universities present teaching students with a variety of methods to teach reading.
The problem is some methods are more successful than others.
The newest version of the Australian curriculum has taken out references to "balanced literacy" and "three cuing" in the early primary years.
These ideas are based on the concept children should be encouraged to read for meaning rather than sounding out the letters and blends to make words.
About 80 per cent of children will pick up reading this way, but 20 per cent will struggle.
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The new curriculum has instead placed a focus on phonics. It does mean schools have to invest in a different type of books called decodable readers.
The ACT government should invest in these readers and professional development for teachers in the next territory budget if it is serious about lifting reading achievement.
The future of our children depends on it.
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