tag:theconversation.com,2011:/id/topics/pirls-47270/articlesPIRLS – The Conversation2023-12-05T19:24:37Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2187092023-12-05T19:24:37Z2023-12-05T19:24:37ZAre Australian students really falling behind? It depends which test you look at<p>Ask anyone about how Australian students are doing in school and they will likely tell you our results are abysmal and, more importantly, getting progressively worse. </p>
<p>This narrative has been reinforced by sustained reporting within <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00313831.2016.1258726">academia</a> and the <a href="https://www.afr.com/work-and-careers/education/why-australia-s-students-keep-falling-behind-20220928-p5blna">media</a>. It has <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/education/australia-s-long-term-slide-in-reading-maths-and-science-pisa-results-show-20231204-p5ep03.html">only grown</a> with the release of the 2022 Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) <a href="https://www.acer.org/au/pisa?utm_source=acer%20homepage&utm_medium=web&utm_campaign=feature%20box">results</a> on Tuesday evening.</p>
<p>But is this accurate and fair? </p>
<p>This year we independently both published papers looking at Australian students’ results. These papers both reached the same conclusions: students’ scores on the vast majority of standardised assessments were not in decline. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/australian-teenagers-record-steady-results-in-international-tests-but-about-half-are-not-meeting-proficiency-standards-218814">Australian teenagers record steady results in international tests, but about half are not meeting proficiency standards</a>
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<h2>What tests do Australian students do?</h2>
<p>Australian students sit multiple <a href="https://theconversation.com/support-for-standardised-tests-boils-down-to-beliefs-about-who-benefits-from-it-86541">standardised tests</a>. These are tests that are set and scored in a consistent manner. Importantly, scores from one assessment round are statistically “matched” with those from previous rounds, meaning comparisons of average scores over time are possible. </p>
<p>Australian students do NAPLAN in Year 3, Year 5, Year 7 and Year 9. This is a national test that looks at literacy and numeracy skills. </p>
<p>Australian students also sit several international tests. <a href="https://www.oecd.org/education/pisa-2018-results-volume-i-5f07c754-en.htm">PISA</a> aims to measure 15-year-old students’ application of knowledge in maths, science and reading. </p>
<p>They also sit <a href="https://www.acer.org/au/pirls">Progress in International Reading Literacy Study</a> (PIRLS) which looks at Year 4 students’ reading comprehension skills and <a href="https://www.acer.org/au/timss">Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study</a> (TIMSS), which assesses maths and science knowledge in the curriculum in Year 4 and Year 8.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.nap.edu.au/nap-sample-assessments/science-literacy">NAP-SL</a> measures students’ science literacy in Year 6 and Year 10. NSW students also complete <a href="https://education.nsw.gov.au/teaching-and-learning/student-assessment/assessment-and-reporting/about-valid">Validation of Assessment for Learning and Individual Development</a> (VALID) assessments in science based on the NSW syllabus in Year 6, Year 8 and Year 10. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/australias-year-4-students-have-not-lost-ground-on-reading-despite-pandemic-disruptions-205644">Australia’s Year 4 students have not lost ground on reading, despite pandemic disruptions</a>
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<h2>Sally’s research</h2>
<p><a href="https://osf.io/preprints/psyarxiv/hvw3j">Sally’s research</a> documented average scores in the four major standardised assessments in which Australia’s students have participated since 1995. </p>
<p>All but one assessment program (PISA) showed improvements or minimal change in average achievement. </p>
<p>In particular, primary school students’ scores in some of the standardised literacy and numeracy tests, including NAPLAN, PIRLS and TIMSS, have notably improved since the start of testing in each program. </p>
<p>For example, for PIRLS, which tests Year 4 reading skills, the average score for Australian students increased from 527 in 2011 to 544 in 2016 and 540 in 2021 (the difference between 2016 and 2021 is negligible).</p>
<p>Since NAPLAN testing began in 2008, average Year 3 reading achievement has increased by the equivalent of a full year’s progress.</p>
<p>In high school, students’ NAPLAN and TIMSS results have stayed largely the same over the same time span. </p>
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<h2>Helen’s research</h2>
<p><a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11165-023-10129-2">Helen’s research</a> explores the assumption there is a real and significant decline in Australian students’ achievement in science. It looks at assessments of students’ science literacy, including PISA, TIMSS, NAP-SL and VALID. </p>
<p>NAP-SL has no historical data but between the other three assessments, <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11165-023-10129-2/figures/1">there is only a decline</a> for PISA. </p>
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<p>For both TIMSS and VALID, average scores remain stable, though TIMSS reveals improvements during the period PISA scores appreciably decline. Analysis on PISA scores for NSW public school students also reveals no decline.</p>
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<h2>What does this mean?</h2>
<p>So when we talk about a “decline” for Australian results, we are really just talking about a decline in PISA results. While these do indeed show a decline, there are other important factors to consider. </p>
<p>First, PISA is one of many assessments taken by Australian students, each providing important but different information about achievement. As 2023 <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/14749041231151793">research also shows</a>, PISA receives a lot more attention than other international tests. While there is no definitive reason for this, researchers suggest</p>
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<p>the OECD purposefully set out to [give it more attention], branding and marketing the study in such a way to maximise media, public and policy attention.</p>
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<p>A 2020 paper also <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10833-019-09367-x">noted</a> the “growing body” of <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/education/2014/may/06/oecd-pisa-tests-damaging-education-academics">criticism</a> around PISA. </p>
<p>This includes doubts over whether PISA actually measures the quality of education systems and learning, or if it measures something distinct from existing tests. </p>
<p>Comparing scores and ranks is also <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11336-013-9347-z">highly problematic</a> because countries’ scores are not exact. For example, in 2018, Australia’s reading literacy score (503) was considered “<a href="https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/docserver/28450521-en.pdf?expires=1701741601&id=id&accname=guest&checksum=A1F60681CB3F4C0FC5C30ADCE80E97E5">not statistically different</a>” from ten other countries, meaning its rank (16th) could potentially be as high as 11 or as low as 21.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/problems-with-pisa-why-canadians-should-be-skeptical-of-the-global-test-118096">Problems with PISA: Why Canadians should be skeptical of the global test</a>
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<h2>Why we should be cautious</h2>
<p>Australia needs to be cautious about an over-reliance on PISA results. </p>
<p>For example, last month a <a href="https://learningfirst.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/FULL-REPORT-COMBINED.pdf">widely publicised report</a> from educational consultancy Learning First called for an overhaul of Australia’s science curriculum. In part, it based its argument on “deeply disturbing trends” around “sliding performance” on declining PISA results. </p>
<p>So we need to be careful about what these results are used for and how they may be used to justify big changes to policy. </p>
<p>Perhaps most importantly, however, is that the decline narrative diminishes and minimises the difficult and amazing work teachers do. While improvement should always be on the agenda, we should also celebrate our wins whenever we can. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-australian-curriculum-is-copping-fresh-criticism-what-is-it-supposed-to-do-218914">The Australian Curriculum is copping fresh criticism – what is it supposed to do?</a>
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<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/218709/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Helen Georgiou currently receives funding from the NSW Department of Education and The Australian Government (Department of Industry, Science, Energy and Resources)</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sally Larsen does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Two researchers independently studied Australian students’ results. These papers both reached the same conclusions: scores on the vast majority of standardised assessments are not in decline.Helen Georgiou, Senior Lecturer in Science Education, University of WollongongSally Larsen, Lecturer, University of New EnglandLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2062422023-06-06T14:41:59Z2023-06-06T14:41:59ZLearning to read is a journey: a study identifies where South African kids go off track<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/528565/original/file-20230526-27-lw7lyf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">There are several cognitive processes involved in learning to read.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Monkey Business Images/Getty Images</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Any parent who has watched a child learning to read knows that it is a journey. Various skills and processes must come together and build “brick by brick” before a child can read a text and answer questions about it. </p>
