Wednesday, 30 August 2023

Literacy education

Renee HEATH (Eastern Victoria) (17:55): (438) My adjournment is for the Minister for Education, and the action that I seek is that the minister commits to implementing an evidence-based, systematic synthetic phonics approach in Victorian primary schools. In relation to the latest NAPLAN results, Victoria’s success depends on who you ask. Victoria’s education minister said that Victoria has had a phenomenal result across nearly all NAPLAN categories. However, in an opinion piece today in the Age Jo Rogers wrote about how our phonics-phobic state is creating a generation of kids who cannot read.

To me it looks like teachers and students alike are facing an uphill battle. Recent NAPLAN results show that almost 30 per cent of Victorian schoolchildren are not meeting proficiency in literacy and numeracy. Forty per cent of Victorian year 3 and year 9 students are now being recognised as not meeting standards in grammar and punctuation. The NAPLAN results exposed a broadening gap in Aboriginal students in Victoria, with an average of 21.5 per cent of Indigenous students in the ‘in need of support’ category compared to 6.8 per cent of non-Indigenous students. Things are getting much worse for people in remote areas, with almost 50 per cent of students needing additional support compared to 7.9 per cent of students in major cities.

This is not an issue of funding. This is not the fault of students. This is not the fault of wonderful teachers. This is a flawed state curriculum. There is nothing more important than the next generation, and surely it is our job to ensure they are provided with the very best start possible. In her opinion piece Jo Rogers wrote:

Consistent studies prove beyond doubt that the best practice for teaching reading and writing is direct, explicit and systematic teaching, especially systematic synthetic phonics.

That is exactly what we should be doing. Our curriculum does not reflect best practice at the moment, and that is something that we need to address. Victorian children deserve better. It is time to update our state curriculum to include evidence-based practices.