Page 2058 - Week 06 - Tuesday, 4 June 2019
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video
Education—phonics checks
MR WALL: My question is to the Minister for Education and Early Childhood Development. Minister, the ACT uses performance indicators in primary schools—commonly referred to as PIPS—testing to assess early literacy and numeracy, despite increasing criticism from parents that it is not capturing early learning difficulties in year 1 students. Given the successful adoption of phonics checks in other states and increasing evidence of its success in schools across the United Kingdom and elsewhere, will phonics checks be used or considered for use in ACT primary schools to identify students who are at risk of falling behind in literacy?
MS BERRY: No, they will not. The PIPS assessments that are rolling out in our schools are proving to be successful in conjunction with literacy education through expertise from people like Christine Topfer, who has been able to work with Canberra schools to improve not only the teaching experience but also the learning experience of children, particularly children who learn differently and have different learning challenges that are identified through the PIPS program.
No, I have not been convinced that the phonics test is an appropriate way to identify students who need extra support in the classroom; nor do I agree with a national My School kind of reporting of a test for children who are five or six years old who have an identified learning disability such as dyslexia.
MR WALL: Minister, what prevents teachers in ACT government schools from using phonics checks as a diagnostic tool? If there is nothing stopping them from using them, why are they not?
MS BERRY: I have not stopped teachers using phonics checks in schools, but not as a phonics test that is being recommended by the federal government. Teachers use a number of tools. I support their professional judgement when they are diagnosing a child’s need within their classroom. They are best placed to be able to diagnose, just like a doctor would with a medical condition, and identify a need within a child, whether that is for additional learning or whether that is support with their family or more support in the school environment.
MR COE: Minister, what assessment have you done of the value and use of phonics checks in year 1 school education that has informed your decision?
MS BERRY: This has been a conversation that ministers have had at ministers council. I understand that it had been rolled out in South Australia as a phonics test and that they were happy, within their school environments where it was being rolled out, with the process. I have been convinced by the reports that I have had from the teaching profession here in the ACT and from the improvements in children’s literacy and English as a result of the work through the PIPS program; also with the rolling out of a specific literacy program within schools that supports individual students that need that extra support and that supports teachers in being able to identify these needs of different students who learn differently.
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video