<p>A child needs at least two kinds of skills before they can comprehend what they’re reading. These are oral language skills (listening, speaking and knowing how spoken words sound) and decoding skills (knowledge of letter-sound relationships to turn a written word into a spoken word).</p>
<p>When decoding is a slow, laboured process this places <a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/record/1974-29172-001">demands</a> on cognitive processes like working memory. By increasing speed and accuracy in reading, cognitive resources are freed and the child can begin to comprehend what they are reading. </p>
<p>Reading fluency and expanding vocabulary act as the bridge from decoding to comprehension. Weaknesses in any of these building blocks will limit a child’s ability to read for meaning. </p>
<p>There has been a great deal of concern in South Africa about how the country’s grade 4 pupils fared in the 2021 Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS): <a href="https://www.iea.nl/publications/study-reports/international-reports-iea-studies/pirls-2021-international-results">81% did not</a> reach the study’s <a href="https://timssandpirls.bc.edu/pirls2016/international-results/pirls/performance-at-international-benchmarks/low-international-benchmark/index.html">low international benchmark</a>. This suggests they cannot read for meaning. The country placed last out of 57 participating countries.</p>
<p>The study’s findings are a global wake-up call to the <a href="https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/37400">effects of pandemic disruptions</a> on children’s reading comprehension. In South Africa they are also a transparent metric of the education system’s overall performance. The study is conducted every five years and previous results have been useful for <a href="https://www.econ3x3.org/article/education-improving-message-hard-convey">identifying learning improvements</a>.</p>
<p>But PIRLS cannot detect where children are falling behind in their reading. It only assesses written comprehension, which is the final stage in a reading journey. Without knowing which building blocks are not being properly established along the way, the government cannot know where to intervene so that children do not fall further behind.</p>
<p>In a <a href="https://www.academia.edu/101855664/Foundational_skills_in_home_language_reading_in_South_Africa_Empirical_evidence_from_2015_2021">recent study</a>, we’ve shed light on where the reading wheels fall off. We found that far too many children were entering school with weak oral language skills and were acquiring alphabetic knowledge and fluency far too slowly. This limited their reading comprehension and academic progress through school.</p>
<p>Based on our findings, we advocate strongly for systematic phonics instruction in early grades and a national remediation programme to address reading gaps in later primary school years. </p>
<h2>Key findings</h2>
<p>For the study, we compiled reading assessments for over 40,000 South African learners from six studies conducted between 2015 and 2021. While these data are not nationally representative, they are drawn from over 1,000 no-fee-charging schools across six of the country’s nine provinces. They tell us about reading outcomes in typical South African classrooms. In almost all these schools, children are instructed in their home language from grade 1 to grade 3 before a switch to English instruction happens in grade 4.</p>
<p>Children are struggling to master the most basic reading skills in their home language in the foundation phase (grades 1-3). By the end of grade 1, children should know all their letters, and be able to read words and short sentences. Pre-COVID, only 39%-48% of grade 1s assessed in these samples could recognise and sound out at least 26 letters at the end of the year. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/south-africas-10-year-olds-are-struggling-to-read-it-can-be-fixed-206008">South Africa's 10 year-olds are struggling to read -- it can be fixed</a>
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<p>More than 55% of these grade 1s could not read a single word correctly from a grade-level text by the end of the school year. This <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0738059321001334">worsened</a> during the pandemic. Across two samples assessed at the end of grade 1 in 2021, the majority (62% in one study and 78% in the other) could not read one word correctly from a passage of text.</p>
<p>With serious backlogs in basic decoding skills, large percentages of children do not reach minimum grade 3 African language fluency benchmarks. These benchmarks signal a minimum reading speed and accuracy level that must be reached before children can start making sense of what they are reading. </p>
<p>Pre-COVID, just 11%-48% of samples tested at the end of grade 3 (or start of grade 4) were meeting minimum fluency benchmarks in the <a href="https://www.education.gov.za/Portals/0/Documents/Reports/Nguni%20Languages%20Summary%20Report%20V06.pdf?ver=2020-10-28-141736-203">Nguni</a> or <a href="https://www.education.gov.za/Portals/0/Documents/Reports/ReadingBenchmarks22/7.%20Sesotho-Setswana%20Language%20Group%20Benchmarks%20Report.pdf?ver=2022-11-08-150510-457">Sesotho-Setswana</a> language groups. By grade 6, large percentages (35%-46%) of study samples still did not reach the minimum fluency levels set for grade 3.</p>
<h2>Reading success happens from the starting block</h2>
<p>There are some positive findings. </p>
<p>We found strong evidence that reading success is possible when learners master the basics of reading in the first year or two of school. Learners who knew all their letters at the end of grade 1 were on track with their reading by the time they reached grade 4. Learners with very limited letter-sound knowledge at the end of grade 1 were three years behind, only reaching grade 4 reading fluency levels in grade 7. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/south-africas-reading-crisis-5-steps-to-address-childrens-literacy-struggles-205961">South Africa's reading crisis: 5 steps to address children's literacy struggles</a>
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<p>Learners who met minimum <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0738059321000869">fluency benchmarks</a> in their home languages by the end of grade 3 or 4 were in a much better position to comprehend what they were reading by the end of primary school than their peers who did not meet these benchmarks.</p>
<h2>Addressing the gaps</h2>
<p>Reading comprehension is one of the skills that South Africa needs most. It will be in short supply until basic reading skills are taught correctly.</p>
<p>Beyond grade 3, the teaching of basic reading skills in the home language is not included in the school curriculum. Children with weak foundational reading skills by the end of grade 3 will struggle to catch up. </p>
<p>What should be done about this? As the adage goes, “prevention is better than cure”. We need to understand what prevents basic reading skills from being acquired in grade 1 and 2 classrooms. A systemic programme to improve what teachers are taught at university is needed. In classrooms, diagnostic assessment of early grade reading skills can also help to detect where children are falling behind.</p>
<p>Remediation programmes could also help bridge some gaps in later grades. Additional time and support is especially needed to recover lost ground for cohorts that missed out on foundational grade 1-3 teaching time during the pandemic. </p>
<p><em>Lesang Sebaeng, Assistant Director: Research, Coordination, Monitoring and Evaluation with the Department of Basic Education, co-authored this article and the research it is based on. The findings and conclusions here are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect positions held by the department.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/206242/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Gabrielle acknowledges funding for the research study from the Economic and Social Research Council (grant ES/T007583/1) and Allan and Gill Gray South Africa Philanthropy. The findings and conclusions are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect positions or policies of the funders. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Cally Ardington acknowledges funding for the research study from the Economic and Social Research Council (grant ES/T007583/1) and Allan and Gill Gray South Africa Philanthropy. </span></em></p>Reading fluency and expanding vocabulary are the bridge from decoding to comprehension. Weaknesses in any of these building blocks will limit a child’s ability to read for meaning.Gabrielle Wills, Senior researcher at Research on Socio-Economic Policy, Stellenbosch UniversityCally Ardington, Professor at Southern Africa Labour and Development Research Unit, University of Cape TownLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2059972023-05-23T20:10:53Z2023-05-23T20:10:53Z10 ways to help the boys in your life read for enjoyment (not just for school)<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/527450/original/file-20230522-29-6xbo0e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=10%2C0%2C6689%2C4426&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Karolina Grabowska/Pexels</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Reading is a critical skill for school and life beyond it.
Young people need strong reading skills to <a href="https://www.hbe.com.au/hb6449.html">learn and demonstrate their learning</a>. Reading skills are not just about performing well in subjects such as English. They are related to performance in subjects like <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09500693.2021.2007552">science</a> and <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0883035519327636">maths</a>. </p>
<p>When it comes to reading, girls typically do better than boys.
