One in three Australian children struggle with reading proficiently. Image source: Yan Krukau. Via Pexels.
Over one third of Australian children are unable to read proficiently, according to a recent report released by the Grattan Institute, and these low levels of literacy may have an estimated cost of billions to the country.
“In a typical Australian school classroom of 24 students, eight can’t read well,” said Jordana Hunter, lead author of The Reading Guarantee: How to give every child the best chance of success.
This report explores both the history of how this “preventable tragedy”, as its described, came about, as well as the potential future impact it could have both on the affected children and the Australian economy.
Grattan Institute estimates that students who are most affected by poor reading performance are more likely to fall behind, disrupt classrooms, and drop out entirely. The report concludes that this may have a potential cost of $40 billion to the economy, due to higher rates of unemployment or potential jail time.
Identified as a factor in the widespread illiteracy is a teaching method known as the ‘whole-language’ approach. This approach asserts that reading is an easy, instinctive process and that learning words in their entirety is the goal.
Presented as an alternative is the ‘structured literary’ approach, which focuses on learning the sounds that letters represent (phonics) and breaking words down into their component parts.
The aim is for students to learn how to break down words, build up their vocabulary, and learn to comprehend what they read, even if it is new to them.
Grattan Institute claims that evidence gathered shows higher rates of reading proficiency in students taught by this method.
The report outlines a six-step “Reading Guarantee” to teach children literacy, which would involve committing to training teachers to a higher standard, providing access to high-quality curriculum materials, and a mandatory Phonics Screening Check for Year 1, nationwide.
‘The Reading Guarantee’ hopes that the six steps will be implemented into the Australian education system at a systematic level.
