ACT Education Minister Yvette Berry says teachers should use balanced approach for reading

Ms Berry said she had seen but not read in detail a report by Equity Economics which was critical of the way schools in the territory approached reading instruction.

"What I've been hearing from the Education Directorate and from the University of Canberra is that we continuously need to consider up-to-date methods of teaching and delivery of literacy and numeracy education," Ms Berry said.

"We work really closely with the University of Canberra around that and also listening to our teaching professionals and respecting and acknowledging their professional judgement on how delivery of literacy and numeracy education in particular occurs."

The Equity Economics report released on Monday recommended the ACT government urgently act to catch up students who were "instructional casualties".

The report cited the 2018 Program for International Student Assessment result which showed one-in-three 15-year-olds in Canberra was below the Australian-proficient standard in reading. In addition, almost one-in-five ACT year 9 students is reading at a year 6 level, NAPLAN data showed.

The report said the ACT government should invest in a high-quality, low-variance curriculum, monitor progress through a year 1 phonics check, create systematic interventions for struggling readers, and provide training and coaching for principals and teachers to change the way children are taught to read to align with evidence-based methods.

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When asked if schools should adopt an approach to literacy instruction based on the science of reading, Ms Berry said teachers should have a balanced approach based on the 10 essential literacy practices based on the work of Professor Nell Duke.

"I think there are sciences to reading and there's a number of approaches that need to be taken with delivering literacy and numeracy education within our schools," she said.

"There's no kind of one-size-fits-all approach. Every child has a different way of learning and that's where our teachers really excel in being able to understand what is best for each individual child."

Ms Berry said the Education Directorate was still reviewing the details of the report.

"It's not to say we can't do better," Ms Berry said.

"We always want to be achieving and doing the best for our young people so making sure we support teachers to be the best they possibly can be with up-to-date teaching and learning methods. Which is why they have 20 hours of professional learning each year."

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