Literacy

'The importance of establishing strong positive attitudes towards learning – particularly towards reading, which underlies so much of students’ learning – is critical, particularly in view of the past two years.' Ahead of the December release of PIRLS 2021 results, Dr Sue Thomson recaps what 2016 data show about students in Australia.

Public speaking is a daunting prospect for many students. Loreto Normanhurst in New South Wales has developed a Year 9 unit which supports students to research and confidently deliver a speech on a topic they are passionate about.

In their final video in a 3-part series for Teacher, Teacher Librarian Mali Jorm shares the details of the third area in a targeted program, The Three Spheres of Library Skills, which scaffolds students to achieve success in 3 core areas of library skills: Readers, Researchers, and Thinkers.

In this podcast, we’re joined by Trent Cowley, Principal at Kingston State School. Trent shares what it means to him to be a visible leader, how he’s working to build staff capacity, and the impact that his collaboration with other principals in the area has had on student outcomes.

Last year, we heard about an action research project which was occurring at Queenwood School for Girls in Sydney to build a culture of reading for pleasure across the school. The research project has concluded, and in this article, we get an update on the project’s impact on student outcomes and wellbeing.

In their second video in a 3-part series for Teacher, Teacher Librarian Mali Jorm shares the details of the second area in a targeted program, The Three Spheres of Library Skills, which scaffolds students to achieve success in 3 core areas of library skills: Readers, Researchers, and Thinkers.

Developing children’s reading skills as they start primary school can often mean meeting children at a range of different levels. In this article, we speak with Dr Lexie Scherer who explains how the reader-response method can help teachers find that special ‘hook’ that can open a child up to the wonders of reading.

‘Best literacy practices in specialist schools look very different to best practice in regular classrooms.’ New research published in the Australian Journal of Education explores the different observational tools needed to understand effective literacy environments in specialist schools.

In her latest Teacher column, Dr Sue Thomson looks ahead to the release of the PIRLS results, including the aims of this international assessment of Year 4 students’ reading skills, and how data for the 2021 cycle were collected during the pandemic.

Results from the 2021 Australian Early Development Census (AEDC) collection cycle show that of all early childhood developmental domains, children’s language and cognitive skills have seen the most significant shift. Find out more in today’s infographic.