In WA Today’s article, ‘WA’s reading problem is hiding in plain sight’, published on 19 February 2024, Dr Jennifer Buckingham OAM writes that more must be done to ensure reforms are supported by robust evidence around what works to enhance learning and boost students’ results.
“Studies of top-performing primary schools in Australia and overseas have identified high-quality synthetic phonics program, which involve systematically teaching parts of words, so children can learn to read and write, is a common feature.
The science of reading tells us children must be explicitly taught language skills, including phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension, to give them the best chance of becoming competent readers.”
Read the full article here or read the PDF version here.