Teaching Reading, National Inquiry into the Teaching of Literacy

Teaching Reading, National Inquiry into the Teaching of Literacy has been reviewed in the following: • Department of Education, Science and Training, Australia • The Australian Journal of Learning Disabilities. • The International Journal of Progressive Education. • Centre for Education Statistics and Evaluation, NSW Department of Education • Department of Education, University of Tasmania, Australia • The academy for the science of instruction • Academia • APM Reports, At a Loss for Words • World Economic Forum ==Conclusions==

The inquiry reached the following conclusions: • "The evidence is clear", from research and good practice, that "direct systematic instruction in phonics during the early years of schooling is an essential foundation for teaching children to read". • All students learn best when teachers adopt an integrated approach to reading that "explicitly teaches phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary knowledge, and comprehension". • A whole-language approach to the teaching of reading "on its own is not in the best interests of children, particularly those experiencing reading difficulties". • "Where there is unsystematic or no phonics instruction, children’s literacy progress is significantly impeded". ==Recommendations==

The report has the following 20 recommendations: 1) Teachers use teaching strategies that are based on rigorous, evidence-based research that are effective in enhancing the literacy development of all children. 2) Teachers provide systematic, direct, and explicit phonics instruction so that children master the essential alphabetic code-breaking skills for proficient reading. In addition, teachers should support the development of oral language, vocabulary, grammar, reading fluency, comprehension, and the literacies of new technologies. 3) Literacy teaching should be taught from kindergarten to grade 12, in all areas of the curriculum, to meet the needs of children from diverse backgrounds and locations. 4) Parents and carers receive programs, guides, and workshops to provide support for their children's literacy development. 5) School leaders put in place an explicit, whole-school literacy planning, monitoring, and reviewing process. 6) All schools identify a highly trained specialist literacy teacher to be responsible for supporting school staff. 7) Higher education providers offer specialist postgraduate studies in literacy (especially in teaching reading). 8) Teaching Australia, in consultation with others, develops and implements national standards for literacy, teaching, and initial teacher registration. 9) Every child receives comprehensive, diagnostic, and developmentally appropriate assessments. 10) A confidential mechanism should be established to monitor children's progress throughout schooling. 11) The key objective of primary teacher education courses is to prepare student teachers to teach reading, using evidence-based findings on how to teach phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary knowledge, and text comprehension, and child and adolescent development. 12) Secondary teachers are trained to continue the literacy development of their students in all areas of the curriculum. 13) Pre-service teachers are prepared to teach literacy, and especially reading, to diverse groups of children. 14) The Committee recommends that teacher graduates from all primary and secondary teacher education programs demonstrate the ability to teach literacy within the framework of their employment/teaching program. 15) Teachers are provided with ongoing opportunities for evidence-based professional learning about effective literacy teaching. 16) A national program should be established to provide teachers with training in evidence-based practices. 17) The Australian, State, and Territory governments’ approaches to literacy improvement should be aligned. 18) The Australian Government, State and Territory governments, and non-government education authorities jointly support the proposed national program for literacy action. 19) The Australian Government Minister for Education, Science and Training will raise these recommendations as issues for attention and action by those who will be responsible for implementing the recommendations. 20) The Progress in implementing these recommendations, and on the state of literacy in Australia, should be reported every two years. ==Reception==

• The Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) published a review of the report. • The Academy for the Science of Instruction (Australia) lists Teaching Reading, National Inquiry into the Teaching of Literacy as a "key report". • The ACT Alliance for Evidence-Based Education lists Teaching Reading, National Inquiry into the Teaching of Literacy as a "Critical report". • The Educator (Australia) reviewed Teaching Reading, National Inquiry into the Teaching of Literacy, on their website. • The Reading Recovery Council of North America published an article that addresses the conclusion by some, based on the National Inquiry into the Teaching of Literacy, that teachers in Australia do not teach phonics. • The Centre for Education Statistics and Evaluation, NSW Department of Education, published a review of the National Inquiry into the Teaching of Literacy. • ABC news published an opinion paper about the National Inquiry into the Teaching of Literacy, on September 3, 2013. • The International Journal of Progressive Education published a report entitled Whole language and moral panic in Australia, in which it refers to the National Inquiry into the Teaching of Literacy. ==See also==