This was highlighted by the results of a <a href="https://www.acer.org/au/pirls/key-findings">major international test</a> on reading skills, released last week.</p>
<p>The Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) test, <a href="https://research.acer.edu.au/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1006&context=pirl">found</a> Australian girls in Year 4 scored on average 17 points higher than Australian boys in the same year. </p>
<p>There was also a gap in terms of attitudes to reading. While more than a third of Australian girls “<a href="https://pirls2021.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/files/PIRLS-2021-International-Results-in-Reading.pdf">very much like reading</a>” according to the PIRLS study, less than a quarter of boys feel the same. </p>
<h2>Attitudes toward reading matter</h2>
<p>Research consistently <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11145-018-9907-9">makes a link between</a> students’ reading skills and their attitudes toward reading. If students <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10648-023-09719-3">are more motivated</a> to read, they read more often and <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s35834-022-00376-0">build</a> their reading comprehension skills and vocabulary. </p>
<p>According to Australian Bureau of Statistics data released last month, girls (aged five to 14 years) are also <a href="https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/people/people-and-communities/cultural-and-creative-activities/2021-22">more likely than boys</a> to read for pleasure (77% compared with 68%). </p>
<p>To close the gender performance gap and enhance the performance of boys, we need to get more boys reading for fun. </p>
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<h2>Why is there an attitude gap?</h2>
<p>One reason is boys and girls are brought up differently when it comes to reading. </p>
<p>A 2016 study of Canadian, US and UK parents found they spend more time reading with pre-school <a href="https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1086/688899">daughters than sons</a>. So, while we teach young girls to see themselves as lifelong readers, many boys miss out. </p>
<p>Then as children move into primary school, even though boys read less often, they also receive <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/01930826.2018.1514841">less parental encouragement to read</a> than girls.</p>
<p>Some boys think that reading is <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0004944118779615?journalCode=aeda">no longer important</a> for them once they know how to do it.</p>
<h2>What can we do?</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.abc-clio.com/products/a5940p/">Parents, guardians and relatives</a> can play an important role in helping boys see themselves as readers, but once boys can read on their own, this role can be unclear. </p>
<p>Like any skill, sustained reading experiences are needed for reading skills to be both maintained and developed. </p>
<p>We cannot assume boys have opportunities for sustained reading for pleasure at school, as even when <a href="https://search.informit.org/doi/10.3316/INFORMIT.702325343670795">silent reading</a> is timetabled in the school day.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/school-phone-bans-seem-obvious-but-could-make-it-harder-for-kids-to-use-tech-in-healthy-ways-204111">School phone bans seem obvious but could make it harder for kids to use tech in healthy ways</a>
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<h2>Ten tips to encourage reading</h2>
<p>Here are some steps you can take to encourage the boys in your life to read, and improve their attitudes toward reading. </p>
<p><strong>1. Take your boys to the local library</strong></p>
<p><a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11145-022-10389-w">Joint library visits</a> can encourage children to read more often, and as children move through the years of schooling, boys are less likely than girls to <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/01930826.2017.1340774?journalCode=wjla20">visit the library</a> in their free time. </p>
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<img alt="A mother looks at library books with her young son and daughter" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/527455/original/file-20230522-15-lhcxkb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/527455/original/file-20230522-15-lhcxkb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=390&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527455/original/file-20230522-15-lhcxkb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=390&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527455/original/file-20230522-15-lhcxkb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=390&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527455/original/file-20230522-15-lhcxkb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=490&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527455/original/file-20230522-15-lhcxkb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=490&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527455/original/file-20230522-15-lhcxkb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=490&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Going to the library with your son can help motivate them to read.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Rachel Claire/Pexels</span></span>
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<p><strong>2. Encourage reading, even after they learn to read</strong></p>
<p>Make sure your child knows reading is still important <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0004944118779615?journalCode=aeda">even after</a> they can do it by themselves. Keep up the encouragement, and encourage boys as well as girls.</p>
<p><strong>3. Keep reading together</strong></p>
<p>Don’t stop <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0004944117727749?journalCode=aeda">reading aloud</a> just because he can read by himself. Opportunities to read with parents can lead boys to have a positive attitude toward reading, and value shared time spent reading together. </p>
<p><strong>4. Talk about books and share book recommendations</strong></p>
<p>Keeping reading for pleasure in focus rather than reading for testing. Some children begin to see reading is something purely <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1111/17548845.2016.11912584">done for testing</a>, making reading seem like a chore.</p>
<p><strong>5. Show them you read for fun</strong></p>
<p>The PIRLS report also found a positive link between parents <a href="https://pirls2021.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/files/PIRLS-2021-International-Results-in-Reading.pdf">liking books</a> and their child’s reading achievement. So, show your children you read and read for fun. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="An adult holds a book with one hand and pats a cat with the other." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/527463/original/file-20230522-21-by2qo7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/527463/original/file-20230522-21-by2qo7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527463/original/file-20230522-21-by2qo7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527463/original/file-20230522-21-by2qo7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527463/original/file-20230522-21-by2qo7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527463/original/file-20230522-21-by2qo7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527463/original/file-20230522-21-by2qo7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Parents can model positive reading behaviour around their children.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Sam Lion/Pexels</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><strong>6. Encourage holiday reading</strong></p>
<p>Encourage boys to read during <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02702711.2010.505165">the school holidays</a>. During these times, children’s reading skills may decline as they are not being sustained and developed.</p>
<p><strong>7. Go to the experts</strong></p>
<p>Not sure what your child might like to read? Ask the teacher librarians at your school. They are <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/04250494.2018.1558030">experts</a> at connecting struggling and disengaged readers with books that meet their interest and ability levels. </p>
<p><strong>8. Fiction and non-fiction are both great</strong></p>
<p>The stereotype that all boys prefer to read non-fiction is <a href="https://search.informit.org/doi/abs/10.3316/aeipt.215021">not true</a>. <a href="https://bera-journals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/berj.3498">Fiction books</a> offer literacy benefits as well as building social skills such as <a href="https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/COMM.2009.025/html">empathy</a>.
That being said, non-fiction is great, too. Reading <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11145-023-10446-y">non-fiction books</a> for pleasure was also recently linked with “high reading performance, especially among the male students”.</p>
<p><strong>9. Dads especially need to read</strong></p>
<p><a href="https://ila.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/trtr.1703">Fathers and male influences</a> need to play a greater role in encouraging boys to read. While 49% of teens felt their mother encouraged them to read, <a href="https://ila.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/jaal.273">only 25% of fathers</a> were playing this role. </p>
<p><strong>10. Have lots of books around the house</strong></p>
<p>Having a <a href="https://research.acer.edu.au/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1006&context=pirls">home with many books</a> (more than 200) is related to reading achievement, and access to books in the home is linked to improved attitudes toward and frequency of reading, <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1111/17548845.2015.11912542">particularly in boys</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A lounge chair next to bookshelves." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/527456/original/file-20230522-27-lbshhv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/527456/original/file-20230522-27-lbshhv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527456/original/file-20230522-27-lbshhv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527456/original/file-20230522-27-lbshhv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527456/original/file-20230522-27-lbshhv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527456/original/file-20230522-27-lbshhv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527456/original/file-20230522-27-lbshhv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Having lots of books in the home is linked to children reading more.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>It’s not ‘just boys’</h2>
<p>Finally, it’s important to note while the gender gap in performance and attitudes exists, there are also many girls who are disengaged from reading. <a href="https://research.acer.edu.au/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1006&context=pirls">More than one in five</a> Australian girls do not like reading. There are also <a href="https://research.acer.edu.au/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1006&context=pirls">other concerning gaps</a> that deserve our attention related to First Nations background, geographic location and socioeconomic status. </p>
