Thursday, 2 November 2023

Education system

Jess WILSON (Kew) (17:21): (427) My adjournment is for the Minister for Education, and the action I am seeking is for the minister to release a taxpayer-funded study by La Trobe University’s school of education into six primary schools that have adopted an evidence-based approach to teaching and reading and as a result have significantly improved their teaching results.

I note that over a quarter of Victorian students failed to meet proficiency standards for literacy in this year’s NAPLAN. The government thinks this is a good enough result; the coalition strongly disagrees. It is time to improve student outcomes by setting an evidence-based learning framework for all Victorian schools.

It defies belief that the government is blocking the release of a report into a study of six Victorian government schools that replaced the government-approved, entrenched, balanced literacy approach to teaching reading, instead adopting an approach based on systematic synthetic phonics instruction, regular monitoring of progress, early intervention for students who appear to be struggling and the use of decodable books as take-home readers. La Trobe University requested to publish the report, calling it a good-news story about schools that have switched to evidence-based learning, but the Department of Education refused their publication request. The Age requested a copy of the report under freedom of information, but most of the report’s findings and all of its recommendations were redacted from the copy provided. Ironically, the Department of Education stated that full disclosure of the report would inform debate on a matter of public importance. I am sure it would. But these bureaucrats ultimately decided its publication would be likely to inhibit frankness and candour in the making of communications. This is a taxpayer-funded report that could help improve outcomes for students at taxpayer-funded schools. This is just another blatant example of the lack of transparency and accountability from this Labor government.

The good news is that we have a new education minister in Victoria, and I call on the new minister to reverse the department’s decision to block the release of this important and informed report and instead release it in full so schools and educators across Victoria can learn from its findings and adopt its recommendations. Surely this government would agree that we must equip Victorian students with the fundamental skills which will be essential for employability in the 21st century. This needs to be backed by an approach to teaching that is based on evidence and outcomes.

The Victorian Liberals and Nationals believe in supporting student outcomes by setting an evidence-based framework for learning for all Victorian schools, including investing in professional development and resources for teachers and embedding phonics checks and screening in the system to ensure early interventions for students who need the most support. I will finish with the words of Churchill Primary School principal Jacquie Burrows, who adopted the science of reading approach a few years ago:

In our experience, when we were teaching whole language/balanced literacy with fidelity our results were poor and we had high levels of students with dysregulated behaviour … Our shift to aligning our practice with science of reading research is what improved our academic results and student engagement.

I call on the minister to release the report.