OPINION: The solution to Australia’s literacy problem is clear and evidence-based. So, why aren’t universities getting on board?
The late Sir Jim Rose, the renowned British educationalist, was fond of comparisons between medicine and education.
Yet, our reading scores have been stagnant, with an unacceptable one-in-five Year 4 students marked by PIRLS at, or below, the low benchmark. Further, the most commonly prescribed textbooks featured an alarming lack of scientific rigor, while many contained information that was inadequate or misleading.Despite the government of the time amending the accreditation standards to require the inclusion of evidence-based reading instruction in courses, little changed.
In states where education departments are not providing evidence-based guidance, principals and teachers are forging their own paths. In states where there has been shift to promoting evidence-based practices, graduate teachers have to scramble to learn what they should have been taught in their degrees.– a collaborative effort by leading reading scientists and teachers to break the stronghold of balanced literacy in teacher education – is already on its second reprint.
This is a challenge that requires creative solutions. One way would be to diversify the provision of teacher education to experts in the core content outside of the institutions that have denied its necessity.
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