Raising literacy levels – what does the evidence tell us?
A third of children in Australian schools can’t read proficiently – it’s time to rely on the evidence to lift literacy levels
In a typical classroom across Australia, around one in three children will be struggling to read at the level expected for their age. Earlier this year, The Grattan Institute highlighted the literacy problems facing Australian classrooms and reported that Australia needs ‘a reading revolution.’
“Australia is failing these children. And it’s a preventable tragedy – the reason most of those students can’t read well enough is that we aren’t teaching them well enough,” said Grattan Institute Education Program Director, Dr Jordana Hunter.
“Australia needs a reading revolution. We need to transform the way we teach reading in school, so that every Australian child gets their best chance in life.”
When a child lacks reading skills, research suggests they are more likely to fall behind in other areas of academic life, become disruptive in class and ultimately have fewer choices and opportunities once they leave school.
The Grattan Institute report, The Reading Guarantee: How to give every child the best chance of Success, calculates that the students in school today who are most affected by poor reading skills will cost Australia $40 billion during their lifetimes.
Underscoring the literacy crisis in classrooms, last year, a worldwide test of over 13,000 students revealed literacy and numeracy comprehension levels have declined significantly in Australia during the past two decades. The Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) was first conducted in 2000 by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development and measures the skills and knowledge of 15-year-old students in reading, mathematics and science.
More than 80 countries take part in the PISA and while Australian students tested tenth globally for Maths and ninth for English and Science, 43 per cent of Australian students failed to pass minimum standards for English.
Something needs to be done to tackle this bleak literacy landscape and to ensure that the next generation of students, and generations to come, do better — which is why education experts are recommending a return to a ‘structured literacy’ approach that includes explicit teaching of phonics.
Derek Scott, Principal|CEO of Haileybury and Chair of the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA) is a strong advocate for the effectiveness of explicit teaching. He says it clearly shows students what to do and how to do it and then creates opportunities for students to demonstrate their understanding and to apply what they have learned.
“It is systematic and sequential — and it works. Education systems around the world have followed research and evidence that the explicit teaching of phonics is vital for early readers – it helps students ‘crack the code’”Derek Scott, Haileybury Principal|CEO
“Students use letters and sounds from the beginning and learn to blend letters for reading and to segment letters and sounds for spelling. They review one letter for a day and move on to a new letter the next day, but during warm-up sessions, with their teachers, students come back to previous letters and review them,” he explains.
“However, Australia has left it up to individual states and territories – explicit teaching of phonics hasn’t been mandatory in teacher education programs or in school systems. The ACT and Victoria are the final states in Australia to introduce this approach and it’s a very positive step.”
Mr Scott has witnessed the effectiveness of explicit teaching, particularly the impact of a structured phonics program, at Haileybury and has seen explicit teaching help schools across the country in his role as Chair of ACARA.
“Nearly all the schools that have shown significant improvement in NAPLAN in primary school, or the schools who are the top performers in NAPLAN are following the explicit instruction model,” says Mr Scott.
Next year in Victoria, Prep to Grade 2 classrooms will return to evidence-based teaching and learning. Children will be taught using a systematic phonics approach as part of their reading programs, with a minimum of 25 minutes daily explicit teaching of phonics.
This will be a core component of a comprehensive reading program that also includes explicit teaching of oral language, vocabulary, reading fluency and comprehension.
“We want to ensure every student in a Victorian government school is taught to read using the evidence-base that fosters the strongest outcomes,” said Deputy Premier and Minister for Education, Ben Carroll, when announcing the initiative.
Haileybury teachers have used explicit teaching since 2006 and Haileybury’s consistently above average NAPLAN results are proof that it is highly effective.
In 2024, Haileybury’s NAPLAN average for Years 3 and 5 (primary) was 557.2, compared to the national average of 448.4. The Grammar and Punctuation skills of Year 3 students were equivalent to a Year 9 level. Strong literacy and numeracy foundations in the younger years have lasting effects, supporting Haileybury students to also excel at VCE.
At Haileybury Rendall School, which aspires to be a Centre for Excellence in Indigenous Education, NAPLAN results in 2024 placed HRS as the top primary school in the Northern Territory and among the top middle schools in the NT for Years 7 and 9 – a significant achievement when almost a third of Year 9 students in the NT are below national standards in Reading and Writing.
Haileybury Rendall School has 90 indigenous students who achieved high-scoring NAPLAN results – in Grammar and Writing. Year 9 students from very remote areas performed four years ahead of the average and were two years ahead of the average Spelling achievements for students from very remote areas. Similarly, Year 7 indigenous students were four years ahead in Writing.
Convinced of the effectiveness and importance of explicit teaching, Haileybury has shared its knowledge and programs with teachers in more than 100 schools in disadvantaged communities across Australia. Haileybury teachers have visited schools to model lessons and to run professional development workshops with teachers and those schools have seen significant shifts in student engagement and in literacy and reading skills and NAPLAN results.
Every child in Australia deserves a better education and needs to know how to read, write and spell. There have been too many years of lost learning in our classrooms. Returning to an evidence-based approach to teaching that focuses on teaching and embedding essential literacy skills will ensure future generations of students leave school with opportunities for success.
Discover more
To discover more about how you can learn the phonics approach please visit our Phonics 101 course page.