<p>We should encourage <em>all</em> children to regularly read for pleasure so that they can build the strong literacy skills needed to <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/01930826.2023.2177923">understand and critically evaluate</a> the large volumes of written material they will encounter in their lives today and in the future.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/205997/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Margaret Kristin Merga has received past funding from the BUPA Health Foundation, the Ian Potter Foundation, the Copyright Agency Cultural Fund, Edith Cowan University and the Collier Foundation. She is the Patron of the Australian School Library Association and the Western Australian School Library Association. She also runs Merga Consulting, working with schools, Departments and professional associations to deliver parent seminars, staff professional development and planning advisory support.</span></em></p>Girls don’t just outperform boys when it comes to reading skills. They also say they like reading more than their male counterparts.Margaret Kristin Merga, Honorary Senior Lecturer, School of Education, University of NewcastleLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2060082023-05-22T14:53:35Z2023-05-22T14:53:35ZSouth Africa’s 10 year-olds are struggling to read – it can be fixed<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/527278/original/file-20230519-29-zuh178.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">While there's no single solution to the crisis, a range of approaches can help to bolster children's literacy.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Kobus Louw/Getty Images</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>More than 80% of South Africa’s grade 4 pupils – who are on average nine or 10 years old – cannot read for meaning. That means they can’t answer basic questions about or draw inferences from a text they’re reading. This worrying statistic emerged from the 2021 <a href="https://pirls2021.org/">Progress in International Reading Literacy Study</a> (PIRLS), which <a href="https://www.news24.com/news24/southafrica/news/in-numbers-sa-produces-one-of-worst-global-reading-results-among-over-50-countries-20230516">were released</a> by the country’s basic education minister, Angie Motshekga, on 16 May.</em></p>
<p><em>The Conversation Africa asked Karen Roux, a specialist in reading literacy and development of equivalent assessments, to unpack the results.</em></p>
<hr>
<h2>What is the purpose of the study?</h2>
<p>It’s an international large-scale assessment which provides participating countries with comparisons across education systems. Perhaps more importantly, it also allows countries to monitor trends over time and indicators of growth in the early years of children’s education. The assessments are conducted in five-year intervals; more than 50 countries participate. Only three African countries participated in the latest cycle: South Africa, Egypt and Morocco.</p>
<p>One of the main objectives for South African education authorities and researchers was to compare how well grade 4 learners read, across the country’s 11 official languages and its nine provinces. This information is vital to government bodies, policy-makers, non-government organisations, and scholars – it can be used to identify strengths and weaknesses and to address curriculum or policy shortcomings.</p>
<h2>How did South Africa fare?</h2>
<p>The PIRLS 2021 study showed that 81% of South African grade 4 pupils, across all 11 official languages, cannot read for meaning. Five years earlier, in the <a href="https://pirls2016.org/wp-content/uploads/encyclopedia-pirls/downloadcenter/3.%20Country%20Chapters/South%20Africa.pdf">2016 study</a>, the figure stood at 78%.</p>
<p>The latest results indicate that eight out of 10 grade 4 children did not reach the <a href="https://pirls2021.org/results/international-benchmarks/">Low International Benchmark</a>, where they are expected to read a piece of text and locate and retrieve explicitly stated information. For example, the text would say “octopuses sometimes even make rock ‘doors’ for their dens that can be pulled closed to keep them safe” and the question would ask “what do octopuses use to make doors for their dens?” </p>
<p>The texts used in these tests came from all over the world, submitted by the participating countries. Twelve were trend texts; they were used in previous PIRLS cycles. Six new tests were developed. All countries got the same tests. </p>
<h2>What explains South Africa’s performance?</h2>
<p>The study happened in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic, when schools all over the world had to close for a period of time. It was to be expected that school closures would cause <a href="https://theconversation.com/heres-how-much-learning-south-african-children-lost-in-the-pandemic-183659">learning losses</a> – that is, what pupils ought to have gained over a normal year of schooling, versus what they actually learned.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/covid-learning-losses-what-south-africas-education-system-must-focus-on-to-recover-176622">COVID learning losses: what South Africa's education system must focus on to recover</a>
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<p>In low- and middle-income countries, including South Africa, the pandemic <a href="https://blogs.worldbank.org/education/learning-loss-covid-sub-saharan-africa-evidence-malawi">exacerbated</a> existing learning losses. Some scholars <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0738059321001334">suggest</a> that learning losses also include the “deterioration” of accumulated knowledge that is lost over time.</p>
<h2>COVID disruptions weren’t unique to South Africa, so what explains its poor outcomes?</h2>
<p>It is a (less than) perfect storm of problems. COVID was just part of it. There are also issues with how teachers are being trained to teach languages; parents not instilling a love of reading in their children from a young age, or being involved as they are taught to read at school; and <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-south-africa-can-disrupt-its-deeply-rooted-educational-inequality-48531">inadequate school and classroom resources</a>, especially in poorer schools.</p>
<p>The country’s <a href="https://www.gov.za/sites/default/files/gcis_document/201409/languageeducationpolicy19971.pdf">school language policy</a> also likely plays a role. In South Africa, the language of learning and teaching in the early grades is meant to be the language that the pupils speak at home. However, this is not always the case; classrooms, especially in urban areas, are full of pupils speaking diverse languages – not just isiXhosa or isiZulu, for instance, but these and other African languages. </p>
<p>Then, just as the pupils are getting the hang of the language used in the early grades, they switch to English in grade 4. The foundation is not yet laid for one language before this shift happens, so the pupils struggle with the new language (English).</p>
<p><a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6168212/">Language acquisition theories suggest</a> that before mastering a second language, the child must first have a solid foundation in their first, or home, language.</p>
<h2>Can this crisis be turned around?</h2>
<p>It’s been done elsewhere. </p>
<p>Brazil, which like South Africa is classified as an <a href="https://data.worldbank.org/?locations=ZA-XT">upper-middle class income country</a>, has been working hard on improving education. One of its poorest states, Ceará, has made huge strides in boosting literacy and numeracy. In <a href="https://documents1.worldbank.org/curated/en/540371593598919465/pdf/From-Bad-to-Best-How-One-State-and-One-Municipality-in-Brazil-are-Eradicating-Illiteracy-and-Innumeracy.pdf">a report about</a> the process, the World Bank writes: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>It began with political leadership. Ceará’s government placed learning at the center of the education policy with a series of reforms under three categories.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>These three categories were: (1) incentives for municipalities to better their education outcomes; (2) extensive support from the state’s literacy programme for municipally run schools and (3) regular results monitoring.</p>
<p>As this approach shows, there’s no one solution to solve any country’s reading crisis. But political will is key. So, too, is ensuring the equitable provision of reading resources to South African schools – developed in African languages and grade appropriate. African language experts and storytellers should be the key source here. </p>
<p>Another thing that should be considered is a revision of the current <a href="https://www.education.gov.za/Portals/0/CD/National%20Curriculum%20Statements%20and%20Vocational/CAPS%20IP%20%20HOME%20ENGLISH%20GR%204-6%20%20WEB.pdf?ver=2015-01-27-160412-720">curriculum policy</a> for the early grades, introduced in 2012. The amount of time available for the skill of reading is extremely limited. Only six hours per week are allocated for home language, but this is divided into the different skills that learners must be competent in: listening and speaking, reading and viewing, writing and presenting, as well as language structures and conventions.</p>
<p>That leaves pupils with about five hours in a two-week period to work on reading. This time should be extended.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/206008/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Karen Roux works for the University of Pretoria. She is affiliated with Literacy Association of South Africa. </span></em></p>Political will is key to tackling pupils’ literacy struggles.Karen Roux, Senior Lecturer in Assessment and Quality Assurance, University of PretoriaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2056442023-05-16T10:57:52Z2023-05-16T10:57:52ZAustralia’s Year 4 students have not lost ground on reading, despite pandemic disruptions<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/526371/original/file-20230516-23-s3vsmi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C5184%2C3422&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Australia’s Year 4 students have not lost ground on their reading skills, despite all the disruptions to schooling during the pandemic. </p>
<p>A <a href="https://www.acer.org/au/pirls/key-findings">major international test has found</a> about 80% of students have “more than elementary” skills in reading comprehension. This is the same result Australian students recorded in the <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/national/australias-reading-levels-improve-significantly-but-only-for-the-top-readers-20171205-gzytr2.html">last round of PIRLS testing in 2016</a>.</p>
<p>But reading performance among students from disadvantaged backgrounds and rural areas still tends to be lower than among other students. </p>
<p>What do the PIRLS results tell us? And how can we improve reading skills?</p>
<h2>Why is PIRLS important?</h2>
<p>The <a href="https://www.acer.org/au/pirls">Progress in International Reading Literacy Study</a> – PIRLS for short – is an international assessment of Year 4 students’ reading comprehension skills. It is one of three international assessments Australia participates in, along with the <a href="https://www.acer.org/au/timss">Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS)</a>, which covers maths and science in Year 4 and Year 8, and the <a href="https://www.acer.org/au/pisa">Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA)</a>, which assesses reading, mathematics and science in 15-year-olds. </p>
<p>These assessments involve a nationally representative, random selection of schools and students. The results provide an overview of how different groups of students are performing in these key areas of learning, both within and between countries. </p>
<p>Unlike NAPLAN, these assessments are not designed to report on individual students’ performance.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A teacher works with young students on a reading task." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/526382/original/file-20230516-23-nv7ksc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/526382/original/file-20230516-23-nv7ksc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/526382/original/file-20230516-23-nv7ksc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/526382/original/file-20230516-23-nv7ksc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/526382/original/file-20230516-23-nv7ksc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/526382/original/file-20230516-23-nv7ksc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/526382/original/file-20230516-23-nv7ksc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">The PIRLS study is one of three major international tests Australia participates in.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
