Literacy

As a teacher, knowing the words your students frequently use in their writing can help you understand where to extend their spelling and vocabulary skills. The 2024 Oxford Children’s Word of the Year report reveals words frequently used by primary aged children in their writing. 

The world’s largest study on shared book reading has highlighted the importance of having books in the home. The Australian research found bringing books into the home has a significant impact on a child’s positive shared book reading habits, emerging language and literacy skills, as well as family engagement.

A free new competition from the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) recognises high student achievement in Literacy and Numeracy. Here, we celebrate the inaugural award winners and talk to educators about the value of challenging their high-achieving students.

In the latest PISA test cycle, one of the topics explored in the questionnaire was the disciplinary climate of classrooms. In today’s article we take a look at one of the drivers of Australia’s less than favourable index score – digital distractions.

In yesterday’s reader submission, Dr Sunaina Sharma and Wendy Lang discussed their high school students’ anxiety over oral presentations. In this second article, the Ontario teachers share 4 strategies they’ve implemented to build the same speaking and listening skills while reducing the stress level.

After noticing their secondary English students were stressed by oral presentations (and coming up with ways to avoid them all together), Ontario educators Dr Sunaina Sharma and Wendy Lang gathered their feedback to find out more, then set about adjusting their teaching, based on a trauma-informed approach.

Are Australian students getting better or worse at mathematics? Are they more or less creative than their OECD peers? Andrew Broadley chats to ACER Senior Research Fellow and National Project Manager for PISA, Lisa De Bortoli, about what we can learn from the latest PISA results.

Rising teacher shortages and a global pandemic are just 2 of the major challenges schools have had to navigate over the last few years. Despite this, the latest PISA report highlights a handful of education systems that showed resilience during this period – including Japan and Lithuania. Teacher finds out more.

A new paper by ACER’s Greta Rollo and Dr Kellie Picker unpacks the science of reading. In a 3-part series for Teacher, they explain each of the components that make up the science of reading, and share implications for teaching. This final article explores the unconstrained skills.

A new paper by ACER’s Greta Rollo and Dr Kellie Picker unpacks the science of reading. In a 3-part series for Teacher, they explain each of the components that make up the science of reading, and share implications for teaching. This second article delves into constrained skills.