Reading Instruction in the Primary Grades
Instructional Materials
In Australia, no textbooks are mandated and schools select their own resources and materials for reading programs. Many resources are provided by education departments and curriculum authorities, often with online access. Schools use a wide range of books, journals, websites, computer programs, and graded reading programs. Annotated work samples and assessment activities are available in many jurisdictions to support consistency of teacher judgments against curriculum standards.
The Australian Curriculum website includes achievement standards for each learning area or subject. The achievement standards describe the learning expected of students at each year level or band of years. The standards provide a clear description of student learning and are, therefore, a useful starting point or driver for the development of teaching and learning programs. The achievement standards also allow teachers to monitor student learning and to make judgments about student progress and achievement. For each learning area or subject, the achievement standards are accompanied by portfolios of annotated work samples.
Education Services Australia is a national not for profit company owned by all Australian education ministers. The company creates, publishes, disseminates, and markets curriculum and assessment materials, Information and Communications Technology based solutions, products, and services to support learning, teaching, leadership, and administration. The Education Services Australia website houses a digital repository, Scootle, which provides materials and resources to all Australian schools. Commercial publishers also offer resources for literacy teaching, and professional teacher associations to which many schools have institutional memberships publish practical resources.
Use of Technology
Technology is widely used in literacy programs, and computers are commonplace in Australian schools. Data collected in the 2014 National Assessment Program on Information and Communications Technology Literacy indicate that computer use at schools has increased since 2008.12 In 2014, 34 percent of Grade 6 students used a computer at school almost every day, compared with 20 percent in 2008.
State education departments are introducing many forms of technology to schools, including notebook computers, tablets, high speed wireless networks, interactive whiteboards, digital media projectors, cameras, and subscriptions to online learning platforms. This technology is used in many ways in reading programs, such as by making electronic books available to students for whole class or group reading activities, and for individualized instruction.
Role of Reading Specialists
Primary school teachers in Australia mostly are generalists, and the literacy program is the responsibility of classroom teachers. Professional learning teams at particular grade levels create opportunities for new teachers to work with experienced practitioners over time. In recent years, literacy coaches also have played a role in some jurisdictions, initially through the Australian government’s National Partnerships: Literacy and Numeracy Program and continuing through other initiatives such as Professional Learning Communities. Now that initial teacher education students will be required to graduate with a subject specialization in areas of priority (which may include the teaching of English and literacy), more teachers with a specialization in reading may enter the education system.
Second Language Instruction
The language diversity that is characteristic of Australia means that the teaching of English as a second or additional language is essential to meeting the needs of recent immigrants and of students who speak languages other than English at home. Provisions are made in all states and territories for second language learners, including specialist teaching in schools and intensive language centers for new arrivals. Recently, there has been recognition of the needs of students who may speak Aboriginal English at home and of the need to make provisions for teaching English as a second dialect.
Accommodation Policies for Instruction and Testing
The Australian Curriculum does not prescribe how content must be taught. This allows teachers and schools to address the individual learning needs of their students. Curriculum documents provide guidance on how to provide personalized learning experiences for students with disabilities, gifted and talented students, and students for whom English is an additional language or dialect.13 The Disability Standards for Education (2005) seek to ensure that students with disabilities are able to access and participate in education on the same basis as other students.14 Reviewed every five years (most recently in 2015), the standards provide a framework for enabling students to participate in national testing (e.g., the National Assessment Program—Literacy and Numeracy [NAPLAN]), through the use of adjustments such as a scribe, assistive technologies, extra time, and breaks. Adjustments are determined in line with national protocols on a case by case basis by the school together with the relevant test administration authority.15