Tasmania can improve its literacy rates But time for action is now
An ambitious target to lift literacy rates for all Year 7 students to the national standard by 2030 is achievable, but urgent action must start now says the Tasmanian 100 per cent Literacy Alliance
TODAY is International Literacy Day. It’s a day to reflect on the importance of literacy and the opportunities that being literate provides us in everyday life.
But it is also a day to acknowledge that not everyone benefits from being literate, and, as result their life chances are considerably compromised compared with those who are literate.
Underpinning being literate are the abilities to read, spell and write. These skills are the cornerstones and the foundations of an individual’s future life chances. However, they are not easily acquired, they are learned skills which need to be explicitly taught.
In February 2021, the 100 per cent Literacy Alliance presented a Road Map to a Literate Tasmania to the Tasmanian government.
This Road Map called for three immediate actions and provided a long-term plan to achieve a community-wide Literate Tasmania by 2031:
DEVELOP a strategic, whole-ofgovernment, community-wide framework to achieve a Literate Tasmania, at scale and with a sense of urgency.
This strategy should be informed by an independent, expert advisory panel or ministerial taskforce (including whole-of-government, community wide stakeholders and leading experts from Tasmania and other jurisdictions), and include a review of current practices and resources, an implementation plan and short- and medium-term measurable targets, aligned with the long-term goal for 100 per centliteracy in Tasmania.
ADOPT and implement as an immediate priority the recommendations of the Primary Reading Pledge and invest in the resources and capacity building required to achieve the goal of close to zero Tasmanians starting grade 7 at or below the national minimum standard for reading by 2031. PROACTIVELY support literacy improvement throughout the wider community, including in the early years (preschool), secondary schooling, adult education, the justice system, and among other vulnerable Tasmanians.
In March 2021, the Tasmanian government announced “an ambitious new target that by Year 7 all students will meet an expected reading standard that is above the national minimum, and by no later than 2030”.
At the time, then Education Minister Jeremy Rockliff acknowledged that meeting this target would require a concerted and sustained effort.
He said that critical to the success would be ensuring we have the systems and processes to help identify as early as possible, those learners who are not meeting the expected standards, so that intense support can be provided where needed.
As such, he also announced that the government would “establish an expert advisory panel to oversee the development of a community-wide framework to achieve a Literate Tasmania”.
NAPLAN data for 2021 sets the benchmark from which to work for the Tasmanian government to achieve their target that all Year 7 students start the 2030 school year above the expected standard of reading.
In 2021, nearly one in four Year 7 students (23.3 per cent) started high school at or below that standard. This is the benchmark from which the government has the next nine years to achieve its target.
The inability to read at the standard expected in the respective grade level impacts all other NAPLAN literacy domains; spelling, writing, punctuation and grammar as well as the ability to engage successfully in the wider school curriculum.
Much work needs to be done to ensure the ambitious, yet achievable, target is met by 2030.
It must be achieved if Tasmania is to close the gap between us and the other states in all the areas where education affects the course of people’s lives, particularly income and job security, and health.
Since these announcements there is a new Education Minister and little visible progress in implementing a plan to achieve the target.
Expressions of Interest for the Literacy Advisory Panel were sought in June, but the panel is yet to be announced and its terms of reference confirmed.
The recently released Child and Youth Well-being Strategy reaffirmed the establishment of the Literacy Advisory Panel as an action under the learning theme, and its funding appears as a line item in the recently released 2021-22 State Budget.
The NAPLAN data released last month shows an alarming trend for Tasmanian educational outcomes over time. The proportion of Tasmanian students starting Year 7 above the expected standard for reading has been declining since 2008.
Significantly, the NAPLAN data also shows that of the 20 standards for the four year groups, 14 have recorded long term decline.
Only six have recorded improvement.
This has long-term impacts for our economy and society. It impacts school completion rates and educational attainment rates, the pursuit of further education and training and obtaining meaningful work. Most importantly though, it impacts an individual’s life chances.
It’s time for action. It’s urgent.
The Tasmanian 100 per cent Literacy Alliance: Lisa Denny, Saul Eslake, Amelia Jones, Rosie Martin, Rikki Mawad, Anthea Pritchard, Michael Rowan and Becky Shelley.