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</figure>
<h2>What does PIRLS measure?</h2>
<p>PIRLS has been conducted about every five years since 2001, and Australia has taken part since 2011. It focuses on Year 4 students because many students at this level are moving on from learning to read and are now reading to learn.</p>
<p>In other words, they are now fairly comfortable with the mechanics of reading, and more of their learning will require them to interact with text – whether searching the internet for information about a certain country or discussing the experiences of a lead character in a novel.</p>
<p>The Year 4 students who participate in PIRLS each read two texts – either two narrative texts, like a short story; two non-fiction texts, like a short article; or one of each.</p>
<p>They then answer a set of questions about the content, style and purpose of those texts. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/research-shows-the-importance-of-parents-reading-with-children-even-after-children-can-read-82756">Research shows the importance of parents reading with children – even after children can read</a>
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<h2>How did Australia go?</h2>
<p>The 2021 PIRLS assessment was conducted in the midst of the COVID pandemic, which saw interruptions to normal schooling in many participating countries, including Australia.</p>
<p>In Australia, 281 schools and 5,487 students were involved.</p>
<p>Australia’s average score was 540 points. This was statistically similar to Australia’s average score in 2016 (544 points) and higher than the average score in 2011 (527 points).</p>
<p>The 2021 result is also significantly higher than the average scores of 28 other countries, including Germany, New Zealand and France. </p>
<p>Australia scored lower than average scores for six other countries: Singapore, Hong Kong and England (who tested in English) as well as Russia, Finland and Poland. </p>
<p>Twenty-one countries, including usually strong performers like Russia and Finland, <a href="https://timss.bc.edu/pirls2021/index.html">recorded significant drops</a> in their average score since 2016.</p>
<h2>Meeting the ‘proficient standard’</h2>
<p>Australian students also held their ground when it came to the proportion who met the <a href="https://acara.edu.au/docs/default-source/default-document-library/measurement-framework-2020-amended-may-12-2022.pdf?sfvrsn=4ddc4c07_0">Australian “proficient standard”</a> for reading. This involves students demonstrating “more than elementary skills expected at that year level”.</p>
<p>About <a href="https://www.acer.org/au/pirls/key-findings">80% of Australian students</a> met or exceeded the proficient standard in 2021, as they did in 2016. Students at this level can make straightforward inferences, interpret reasons for characters’ feelings or actions, and provide information about central ideas within texts. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A young girls reads on a towel on the grass." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/526383/original/file-20230516-19-cr44y0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/526383/original/file-20230516-19-cr44y0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=417&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/526383/original/file-20230516-19-cr44y0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=417&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/526383/original/file-20230516-19-cr44y0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=417&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/526383/original/file-20230516-19-cr44y0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=524&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/526383/original/file-20230516-19-cr44y0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=524&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/526383/original/file-20230516-19-cr44y0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=524&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Students who say they enjoy reading tend to perform better in the PIRLS testing.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Skylar Zilka/Unsplash</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>We still have 20% of students behind</h2>
<p>At the same time, this means we still have about 20% of students who do not meet the proficient standard, compared to just one in ten in the highest performing countries, such as Singapore, Hong Kong and Russia. </p>
<p>These figures increase if students are from an equity group. </p>
<p>For example, 42% of students in remote schools, 40% of First Nations students and 31% of students in disadvantaged schools did not meet the proficient standard. </p>
<h2>How can we improve?</h2>
<p>The <a href="https://timssandpirls.bc.edu/pirls2016/international-results/pirls/summary/">PIRLS study</a> highlights behaviours, attitudes and strategies that seem to be associated with higher scores on the reading assessment.</p>
<p>Students <a href="https://research.acer.edu.au/pirls/7/">who tell us</a> they enjoy reading, are confident readers or are engaged during their reading lessons tend to perform at higher levels than young people who do not enjoy reading, aren’t confident or aren’t engaged during their reading lessons. </p>
<p>Students in classrooms where teachers report students are tired, disruptive, uninterested or don’t have the prerequisite skills or knowledge they need tend to score lower than students in classes that aren’t impacted by these factors.</p>
<p>And students in schools where principals tell us most students have early literacy skills (like knowing letters or reading short words) before starting school tend to score higher, on average, than students in schools where fewer students have early literacy skills when they start school.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/what-is-that-voice-in-your-head-when-you-read-203379">What is that voice in your head when you read?</a>
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<hr>
<p>Australia’s achievement in PIRLS 2021 is a good result in the context of the pandemic and a testament to our teachers’ dedication and professionalism.</p>
<p>Ultimately, though, every child deserves the chance to become a competent reader. Early support for students who find reading challenging is essential to prevent them falling behind in other learning areas, and if we hope to see improvement on future national and international assessments.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/205644/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kylie Hillman is affiliated with the Australian Council for Educational Research, who are the National Project Managers for PIRLS. The report is released on behalf of the Australia, state and territory governments, however the views expressed in this article are those of the author.</span></em></p>A major international test has found about 80% of students have “more than elementary” skills in reading comprehension. This is the same result Australian students recorded in 2016.Kylie Hillman, Senior Research Fellow, Australian Council for Educational ResearchLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1322802020-03-11T13:25:19Z2020-03-11T13:25:19ZNew evidence supports the belief that South Africa’s education is not all bad<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/317068/original/file-20200225-24668-6ae9cz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Global education assessments show that South Africa's education system is moving upward.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Getty Images</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>In the past few years, there has been uncertainty around whether the learning outcomes of South Africa’s schools are improving from their historically low levels.</p>
<p>There are three testing programmes South Africa can draw from to gauge trends, and all are international: the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS), focusing on Grade 9; the Southern and Eastern Africa Consortium for Monitoring Educational Quality (SEACMEQ), focusing on Grade 6; and the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS), focusing on Grade 4. </p>
<p>In 2012, <a href="http://www.hsrc.ac.za/en/research-outputs/view/6480">TIMSS results</a> pointed to substantial improvements in lower secondary maths and science since 2002. A few years later, <a href="https://www.education.gov.za/Portals/0/Documents/Reports/SACMEQ%20IV%20Project%20in%20South%20Africa%20Report.pdf?ver=2017-09-08-152617-090">SEACMEQ revealed</a> improvements in the upper primary level. </p>
<p>Then in late 2017 came the news from PIRLS that reading in lower primary had remained <a href="https://www.up.ac.za/media/shared/164/ZP_Files/pirls-literacy-2016_grade-4_15-dec-2017_low-quality.zp137684.pdf">static between 2011 and 2016</a>. Was the schooling system not starting to pick up after all? The evidence was inconsistent and unclear. </p>
<p>In late 2019, I was asked by South Africa’s Department of Basic Education, the national authority for schools, to examine the raw data from the literacy study, which are <a href="https://timssandpirls.bc.edu/pirls2016/international-database/index.html">publicly available</a>, to verify the flat no-change trend. </p>
<p>My <a href="https://ideas.repec.org/p/sza/wpaper/wpapers337.html">findings</a> were surprising. The raw data appeared not to have been properly analysed in arriving at the conclusion that there was no progress. In fact, the progress was remarkably large. </p>
<p>It’s important to note, however, that even after improvements, South Africa still underperforms relative to most other middle income countries. What’s encouraging is that there’s a move in the right direction. </p>
<h2>Inconsistencies</h2>
<p>Testing done by programmes such as these involves selecting a nationally representative sample of around 300 schools in one year, and another such sample in a later year. Students in these schools write tests which repeat identical and highly confidential questions across different years. </p>
<p>This is what makes results comparable in ways that would never be possible in an examination system. It would be impossible to keep past examination papers secret. </p>
<p>If samples of schools are not nationally representative, that could result in national averages which are not comparable over time. </p>
<p>Was this perhaps driving a no-change trend in the Grade 4 literacy results? </p>
<p>Sampling problems had been found to produce <a href="https://johnjerrim.files.wordpress.com/2013/07/final_paper.pdf">inaccurate trends</a> in a few cases outside South Africa.</p>
<p>I <a href="https://ideas.repec.org/p/sza/wpaper/wpapers337.html">found</a> there was nothing wrong with the sampling in the literacy study. But what was completely unexpected was to find that the 2011 to 2016 trend in classical scores didn’t correspond to the flat trend appearing in the study’s official reports. Classical scores are what teachers would be familiar with: 15 correct out of 30, meaning a 50% score. </p>
<p>These testing programmes use a complex statistical approach which results in another kind of score, called an item response theory score. As seen in the graph below, officially South Africa’s item response theory score in the study moved from 323 to 320. </p>
