It was not a paid school day nor a union meeting but a ‘yearning for learning’ that got more than 250 teachers from throughout Auckland at a meeting in East Auckland on Saturday [26 June], to learn how to upskill in literacy teaching in their own time.
The demand for professional learning in this area is growing rapidly, as teachers embrace the motto: "When you know better, you do better.” So much so, that teachers like me are willingly giving up weekend time with family and friends to sharpen their skills.
The event was organised by Structured Literacy-Auckland, a social learning Facebook page that has grown to nearly 4000 members in the past year. This was the third region-wide meeting the group has hosted. Free tickets to the event sold out. Some who wanted to attend could not fit in the hall due to restrictions on the size of the venue, Sunnyhills School hall in Pakuranga.
Teachers, like me, yearn to learn more about Structured Literacy to address the lack of effective literacy training they have received on it in initial teacher education programmes at most of our universities and in on-the-job training.
Structured Literacy features in the Ministry of Education recommendations for inclusive teaching of dyslexic learners. But the approach has yet to be rolled out to all classrooms as best practice for all students, despite close to 50 years of research proving it is the most effective and efficient way to teach reading and writing.
School inspectors in the UK know this to be true and now make posts about what they are looking for when checking schools are up-to-scratch in teaching literacy. (See here.)
A few trailblazing schools in NZ, such as Kaiapoi North in Canterbury and Sunnyhills in Pakuranga, have made the switch and word about their positive results is spreading like wildfire.
Literacy coach and academic Dr Janice Belgrave of Canterbury, in a recent blog post for J and J Literacy, believes Covid-19 lockdowns are partly to thank for the increased interest in Structured Literacy. The forced non-contact time with students allowed teachers the chance to pursue professional readings on the topic. It’s a silver lining of sorts, she says.
Conversely, a number of parents in lockdown lessons also got to see what their children could do or couldn't do in reading and writing, and began questioning how literacy is taught at school. Some existing methods just didn't seem to make sense.
Most regions in the country now have a Structured Literacy support group, run by teachers in their own time, as they work to adapt their classroom practices. Many have sprung up under the auspices of Lifting Literacy Aotearoa, formed in mid-2020, a non profit organisation advocating for a shakeup of our literacy teacher training schemes, classroom instruction and literacy resourcing.
The group calls Structured Literacy the ‘first best solution’ to solving literacy underachievement in Aotearoa New Zealand. Chair of the steering committee, Alice Wilson, says current Ministry of Education approved practices are failing too many students. Our poor literacy ratings in international surveys attests to this.
“We want to urge the ministry to take a deep look at the Science of Reading research, seek out the experience of those schools already following a Structured Literacy approach, and fund Professional Learning Development and support for schools equitably,” she says. If necessary, she adds, the MoE could “commission an independent panel of experts” to advise them further. (See full press release here)
Teachers, nevertheless, may still go out in droves in their own time, say I. Once you start seeing the joy successful early reading brings to your youngest learners through Structured Literacy, it brings deep satisfaction to teachers who have long struggled with knowing how to help their struggling learners.
The best thing about Structured Literacy is that it helps our struggling learners and it helps accelerate our more able learners, too. It is beneficial for all and harmful to none.
This is both an exciting and challenging time to be a teacher in New Zealand. “Once you know better, you do better.”
Groups teachers can join for more information:
https://www.liftingliteracyaotearoa.org.nz/
https://www.facebook.com/groups/1112672342417494
https://www.facebook.com/groups/1200435063675166
https://www.facebook.com/groups/540348696631772
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