Dr Helen Walls On Structured Literacy & NZ’s Reading Crisis

[@dossnone4554]

I'm so happy for the next generation of students.

[@margaretvanson3601]

Michael, thats how I learned to read. My parents recognised my early desire for literacy and so they read all sorts of things to me, but they also broke words into sounds and syllables. I was able to read fluently by the time I was four. I devoured the set of Arthur Mees Encyclopedias that my paternal grandfather gave us.

[@ChelleMEis]

Bring back classic education

[@marcusnz232]

I was gobsmacked recently when I was reading up on the learner process for a motorcycle licence. In the NZTA website there was a section explaining “difficult words” you might encounter in the process. What words could you encounter in such an environment that a 17 years old or older person wouldn’t know?! Mind blowing dumbing down.

[@perceivingacting]

Like? Intersection. Coordination. Or?

[@LindaHough-t9k]

Sounds great, wish it was around when my son (who is mild dyslexic), back to basics and mentioning the longer term memory all makes sense. My son would not have struggled during his school years. If I was taught correct english at school, I will would not have struggled as well, however I have managed to muddle through life and come out on top.

[@zenRichard]

It's a tragedy visited upon a generation of students. Those responsible should be prosecuted. Idiots.

[@zenRichard]

To clarify - the unstructured approach to teaching literacy was idiotic.

[@sandralibeau4795]

​@@zenRichardit was 'Dame' Marie Clay. The only way you become a renowned academic or a Professor, is if you trash the few hundred years of research into how children learn and come up with a 'better' theory!

[@perceivingacting]

@@sandralibeau4795 Not the only way, but yes, she did, was a New Zealander, and the world even followed her!!

[@jemma_19988]

So long as we can all read tee rio

[@margaretvanson3601]

It's all because of DEI type dogma in selection of trainee-teachers, and dumming-down the 3RS so no-one failed.

[@goaway6339]

And replacing standard literacy teaching for all students with the structure used for kids with reading disabilities

We can only hope that students actually learn reading and writing skills and not use computer programs like Grammarly to cover up their gaps in learned knowledge.

[@fairynuff167]

Employ teachers with higher grades! No key boards untill kids have mastered fluency in language and reading. Give them the tools to learn! It is not rocket science! I read to my classe s 3x a day. We talked about everything. Readi g was modelled. There are 4 ways at least that kids learn, phonetics but not in isolation. Modelling writing, sounding out stories, self correcting; writing shopping lists, adding prices, budgetting.... endless opportunities for a creative kaiako.

[@perceivingacting]

Teach them handwriting and you get phonics for free. The coordination of perception and action is absolutely central to automaticity and learning...anything. In NZ 90% of new teachers have had zero instruction in teaching handwriting!

[@peterwiles1299]

It seems extraordinary, writing and the associated reading was invented 4,000 or more years ago. At least some children and young people will have been learning to read over this time. You would think by now it would be well established what the most effective teaching methods are?

[@perceivingacting]

Not in New Zealand. Too far. Very special.

It is known but if your objective is the breakdown of Western society then you will absolutely not teach kids but push destructive ideology into youg minds.

[@eileencoulter6263]

Michael ,you have to get the kids to school before they can learn,a lot of parents cannot be bothered to get up in the morning,

[@perceivingacting]

How do the top ranked countries compare to the bottom in terms of minutes per day spent teaching reading? The PIRLS 2016 survey revealed New Zealand was teaching reading for over an hour (68 minutes per day). This is about 20 minutes or 50% more than the Top 10 countries (44 minutes)...and even 20% more than the Bottom 10 countries (53 minutes). New Zealand is actually already spending longer on reading instruction than comparable countries but is not seeing comparable outcomes. This hopefully will change with the new curriculum's emphasis on evidence-based, scientifically-supported phonological principles of teaching reading and a reduction and abandonment of the insane whole-word memory-game approach largely followed in NZ. More at m e t a f f o r d a n c e.

[@goaway6339]

It's painful to think that this is being "newly introduced" to the classroom. Oof.

[@asteve4914]

My kids are 7 and 10 and spend half their time doing Te Reo and kapa haka.