<p>The classical scores, in contrast, pointed to a large increase over the 2011 to 2016 period, from around 32% correct to 42% correct. Of 43 countries with a 2011 to 2016 trend, South Africa’s trend was the third-steepest increase, after those of Morocco and Oman. If correctly calculated, the item response theory scores should have pointed to a similar gain.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/319559/original/file-20200310-61060-vax85q.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/319559/original/file-20200310-61060-vax85q.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=439&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/319559/original/file-20200310-61060-vax85q.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=439&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/319559/original/file-20200310-61060-vax85q.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=439&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/319559/original/file-20200310-61060-vax85q.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=551&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/319559/original/file-20200310-61060-vax85q.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=551&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/319559/original/file-20200310-61060-vax85q.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=551&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The data.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Provided by the author</span></span>
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</figure>
<p>The inconsistency came about when the 2011 national score was converted from one scale to another by Boston College, the institution responsible for processing the data. This conversion affected only South Africa, as only South Africa took part in an easier test in 2011 and also participated in the study in 2016. </p>
<p>In early 2020, all references to the no-change finding were removed from the <a href="http://timssandpirls.bc.edu/pirls2016/international-results/wp-content/uploads/structure/CompletePDF/P16-PIRLS-International-Results-in-Reading.pdf">international report</a> in response to the findings described here. Unfortunately, given that the erroneous trend was published in 2017, it remains replicated in many places. </p>
<p>The correction has important policy implications for South Africa. It removes the uncertainty. All three programmes now point in the same direction, which is upward. This offers hope in a context where South Africa’s underperformance in the international programmes is widely known and <a href="https://ideas.repec.org/p/sza/wpaper/wpapers255.html">lamented</a>. </p>
<h2>What changed?</h2>
<p>What lies behind the improvement? It’s a mix of education and non-education factors. Urbanisation has improved the access of young people to resources which facilitate learning, from electricity in the home to public libraries. In the schooling system, there’s <a href="https://www.education.gov.za/Portals/0/Documents/Reports/20191104_GHS_final.pdf?ver=2019-11-04-111833-313">evidence</a> that access to textbooks has improved. Curriculum <a href="https://evaluations.dpme.gov.za/evaluations/601">reforms</a> have made it clearer what teachers should do. </p>
<p>Not acknowledging that there are improvements raises the risk of policy change, where perhaps policy stability is necessary. On the other hand, South Africa’s historical levels of performance have been so low that it would have been relatively easy to shift scores in the right direction. For further improvement to be assured, it can’t just be business as usual. </p>
<p>Research <a href="https://www.education.gov.za/Programmes/EarlyGradeReadingStudy.aspx">indicates</a> that better teaching of reading in the early grades, a prerequisite for virtually everything else in education, is possible and necessary. </p>
<h2>Understanding the limits</h2>
<p>In a <a href="https://sdg.uis.unesco.org/2020/01/30/benchmarks-using-data-to-set-evidence-based-targets-to-improve-learning-proficiency/#more-1836">recent report</a> on the attainability of the Sustainable Development Goals in the area of educational quality, I looked at what historical trends across the world suggest are the fastest possible rates of improvement in the international testing systems.</p>
<p>South Africa is in fact making progress not too far from the “speed limit”. An inconvenient truth about schooling systems is that when they progress, they are more like tortoises than hares. This has implications for testing programmes which monitor systemic progress. They need to be sufficiently rigorous and fine-tuned to pick up even relatively small gains. </p>
<p>During the past 20 years, the quality of South African schooling <a href="http://www.myemissions.co.za/facebook.php#timssgraph">progressed</a> from a level well below that of Botswana, to almost the level of Botswana. But Botswana too is an underperformer relative to income per capita. </p>
<p>Both countries need to improve the quality of teaching and learning much further. A proper basic schooling for all citizens is a human right. And the evidence is clear that quality schooling also bodes well for <a href="https://www.oecd.org/pisa/44417824.pdf">socio-economic development</a> in the long run.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/132280/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Martin Gustafsson works for Stellenbosch University and the South African Government. He has moreover done work for the UNESCO Institute for Statistics. He receives funding from the National Research Foundation, through his work with Research on Socio-Economic Policy (ReSEP), based at the University of Stellenbosch. </span></em></p>New insights show that South Africa’s education system is heading in the right direction.Martin Gustafsson, Education economist, Stellenbosch UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1169972019-05-15T05:16:24Z2019-05-15T05:16:24ZThe Coalition’s $10 million for Year 1 phonics checks would be wasted money<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/274286/original/file-20190514-60529-yiaicx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Children who love reading generally score higher on literacy tests than those who are ambivalent about it.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">from shutterstock.com</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The <a href="https://www.liberal.org.au/our-plan-quality-education">Coalition says</a>, if re-elected, it will invest A$10.8 million for “a Year 1 voluntary phonics health check for parents and teachers to ensure their children are not falling behind”. The aim of this is to lift Australia’s literacy standards.</p>
<p>But data about Australian children’s literacy rates tells a different story to the one pushed by the Coalition. Before the Coalition’s announcement, a <a href="https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/push-to-overhaul-teacher-training-to-help-kids-read/news-story/49d7ad6b8ccd653802df0090b4bf6a26">story</a> in The Australian newspaper drew attention to Australia’s performance in the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) – which helps inform policymakers where Australian children stand on international benchmarks. </p>
<p>The report shows one in five Australian children fail to reach the proficiency level in reading. But such findings are only part of the story. The (<a href="https://research.acer.edu.au/pirls/2/">PIRLS</a>) report also found 16% of Australian students reached the advanced benchmark, while 35% performed at the high benchmark and a further 30% reached the intermediate benchmark. </p>
<p>Phonics is already taught to children. What these data highlight is that literacy in Australia is both high quality, but low equity. The government would be better investing its millions in initiatives that support an approach to teaching that targets inequality, as well as supporting students at the intermediate benchmark to develop the skills to rise to the high benchmark. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/explainer-what-is-phonics-and-why-is-it-important-70522">Explainer: what is phonics and why is it important?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Phonics, again!</h2>
<p>Teaching phonics, in the broad sense, is <a href="https://theconversation.com/explainer-what-is-phonics-and-why-is-it-important-70522">teaching children the sounds</a> made by individual letters or letter groups (for example, the letter “c” makes a k sound), and teaching children how to blend sounds together to make a word (for example, blending the sounds k, a, t makes CAT).</p>
<p>The proposal for a phonics test has been around for some time. The 2016 federal budget <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/education/back-to-basics-phonics-test-to-be-rolled-out-in-australian-schools-20161123-gsvoxs.html">allocated money</a> for Australia to adopt a similar <a href="https://www.gov.uk/education/phonics">phonics screening check</a> that’s been used in the United Kingdom from 2012. The UK test asks children to read a list of 20 real words (such as baker, thrill and plastic) and 20 nonsense words (such as roopt, jound and scrope) to see if children can match sounds to letters.</p>
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<p>The proposal to fund a voluntary online open-access phonics “health check” that can be administered by parents assumes teachers aren’t assessing children’s early reading knowledge and skills. This is wrong. Early years teachers implement a range of ongoing checks, including phonics checks. </p>
<p>They are trained to implement and monitor assessment and use their expert knowledge of each child to make decisions about what they will assess, and when they will do so. Each state and territory already produces a detailed range of <a href="https://www.qcaa.qld.edu.au/p-10/qld-curriculum/p-10-literacy-numeracy/indicators-monitoring-maps">early assessment indicators</a> and monitoring maps. </p>
<p>The Coalition’s proposal also assumes a phonics check will add value to early years teachers’ monitoring and assessment. But an <a href="https://www.newman.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/09/The-Phonics-Screening-Check-2012-2017-Final-Report.pdf">independent inquiry</a> into the UK phonics screening check found 94% of participating teachers said that the phonics check did not provide any information on individual children which they did not already know.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/a-new-phonics-test-is-pointless-we-shouldnt-waste-precious-money-buying-it-from-england-69355">A new phonics test is pointless – we shouldn't waste precious money buying it from England</a>
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</p>
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<h2>Interpreting the data</h2>
<p>The literacy benchmarks in the PIRLS report need to be understood in relation to other reported measures. For example, the <a href="https://research.acer.edu.au/pirls/2/">PIRLS data also include</a> a number of scales about children’s experiences in Australian schools, which are correlated with their literacy benchmark scores . </p>
<p>For instance, students who highly felt they “belonged” at school scored 37% higher than those “with little sense of belonging”. Students who indicated they “very much like reading” also scored significantly higher in reading, on average, than students who said they “somewhat like reading”, who in turn scored higher on average than students who “do not like reading”.</p>
<p>The test also reveals strong correlations between high achieving students and social factors. For instance, students attending more affluent schools scored 61 points higher, on average, than students attending more disadvantaged schools. Of concern, but not a surprising finding, was that students who reported arriving at school hungry every day scored 41 points lower, on average, than students who never arrived at school hungry. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/what-happens-when-kids-dont-eat-breakfast-33311">What happens when kids don't eat breakfast?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Teaching phonics to teachers</h2>
<p>The story in <a href="https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/push-to-overhaul-teacher-training-to-help-kids-read/news-story/49d7ad6b8ccd653802df0090b4bf6a26">The Australian</a> that drew attention to Australian children’s low rating in PIRLS pointed the blame at early years teachers who apparently were not teaching phonics, and university-based literacy teacher educators who weren’t teaching the teachers to teach phonics.</p>
