Jen Cross | We must confront the myths surrounding education in the ACT

We must confront these to have a sensible conversation about what needs to change to ensure all our children exercise their right to read.

The annual update to the Productivity Commission's performance dashboard shows the number of ACT students in the bottom two bands for NAPLAN in reading has increased across all age groups between 2018 and 2022.

This comes after reports from the ACT Auditor-General, Australian National University, Victoria University, Grattan Institute and Equity Economics, which all conclude that ACT schools underperform.

Catholic schools in the ACT have lifted the performance of their students and there is now a widening gap between students in Catholic and government schools. There is no difference between Catholic and government schools in the potential of their students, nor the capacity of staff. But there is a difference in the system-wide investment made by Catholic schools in evidence-based curriculum resources aligned with the science of reading, professional development for school leaders and teachers, screening tools to identify struggling readers and intervention to help these students catch up to their peers.

30 per cent of 15-year-olds in the ACT are failing to meet reading proficiency benchmarks in international testing.

Is it just children with dyslexia who are not good readers? No. According to Auspeld, it is estimated only 3 to 5 per cent of children have a specific learning disorder, including those with impairment in reading (dyslexia).

An additional 15 to 20 per cent have learning difficulties for various reasons, including the use of ineffective instruction and inadequate curricula. These children are known as "instructional casualties", students who could and should have learnt to read but didn't because they were not exposed to evidence-based classroom reading instruction.

There is another prevalent but misguided belief that it is just disadvantaged students in Canberra who are struggling. According to a recent Equity Economics report, the ACT has one of the most inequitable education systems in Australia. But that does not mean it is only disadvantaged students in the ACT who are failing to meet reading proficiency benchmarks, they are just over-represented in this group.

The hallmark of a healthy education system is one in which children perform well, regardless of their background. Implying that it is just disadvantaged children who are not achieving is an indicator of a system that has fallen prey to the soft bigotry of low expectations.

It has been well-documented that teachers feel underprepared by their university training for the practical aspects of teaching reading. This includes the recently released report of the Teacher Education Expert Panel which was established by the Australian government to ensure graduating teachers are better prepared for the classroom.

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Yet again, this review has found initial teacher education is not doing enough to cover the teaching of literacy. Universities will have until 2025 to incorporate this content into their courses, but it is unlikely universities will take this seriously unless local schools adopt curriculum and pedagogy which is informed by the science of reading.

Curriculum doesn't teach students, teachers do. There is always autonomy in the way in which teachers deliver a lesson and regardless of whether teachers are supported by high-quality materials or not, it always comes down to teacher judgement.

However, a high-quality, low-variance curriculum does reduce the workload for teachers while simultaneously providing all students with the skills they need to succeed at reading.

Last week, our Alliance put a question to the ACT Chief Minister on talkback radio about why the ACT government has not provided funding to support schools to improve literacy skills for children. He responded in part by saying he was wary of top-down approaches because "[all] students learn differently". In fact, the research suggests that, with consistent use of effective, evidence-based instruction for the entire class, a team-based, problem-solving approach to selecting evidence-based intervention and implementing this with fidelity for those students who require additional support, 95 per cent of students could meet academic benchmarks.

In the absence of this evidence-based approach, only 75 per cent of children will learn to read.

It's time to stop the doublespeak and go to the science so that we can ensure all children in the ACT can access their right to read.