Literacy

‘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.

In their first video in a three-part series for Teacher, Teacher Librarian Mali Jorm shares the details of the first area in a targeted program, The Three Spheres of Library Skills, which scaffolds students to achieve success in the three core areas of library skills: readers, researchers, and thinkers.

With the rapid growth in digital technologies, digital writing skills are becoming more and more relevant for students. A new research project from Deakin University will look at the potential to complement traditional writing tasks in schools with contemporary forms of digital writing.

Equal education involves many things – equal representation, participation, access to resources, and more. There’s a lot to explore around equal education in the Teacher archives, and in this edition of Teacher Staffroom, we bring you some recent examples.

For many of Australia’s regional and rural schools, accessing culturally relevant reading material can be a challenge. Here, we speak to Principal Jeff Parker and Early Childhood Leader Monique Marzocchi from Clyde Fenton Primary School in Katherine, Northern Territory, about how the school is working to improve student literacy.

An OECD report 21st-Century Readers: Developing Literacy Skills in a Digital World analyses data from the 2018 PISA test and student survey to report on the reading habits of 15-year-olds in OECD countries. Find out more about how reading in digital and paper formats affects students’ reading performance and enjoyment in today's infographic.

At Melba Copland Secondary School in Canberra, the library has been improving students' connection to recreational reading through an innovative program that allows students to select the books the library purchases. In this photo story, Teacher Librarian Mali Jorm shares how the program operates and the impact on student borrowing rates.

School strategic priorities such as improving literacy and numeracy outcomes involve all staff. In this reader submission, art teacher Kerry Kaskamanidis shares how she responded to a whole-school focus on literacy by building a partnership with a local art museum.