Teachers Told: Prove You Can Read And Write

Teachers Told: Prove You Can Read And Write By Justin Norrie November 8, 2005

All aspiring teachers should have to prove they can read and write proficiently before being allowed into a clbuttroom, a national literacy inquiry has recommended.

A report from the independent inquiry into how reading is taught in schools is scathing about the competence of student teachers, citing evidence that many lack "the literacy skill required to be effective teachers of reading".

Ed. Evidently, it is a self-perpetuating problem...

It urges education faculties to consider "increasing the time of reading instruction, and improving the content of teacher education courses and school practice arrangements.

"Student teachers need help to develop their foundational literacy skills. There is scepticism among practising teachers about the personal literacy standards of new graduates."

The inquiry was commissioned by the federal Minister for Education, Brendan Nelson, in October last year and chaired by Ken Rowe, a research director at the Australian Council for Education Research.

A draft of the report has been circulated among 24 education groups for comment, and has been seen by the Herald, but the final version will not be released until December 1.

Its findings echo criticisms Dr Nelson has made in the past about the standard of teacher training insbreastutions. He has told the Herald education faculties are more likely to teach Buffy The Vampire Slayer ed or Marx than Milton.

The report proposes that all graduate teachers be made to demonstrate "personal literacy" skills before gaining accreditation with teacher insbreastutes, although it does not specify how.

The recommendation was welcomed yesterday by some education academics who complained they had been prevented from testing students' literacy.

Annah Healy, the co-ordinator of literacy in primary education at the Queensland University of Technology, said: "Years ago we could give students literacy tests to work out where they stood, but we can't now because of all these equity guidelines. We can't be seen to be discriminating. But we'd love to do it again."

Dr Healy estimated 20 per cent of her students had serious literacy problems and another 10 per cent "just got it". She worried about "how on earth they would cope if they ever had to help a child with language difficulties".

Andrew Blair, president of the Australian Secondary Principals buttociation, said: "In my experience there would be a number of young grads who don't have sufficient literacy levels, and I hope that we can help them achieve an appropriate benchmark. I think it's a really good idea."

The NSW Insbreastute of Teachers is already preparing to make university education faculties test student teachers on literacy teaching methods. The faculties would also have to buttess students on their ability to write clear and coherent reports for students, parents and supervisors as a condition of accreditation.

The insbreastute's chief executive, Tom Alegounarias, said: "To be accredited, faculties must include in their curriculum a broad range of literacy strategies and test students on those. It will provide an evidence guide on the students' own literacy."

Dr Nelson commissioned the inquiry to investigate the cause of Australia's weakness in literacy.

Although Australian teenagers perform well on average in international literacy rankings, research has shown about 30 per cent of year 9 students still have functional literacy problems.

Dr Rowe's report also recommends that teachers provide children with the "systematic, explicit teaching of phonics" - the system of sounding out letters and syllables - as foreshadowed by the Herald earlier this year.

It is "a necessary condition, but not a sufficient condition, for the teaching of reading".

A love of books should be inculcated in children early, but only after "the essential alphabetic code-breaking skills have first been well taught".

Ed. They've got evolution in the morning, global warming chants in the mid-morning, hate-america mantra after recess, and learning all about deviant loveual lifestyles after lunch - you really can't expect the six year olds to manage alphabet work AS WELL???

HARSH READING - One in three teenagers has literacy problems. - About one in 10 students in year 5 and year 7 cannot meet reading benchmarks. - Education faculties devote less than 10 per cent of primary coursework to literacy training.

-- Jim Union Against Multiculty

"Abolish Multiculty and String Up The Traitors!"