| The Australian federal government has recently | | | | between 2000 and 2006, falling behind New Zealand, |
| released their plans for a new national curriculum. At | | | | Canada, Hong Kong and South Korea |
| present, each state and territory has their own | | | | The importance of phonics |
| curriculum so moving between states can be | | | | The children of Australia have not been receiving the |
| disruptive for children and comparing different states is | | | | instruction they require to develop literacy skills for |
| difficult. The new curriculum streamlines the education | | | | around 15 years. The reason for this has been a move |
| system in Australia and fits into Labor's plan to make | | | | away from teaching phonics, or the breakdown of the |
| schools accountable for their performance. Julia Gillard, | | | | sounds that make up a word, to a teaching of whole |
| our minister for education, argues that if all schools are | | | | words. The belief was children would learn how to |
| teaching to the same curriculum they are more able to | | | | sound out and spell words using memory and the |
| be compared on the Myschool website. The Myschool | | | | context of the word. Academics and prominent |
| website is a new initiative to hold schools accountable | | | | authors told parents and teachers 'just read to your |
| for their performance by comparing like schools | | | | children, and they will learn to spell, use grammar, and |
| across the country. | | | | read'. This doesn't work. In some schools psychologists |
| Literacy Crisis | | | | report children in primary school who can't even |
| One of the main areas that the new curriculum needs | | | | distinguish between words in a sentence, let alone |
| to address is the literacy crisis Australia is facing. The | | | | sounds in a word. A large and rapidly expanding body |
| Council of Australian Governments released a report in | | | | of literature shows that children must be explicitly |
| 2009 detailing the size of the literacy problem in | | | | taught to recognise the individual sounds that make up |
| Australia (National Agreement for Skills and Workforce | | | | a word and how those sounds relate to the letters on |
| Development: Baseline performance report for 2008). It | | | | the page. |
| made the following points: | | | | Thankfully, this is what the new curriculum spells out |
| Relatively high proportions of working age Australians | | | | for teachers in the first years of primary school. |
| have literacy and numeracy skills below the minimum | | | | Phonetics are to be taught through clapping out of |
| level required to meet the complex demands of work | | | | syllables, rhyming words, and breaking down words |
| and modern life - 43.5% for literacy and 49.8% for | | | | into individual sounds. This lays the foundation for |
| numeracy. | | | | successful spelling from kindergarten, and looks like |
| The proportion of the working age population with low | | | | providing some hope for the next generation to learn |
| literacy and numeracy skills decreases as | | | | how to read, spell, and write. The next major hurdle is |
| socio-economic status improves. | | | | to educate ALL teachers on what phonetics are and |
| Australia dropped four places in the OECD's | | | | how to teach them. |
| international student assessment of literacy levels | | | | |