Education Minister Yvette Berry says the first phase focuses on establishing agreed approaches to curriculum, teaching and assessment across ACT public schools. Photo: ACT Government.
Twenty-six ACT public schools will take up a Year 1 phonics check this term as part of the ACT Government’s response to the literacy and numeracy inquiry that recommended sweeping changes to the way students are taught, the materials they use and how schools are organised.
The phasing-in of the phonics check is included in the Strong Foundations Phase One Implementation Plan released today (9 September), which shows how the eight recommendations of the Literacy and Numeracy Education Expert Panel’s Final Report are being acted on.
The Education Directorate’s priorities include the phonics check, providing ACT public schools with additional funding to buy evidence-informed resources for teaching literacy and numeracy in kindergarten to Year 2, providing all ACT public schools with improved literacy and numeracy assessment tools and upgrading data tools for teachers so they can easily see assessment results.
The Phase One Implementation Plan says that the experience of the 26 pilot schools where the phonic check is being introduced will guide the full implementation across all public schools in 2025.
The new teaching resources are likely to include physical mathematics teaching tools and Kindergarten-Year 2 decodable readers.
Teachers will need to update their professional learning to implement the new assessment tools and system-wide changes in 2025.
The Directorate will also be consulting with students, schools, families and communities on the new programs and establishing an evaluation framework to monitor and assess the impact Strong Foundation is having on outcomes.
The government says the Expert Panel’s recommendations will be implemented in three phases: Phase One (2025) – focused on Policy and Program Planning; Phase Two (2026-27) – focused on Strengthening Supports in Schools; and Phase Three (2028) – focused on Consolidation of Consistency.
Each year, former members of the Expert Panel will review how implementation is progressing and provide a report to Education and Youth Affairs Minister Yvette Berry.
A separate independent implementation and impact review will be conducted in 2029.
A key recommendation from the Expert Panel was for the Directorate to exert greater central control over curriculum approaches to provide a system-wide approach with consistent assessment.
Ms Berry said the first phase focused on establishing agreed approaches to curriculum, teaching, and assessment across ACT public schools.
“This plan outlines how the ACT Government will support our current teachers and new educators entering the system with additional evidence-informed resources and professional learning,” she said.
The government says parents and carers will be provided with information, resources and fact sheets to help better understand how ACT public schools teach students, as well as practical ways they can support their child at home.
The June Budget allocated $24.9 million over four years to the Strong Foundations program, but the Canberra Liberals say only $1.7 million of this is new money.
They have committed to spending $98 million over four years to implement the Expert Panel’s recommendations.
The Liberals’ schools plan also includes Year 1 phonics checks and a multi-tiered system of support for students, which the government supports, a strengthened monitoring of progress across all years, a boost to school maintenance, and specific support for teachers.
Opposition Leader Elizabeth Lee said her government would equip every ACT Government school with decodable readers and provide the support and training that teachers needed to deliver the Strong Foundations program.
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