Australia needs to take note of this education report card
One-third of Australian children can’t read properly. It’s an alarming statistic that has CQUniversity’s education expert Dr Ragnar Purje asking the question why more schools are not using the tried and tested phonics teaching method in the classroom.
A Grattan Institute report has just revealed 1.3 million children in Australia are being failed by an education system that has turned its nose up on teaching phonics and has persisted with using discredited theories.
However, Dr Purje believes the reading report card could help educators see more clearly the ‘writing on the wall’ and return to phonics teaching.
“The latest report could provide the catalyst for educators to take a fresh look at phonics awareness for their literacy programs.”
He said literacy research supported the use of phonics and it had been largely endorsed by success in schools that do embrace it, but many were persisting with discredited practices which was having detrimental effects on Australian children.
Dr Purje has been in the teaching profession for more than 40 years and has worked with many struggling readers in that time.
He is also a highly regarded education academic and the creator and author of Responsibility Theory – a fresh way of addressing learning and behaviour issues in the classroom.
“In all of the different literacy programs that I have seen and used, the one literacy program that provide students with the greatest improvements was Fitzroy Readers, a phonics-based reading program devised by the founders of the Fitzroy Community School in Melbourne,” explained Dr Purje.
“Before the recent Grattan Institute report, one of the most influential studies on phonics was the National Reading Panel report in 2000. The report reviewed more than 100,000 studies on reading and found that systematic and explicit phonics instruction was more effective than unsystematic or no phonics instruction.
“The report also found that phonics instruction benefited children of all ages, abilities, and backgrounds.”
He said there was also strong evidence to say that children that engage with phonics awareness become better spellers and were more likely to learn new words on their own and become confidence self-directed and self-engaged readers.
“In terms of application, phonics programs like Fitzroy Readers introduce new words gradually and repeat them frequently, so that children can build their vocabulary and confidence.
“From my perspective, programs like this develop a lifelong love of reading and learning – and that’s exactly what we are looking for.
“The latest report could provide the catalyst for educators to take a fresh look at phonics awareness for their literacy programs.”
