The much anticipated report from the National Inquiry into the Teaching of Literacy, Teaching Reading, was released on 8 December by the Federal Minister for Education, Science and Training, Dr Brendan Nelson. The committee for the inquiry was chaired by Dr Ken Rowe, Research Director ( Learning Processes) at ACER. In this article Dr Rowe outlines the three key principles underlying the report and recommendations made by the committee. A slightly shortened version of this article was published in the opinion section of the Sydney Morning Herald on Friday 9 December 2005.

Three key principles underlie the report and recommendations from the Committee for the National Inquiry into the Teaching of Literacy. First, young Australians are the most valuable resource for our nation’s social and economic prosperity. Second, the key to such prosperity at both the individual and national level is the provision of quality schooling. Third, because teachers are the most valuable resource available to schools, it is vital that teachers be equipped with evidence-based teaching practices that are demonstrably effective in meeting the developmental and learning needs of all children.

Nowhere are these three principles more important than in the teaching of reading, since being able to read is foundational, not only for school-based learning, but also for children’s psychosocial wellbeing, further education and training, occupational success, as well as for productive and fulfilling participation in social and economic activity. Moreover, the rapidly changing nature of computer-based technologies and global communication systems demand competence in increasingly complex multi-literacies, of which reading competence (together with writing) is essential.

While children enter school with varying degrees of competence in speaking their language(s), typically they have little knowledge about how to read and write. Because reading involves two basic and complementary processes: learning how to decipher print and understanding what the print means, the purpose of early reading instruction is to help children master the challenges of linking written and spoken language. These include acquiring knowledge about the alphabetic system that link written words to their pronunciations, learning to decode new words, building a vocabulary that can be read on sight from memory, and becoming facile at constructing, integrating, interpreting and remembering meanings represented in text in whatever form such representations are presented.

So what are the major messages from the evidence-based research that indicate which approaches are most effective in teaching children to read? For beginning reading during the early years of schooling (and later if needed), findings from a large volume of local and international evidence-based research consistently indicate that direct, systematic instruction in phonics makes significantly greater contributions to children’s initial and subsequent progress in reading, writing, spelling and comprehension, than do alternative approaches involving unsystematic or no phonics instruction. When foundational phonics skills are taught early, the need for costly and often belated intervention programs is minimised.

These findings highlight a concern by the Inquiry Committee that the predominant whole-language approach to the teaching of reading in Australian schools is problematic. Essentially, the whole-language approach reflects a constructivist philosophy of learning (rather than a philosophy of teaching) in which children are viewed as inherently active, self-regulating learners who construct knowledge for themselves, with little or no explicit instruction. However, there is a strong body of evidence that exclusive use of a whole-language approach is not in the best interests of children learning to read, and especially for those experiencing reading difficulties. Nonetheless, whereas the systematic, explicit teaching of phonics is a necessary condition for the effective teaching of reading, it is not a sufficient condition.

That is, the evidence indicates that all children are provided with the best opportunities for success in learning to read when teachers integrate the following skills via explicit instruction in: phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary knowledge and comprehension. Because these are essential skills for the development of competence in reading, writing and spelling, they must be taught early, systematically, explicitly and well. Parents and caregivers have a positive role to play by regularly reading aloud with their children, especially during the formative pre-school years.

The Committee learned much from the 453 submissions provided to the Inquiry and visits to schools across the country where some excellent examples of effective practice in the teaching of reading and writing were observed, together with evidence of children’s success. In general, however, it was clear that teachers seemed unaware of the reasons for using particular strategies rather than others. Teaching, learning, curriculum and assessment for reporting to parents need to be more firmly linked to findings from evidence-based research indicating effective practices, including those that are demonstrably effective for the particular learning needs of individual children.

Similarly, the Committee found that many teachers do not use (and are not aware of) objective, standardised diagnostic tests that assess the essential alphabetic, decoding skills required for reading proficiency. Consistent with the findings documented in the report titled: Assessment of literacy and numeracy in the early years of schooling - An overview (DEST, 2001), 1 assessments of reading in the early years need to be linked to formal assessments of reading undertaken during the subsequent years of schooling. These are important issues that the Committee recommends be addressed during pre-service teacher education, and especially through in-service professional learning.

The Committee found that six key elements operate consistently in the successful schools visited. These are:

• a belief that all children can learn to read and write regardless of background and location;
• an early and systematic emphasis on the explicit teaching of phonics;
• a subsequent focus on direct teaching;
• a well-resourced print-rich environment, including fiction and non-fiction books, charts and computer programs;
• strong leadership and management practices, involving whole-school approaches to the teaching of reading and writing; and
• an expectation that teachers will engage in evidence-based professional learning and learn from each other.

Equipping young people to engage productively in the knowledge economy and in society more broadly is fundamental to both individual and national prosperity. This objective depends primarily on: the ability to read and write effectively; and the provision of quality teaching and learning by teachers who have acquired, during their pre-service teacher education, and in-service professional learning, evidence-based teaching practices that are shown to be effective in meeting the developmental and learning needs of all children. Our children and their teachers require no less.

Dr Ken Rowe
Committee Chair, National Inquiry into the Teaching of Literacy, and Research Director, Learning Processes research program,
Australian Council for Educational Research

1 I.e.,: DEST (2001). Assessment of literacy and numeracy in the early years of schooling: An overview. Canberra, ACT: Commonwealth Department of Education, Science and Training.

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