<p>A re-elected Coalition government has promised to </p>
<blockquote>
<p>ensure phonics is included in university teaching courses so that new teachers can teach phonics in their classrooms.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>This initiative is already in place. Australian teacher educators must abide by the Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership (<a href="https://www.aitsl.edu.au/docs/default-source/initial-teacher-education-resources/accreditation-of-ite-programs-in-australia.pdf">AITSL</a>) Program Standards, which states all literacy teacher educators teaching in accredited initial teacher education programs are required to teach the Australian Curriculum: English.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://australiancurriculum.edu.au/f-10-curriculum/english/">Australian Curriculum: English</a> devotes a whole substrand – phonics and word knowledge – to teaching phonics. This substrand includes phonological and phonemic awareness (the ability to identify discrete sounds in spoken language, and to reproduce and manipulate discrete sounds in oral language) and alphabet and phonic knowledge (the relationship between sounds and letters and how letters are combined to make sounds). </p>
<p>Pre-service teachers, then, are required to meet these professional standards. Not <a href="https://eprints.qut.edu.au/124216/">teaching pre-service teachers</a> how to teach phonics is not an option. </p>
<p>Politicians would be much wiser to spend their money on policies that allow teachers to teach in ways that nurture children’s sense of belonging in school, and making sure children are not hungry when they are trying to learn.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/116997/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Beryl Exley is President of the Australian Literacy Educators' Association.</span></em></p>It would be wiser to spend money on policies that allow teachers to teach in ways that nurture children’s sense of belonging and making sure children are not hungry when they are trying to learn.Beryl Exley, Professor, Deputy Head of School, Learning and Teaching, Griffith UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/895322018-01-11T19:35:55Z2018-01-11T19:35:55ZSchools can’t tackle child literacy levels alone – it takes a village<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/201569/original/file-20180110-46709-ypjxix.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">More than half of children under two and nearly half of children aged three to five are not being read to every day at home. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The recently released <a href="http://www.nap.edu.au/docs/default-source/default-document-library/naplan-national-report-2017_final_04dec2017.pdf?sfvrsn=0">NAPLAN 2017 results</a> and findings from the latest <a href="https://www.acer.org/pirls">Progress in International Reading Literacy Study</a> (PIRLS) have got Australia talking again about how our children are faring when it comes to literacy.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/naplan-2017-results-have-largely-flat-lined-and-patterns-of-inequality-continue-88132">NAPLAN 2017: results have largely flat-lined, and patterns of inequality continue</a>
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<p>We know from PIRLS, while most Australian children are meeting international benchmarks for reading at year 4, <a href="https://theconversation.com/international-study-shows-many-australian-children-are-still-struggling-with-reading-88646">nearly one in five</a> are not meeting these benchmarks. Australia has one of the largest proportions of students who fall below the “intermediate” benchmark into the “low” or “below low” categories, compared to other English-speaking countries, including the US, Canada, and England.</p>
<p>Despite the range of steps that have been taken to address literacy levels across Australia, a large proportion of children are still not meeting international standards for reading. So what other approaches could we try?</p>
<h2>Parents: an untapped resource</h2>
<p>New <a href="http://www.parentingrc.org.au/parentingtoday">research</a> from the <a href="http://www.parentingrc.org.au/">Parenting Research Centre</a> highlights an area ripe for intervention: better supporting parents in reading to their children.</p>
<p>Our findings from a study of 2,600 parents showed more than half of children under two and nearly half of children aged three to five are not being read to every day. </p>
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<p>We found, while most children were being read to by an adult in the household four to five days a week, a concerning proportion were not being read to at all or very infrequently. Specifically, 13% of 0–2-year-olds and 4% of 3–5-year-olds were not read to at all by an adult at home in the previous week.</p>
<p>Our research also looked at how important parents’ educational values and aspirations for their children were and how they felt about their interactions with their children’s educators. The survey has national relevance, as most of the findings relate to broader parenting issues.</p>
<h2>Why early reading is vital</h2>
<p>We know from decades of international <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/1131410?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents">research</a> that what parents do at home with their children has <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0885200608000513">a profound effect on children’s learning outcomes</a>. Children who experience enriched, cognitively stimulating home environments are at an advantage in the learning process because they have had exposure to many more words. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ864528">evidence</a> in support of providing a language-rich environment to children is vast. Children with language delays at school entry <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18020822">are at greater risk for academic difficulties</a>. With flow-on effects to later academic and socio-emotional challenges, the imperative to tackle language and literacy problems early is paramount. </p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/201295/original/file-20180109-83585-1241yqy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/201295/original/file-20180109-83585-1241yqy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/201295/original/file-20180109-83585-1241yqy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/201295/original/file-20180109-83585-1241yqy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/201295/original/file-20180109-83585-1241yqy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/201295/original/file-20180109-83585-1241yqy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/201295/original/file-20180109-83585-1241yqy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Sitting together, opening a book, and reading and pointing to words can be incredibly helpful in building the foundations of good literacy.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
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</figure>
<p>A number of high-quality <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/17489539.2011.567891">reviews</a> of the scientific literature show good <a href="https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED508381.pdf">evidence</a> for the benefits of parental shared reading for children’s literacy. </p>
<p>And while older children typically need less input from parents when it comes to actually looking at words on the page, that doesn’t mean the parents’ role in supporting reading diminishes. Creating a home environment that encourages time and space for books is key.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/research-shows-the-importance-of-parents-reading-with-children-even-after-children-can-read-82756">Research shows the importance of parents reading with children – even after children can read</a>
</strong>
</em>
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<hr>
<h2>If we know reading works, why don’t we do it?</h2>
<p>The message that simply sitting together, opening a book, and reading and pointing to words can be incredibly helpful in building the foundations of good literacy has certainly cut through with many parents of young children. </p>
<p>But there are many reasons parents don’t read at home. As we know from sectors such as health, simply telling people what needs to be done – such as exercising more – does not take their personal context into consideration. Alone, it’s not enough to motivate people to adopt new patterns of behaviour. </p>
<p>Considering how best to support parents to read more often to their children is an important question and will depend on a thorough understanding of the barriers that are preventing them from doing so. Family and work pressures and parental confidence around reading books are some possible factors that could be further explored as barriers.</p>
<h2>A shared concern</h2>
<p>Children’s literacy is not the sole responsibility of parents, but it’s clearly an area where parents and schools can work together. This parent-educator partnership featured in our survey, which explored parents’ views about their interactions with kindergarten, child care and school teachers. </p>
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<p>Most parents (92%) felt comfortable communicating with their children’s teachers. Although 21% did not think or were unsure if their child’s teacher understood their child. </p>
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<p>Also, 20% did not agree they were able to participate in decisions that affected their child at kinder or school. </p>
<p>Of note, fathers tended to feel less comfortable talking with their child’s teachers than mothers did. </p>
<p>While 82% of parents felt their opinions were valued in discussions with their child’s educators, 11% had mixed feelings about this and 7% felt their opinions weren’t valued.</p>
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<p>Given what we know from <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/265632472_Parental_involvement_in_children's_education_A_review_study_about_the_effect_of_parental_involvement_on_children's_school_education_with_a_focus_on_the_position_of_illiterate_parents">research</a> about the value of parents being connected with their children’s educational settings, it follows that parent-teacher partnerships are important for children’s educational outcomes. </p>
<p>Consequently, it’s important issues like literacy are looked at holistically. Literacy is not just as an education system issue, and not just a parenting issue. It’s a societal issue.</p>
<h2>Parents are ready to engage</h2>
<p>We found the vast majority of parents (93%) see their own contribution to their children’s learning in the early years as important. This supports the view that today’s parents are generally well placed for taking on information about how to improve their children’s literacy and educational outcomes. </p>
<p>It’s encouraging that most children are being read to at home – even if not every day. But in the context of concerns about Australia’s position in international literacy rankings there’s more to be done. </p>
