Teachers have dismissed the Victorian government’s new mandatory grade 1 phonics test as an “utter waste of time” and worse than a freely available option.
As a result, some schools have adopted the phonics-based science of reading principles, which teach children the sounds of the English language and the letter combinations that make them.
“[English Online Interview] is just a tick and flick for them,” she said. “Basically, nothing’s changed. Even though the government made promises to move into a more evidence-based space, we see no evidence of it and the teachers think it’s an utter waste of time.” The Victorian test’s implementation is also costly. Schools have been given two days of casual staff funding for each grade 1 teacher to conduct the test this and next year.
Jennifer Buckingham, the director of strategy at literacy company MultiLit, has called for nationally consistent screening check for phonics and said she did not understand why Victoria chose to develop its own test instead of using one with “runs on the board”. English Interview Online assesses students’ reading, writing, speaking and listening across four modules. The first is mandatory in weeks one to five of foundation and the second in weeks three to seven of grade 1. Modules three and four include additional phonics assessments, but are recommended either at the end of grade 1 or for advanced students.
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