[@perceivingacting]

The United States leads countries in the time spent teaching reading to 9-10 year-olds at primary school - on average well over an hour at 109 minutes per day. New Zealand is close to USA's teaching time and on average, in 2016, NZ actually spent OVER AN HOUR teaching reading at 68 minutes per day. However, this does not mean the US or NZ lead other countries in their reading performance. Surprisingly, the US scores are only average performance...while New Zealand's performance is far behind other countries. This is shown in the Table at m e t a f f o r d a n c e. It is not the TIME spent teaching that matters most; what matters is WHAT is done during that space and time. For example, New Zealand leads the world in the amount of "silent reading" that teachers ask their students to do. Are they actually "reading" during this time? The 2016 data showed New Zealand teachers rarely asked their Year 5 students to read aloud and consequently New Zealand had the highest percentage (88%) of students among English language countries who were asked daily to read silently on their own. What are students (and teachers!) actually doing during "silent reading" time?? Table 1 shows, in decreasing order, each country's average test score (PIRLS, 2016 and 2021) and teaching times in minutes per day and hours per year (for 2016, the last year that teaching times were surveyed). PIRLS evaluates students’ reading comprehension skills by reporting a test score and reports the percentage of students reaching four literacy standards or “benchmarks” (thresholds) for assessing the comprehension of texts of increasing complexity: low, intermediate, high, and advanced. New Zealand performs behind most countries on the reading tests. However, the number of NZ students reaching the "advanced" skills benchmark (11%) is comparable to the average. From an analysis of the data without reference to other factors which may have an impact on student outcomes, more teaching time is not necessarily associated with improved outcomes. For example, Sweden, Finland, and Norway spend fewer minutes per day teaching reading than most countries (34, 39, 42 minutes, respectively) but score higher than most countries on all four benchmarks. Canada spends a similar time (66 minutes) to New Zealand but its performance is above that of New Zealand. Interestingly, Canada’s performance is at the international average across benchmarks.

[@goaway6339]

I think the stats suggest that the top kids, who are likely to have highly educated or involved parents reading to them, are comparable with the other top kids internationally. However, it's the kids in the middle or bottom that are being let down by classroom education. If there aren't parents at home with time or ability to dedicate themselves to literacy, then it's up to schools to try and plug that gap. Evidently there's a lot of room for improvement. For interest, I went to primary school in Norway in the early 2000s. I recall reading books in class together. We'd take the books home to show the family, and read them there, but we'd also read them in class around the same time period. The teacher would read aloud, and write tricky words on the board, and be able to answer questions. This wasn't just learning language, but part of culture and history and geography etc. "Silent reading" I don't recall ever really being a thing. Maybe we'd read on our own for 15 minutes (quietly talking with our friend a bit) then it'd be the whole class thing. I remember it, so it must have been pretty OK! Interestingly, at that school the classes never changed year by year. Kids who started school together stayed together. They visited each other's houses in Year 1 as "field trips" to get hot chocolate and pat the dog etc. If a kid had a birthday party, the entire class or at least all of the boys/girls were invited. The teacher was the same. So the social relationships aspects became very secure and student progress was easier to keep track of by observation, not just numbers on a report. I think NZ does students a serious disservice by deliberately mixing them up year after year.

[@sueedwards9334]

Another magical method? When the children you teach lack a good vocabulary in English, have not had books read to them before attending school, and do not come from homes with adults who are literate and can provide a model and also help with their children's learning, no method is guaranteed to succeed. Children entering school with English as a second or additional language, who also have these attributes, will struggle even more.

[@Peter_Pepper_Love]

...too little too L8✋️

[@perceivingacting]

Exactly. And not even enough as most new teachers are clueless as to the phonetic principles of reading.

[@wiebkekoops-ridder5522]

@@perceivingactingnever to late

[@perceivingacting]

@@wiebkekoops-ridder5522 It is when the patient refuses help and the doctors have left the building.

[@wiebkekoops-ridder5522]

@perceivingacting one has to know,a child they need help

[@MG53v8]

You really start reading symbols 1st

[@perceivingacting]

Right. Decoding...matching _sounds_ with visual symbols. Phonics. Phonics. Phonics.

[@HeKutukutuAhi]

Heres my take: we need nz english for young people. The letters and sounds dont translate for them. Teach another language, like Māori; this will aid in understanding of verbs, nouns and sentence structure. Update old school greek and arabic maths into a more clear nz english names. Plausible?

[@mo-p6x]

So, we have a deck of Bee-town swamp creatures in Education of 52. 25 of this deck support one way, the other 25 support the other way, but the same 52 are still in the Education deck...............then you say you will get change......YEAH RIGHT......l have land on the moon....do you wish to buy it????