Thursday, 1 August 2024

Literacy education

Ben CARROLL (Niddrie – Minister for Education, Minister for Medical Research) (11:05): Like many colleagues here, I think there is nothing more important than what happens inside our classrooms, whether it is in early education, primary, secondary or beyond. There is no investment more powerful than in education. Before I took this job I had no idea that teaching reading had changed so much over my lifetime. To me, explicit teaching is based on the simple, respectful acknowledgement that the teacher holds knowledge that the student does not yet have, knowledge that must be taught, and the evidence tells us that when teachers use explicit instruction, students learn and they learn well. It engages all students for optimal learning. Of course all learning begins in the home, and parents are the best role models for good behaviour. This morning I was with the Premier to release our 2025 prep bags, which we know will help families. Equipping our teachers with materials that allow them to explicitly teach positive behaviours helps them to ensure our classrooms are made safe and orderly for all children.

I was proud to recently announce that from 2025 the Victorian government will be revising and updating the Victorian teaching and learning model to embed explicit teaching at its core, including the use of systematic synthetic phonics. Systematic synthetic phonics is the most effective way to teach the vast majority of foundational students reading comprehension and literacy improvements, building students’ imagination, curiosity and capacity to ask questions and investigate and indeed to develop their capacity for lifelong learning. Students can only use their imagination to develop curiosity when they have knowledge on which to build their curiosity and imagination. All of the evidence is clear that the best way to develop new knowledge is through explicit teaching.