<p>The message to parents is clearly “read early and read often”. The message for policy makers and professionals is “support parents to better engage with their children’s learning”. This could take many forms and is dependent on context. It could include strategies such as building literacy messages and materials into existing parenting support services and promoting <a href="http://raisingchildren.net.au/">online resources</a> for parents, given our survey found 79% of parents look for answers online about parenting issues.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/89532/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dr Catherine Wade works for the Parenting Research Centre, which received funding from the Victorian Government Department of Education and Training to conduct the survey described in this article. The Parenting Research Centre is also a partner in the Raising Children Network which produces the online parenting information website <a href="http://www.raisingchildren.net.au">www.raisingchildren.net.au</a> and is funded by the Federal Government Department of Social Services.</span></em></p>Amid concerns about Australia’s position in international literacy rankings, parents are an untapped resource for improving literacy.Catherine Wade, Principal Research Specialist, Parenting Research CentreLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/895332017-12-28T21:43:38Z2017-12-28T21:43:38ZFunding reform for schools and higher education
dominated much of the conversation in 2017<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/200434/original/file-20171221-15878-1375hv2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Funding debates will likely spill into the new year.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The year 2017 is finally coming to an end. How much do you remember about the year in education news? In true education fashion, I created a handy pop quiz to test and improve your knowledge. Let us know in the comments how you scored! </p>
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<h2>Show me the money</h2>
<p>This year, the federal government set out an extra A$18.6bn for schools over the next decade <a href="https://theconversation.com/federal-budget-2017-whats-changing-in-education-77177">in the federal budget</a> in May. At the same time, it announced it would be saving money on higher education and lowering the mandatory HELP debt repayment threshold to A$42,000 to force <a href="https://theconversation.com/five-things-senators-and-everyone-else-should-know-about-changes-to-help-debts-84843">faster repayment</a>. </p>
<p>The higher education reform bill failed to pass the Senate in mid-October. </p>
<p>December brought a new round of university funding cuts. The government announced it would be pursuing cuts to university funding <a href="https://theconversation.com/universities-get-an-unsustainable-policy-for-christmas-89307">in ways that didn’t need Senate approval</a> in the Mid-Year Economic and Fiscal Outlook.</p>
<p>There was also lots of <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-passage-of-gonski-2-0-is-a-victory-for-children-over-politics-79828">talk</a> of <a href="https://theconversation.com/changes-to-school-funding-your-questions-answered-77243">Gonski 2.0</a> this year, a reboot of the original needs-based funding model proposed in the 2011 review of school funding.</p>
<p>And despite the fact we spend <a href="https://theconversation.com/australians-pay-more-for-education-than-the-oecd-average-but-is-it-worth-it-84002">more than the OECD average</a> on education, <a href="https://theconversation.com/vocational-education-and-training-sector-is-still-missing-out-on-government-funding-report-88863">the VET sector is still missing out</a>.</p>
<h2>Same-sex marriage</h2>
<p>2017 was also the year of the same-sex marriage postal survey, and the debate got quite ugly at times. We fact checked <a href="https://theconversation.com/factcheck-will-safe-schools-be-mandatory-if-same-sex-marriage-is-legalised-84437">whether Safe Schools would be mandatory</a> if it is legalised. We found no link between the federal Marriage Act and the Australian Curriculum. </p>
<p>We also took a look at <a href="https://theconversation.com/we-have-marriage-equality-now-we-need-lgbtqi-inclusive-sexuality-education-in-schools-87501">what LGBTQI+-inclusive sex-ed would look like</a> in schools, now that same-sex marriage is legal.</p>
<h2>Series</h2>
<p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/are-we-making-progress-on-indigenous-education-39329">Are we making progress on Indigenous education?</a></em> series looked at policy, Indigenous leadership, history books, bilingual education and the impact of boarding school. </p>
<p>Another <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/standardised-testing-series-46310">series on standardised testing</a> examined its pros and cons, including appropriate uses for standardised tests and which students are disadvantaged by them.</p>
<h2>Testing the nation</h2>
<p>The latest round of PIRLS data was released in December, which showed Australian children are <a href="https://theconversation.com/international-study-shows-many-australian-children-are-still-struggling-with-reading-88646">still struggling with reading</a>. This brought back the debate about whether a phonics test in year 1 would be <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-do-we-need-a-phonics-test-for-six-year-olds-72080">beneficial</a> or <a href="https://theconversation.com/new-phonics-test-will-do-nothing-to-improve-australian-childrens-literacy-83045">not</a>.</p>
<p>And, as always, NAPLAN results caused a stir. This year, we reported results <a href="https://theconversation.com/naplan-2017-results-have-largely-flat-lined-and-patterns-of-inequality-continue-88132">have largely flat-lined</a> in literacy and numeracy.</p>
<p>2017 has been a year of lengthy funding debates, which are likely to spill into 2018 and beyond. Hopefully, it will also bring more good articles and interesting education research from our wonderful academic authors.</p>
<p><strong>– <em>Sophie Heizer, Assistant Education Section Editor</em></strong></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/89533/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
The year 2017 is finally coming to an end, so here’s a wrap of our coverage for the year, with bonus quiz!Sophie Heizer, Commissioning Editor, Education, The ConversationLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/886462017-12-06T04:40:45Z2017-12-06T04:40:45ZInternational study shows many Australian children are still struggling with reading<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/197760/original/file-20171205-22982-1s7m2am.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C5760%2C3837&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Despite improvements in the national average score, the 2016 PIRLS report confirms many Australian children continue to be left behind.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/children-reading-books-library-450542329">wavebreakmedia/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The results of an international study into the reading skills of Year 4 students offer reason for optimism for Australian children.</p>
<p>The latest <a href="https://www.acer.org/pirls">Progress in International Reading Literacy Study</a> (PIRLS) shows that, on average, reading achievement among the Australian children surveyed improved significantly between 2011 and 2016. This is excellent news. </p>
<p>However, there is still cause for concern about Australia’s literacy standards, with the PIRLS study showing that a substantial minority of Year 4 children continue to struggle with reading. </p>
<h2>The Progress in International Reading Literacy Study</h2>
<p>The study has been running internationally every five years since 2001. In 2016, it encompassed 50 countries. Australia has participated twice – in <a href="https://www.acer.org/timss/australian-results-timss-pirls-2011-dec-2012">2011</a> and <a href="https://research.acer.edu.au/pirls/1/">2016</a>. </p>
<p>In 2016, 6,341 Year 4 students from 286 Australian primary schools took part.</p>
<p>The study focuses on two reading abilities – reading for literary experience, and reading to acquire and use information. Students were given texts to read and then asked to answer multiple choice and short answer questions. Example questions include:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>How does the author show you what the red hen is like?</p>
<p>According to the article, what is one way people have made the sea more dangerous for turtles?</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>Signs of improvement</h2>
<p>The results show Australia’s national average performance improved significantly between 2011 and 2016.</p>
<p>With the exception of the Australian Capital Territory, all the states and territories showed an improvement. The improvement was statistically significant in Western Australia, Queensland and Victoria.</p>
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<p>The increase in the average scores in many states is due to better performance by students at the top end of the scale. This is a wonderful outcome for those students.</p>
<p>While the 2016 PIRLS results run counter to the trends in the most recent <a href="https://research.acer.edu.au/ozpisa/22/">PISA</a> and <a href="https://research.acer.edu.au/timss_2015/2/">TIMSS</a> international assessments, the improvement isn’t entirely unexpected. Recent years of <a href="https://www.nap.edu.au/results-and-reports">NAPLAN results</a> have <a href="http://reports.acara.edu.au/NAP">shown an improvement</a> in average reading scores for Year 3 students. </p>
<p>It’s difficult to draw any firm conclusions about the reason for this improvement. But it’s fair to say there has been a <a href="https://www.nap.edu.au/naplan/reading">strong focus</a> on early reading since NAPLAN was introduced in 2008, putting a spotlight on progress in this vital area of education.</p>
<p>Indeed, the PIRLS results provide a very useful external validation of the reliability of the NAPLAN results, as they report similar trends in reading over similar periods.</p>
<h2>The sting in the (long) tail</h2>
<p>The improvement in average scores is certainly heartening. But the PIRLS data also show that when it comes to reading, many Australian children are still being left behind.</p>
<p>In 2016, 6% of Australian children did not meet the minimum (low) international benchmark for Year 4 reading. This is only a very small improvement from the 2011 figure of 7%.</p>
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<p>Some 19% of Australian children in Year 4 did not achieve the intermediate benchmark. To reach this benchmark, children needed to be able to: </p>
<ul>
<li>make straightforward inferences about things that weren’t explicitly stated in the text</li>
<li>work out the order of events in the text, and/or </li>
<li>find and repeat explicitly stated actions, events, and feelings in the text.</li>
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<p>PIRLS describes this benchmark as a “challenging but reasonable expectation”.</p>
<p>In 2011, 24% of Australian children in Year 4 did not achieve this benchmark. So the figure of 19% in 2016 is an improvement. But it’s a poor outcome compared to other countries, including England, Canada, and the United States.</p>
<p>Despite some improvements, Australia still has the second-largest proportion of children below the international intermediate benchmark for reading among English-speaking countries. </p>
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<h2>Early identification of low progress readers</h2>
<p>Research shows that children who struggle with reading in their early school years are <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26323201">unlikely to ever catch up</a>. These children need to be identified and supported much earlier.</p>
<p>This year, an <a href="https://www.education.gov.au/national-year-1-literacy-and-numeracy-check">expert advisory panel</a> to the Australian government (which I chaired) reviewed early years reading assessments used around Australia. We found a deficit in the assessment of phonics skills in particular.</p>
<p>Phonics is the ability to translate the letters on a page into their respective sounds. It’s a skill that children (and adults) need so they can <a href="https://theconversation.com/explainer-what-is-phonics-and-why-is-it-important-70522">read and learn unfamiliar words</a>. Without the ability to read and learn unfamiliar words, children have little hope of reading for meaning. </p>
<p>Based on the outcome of the review, the panel recommended (<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-australia-should-trial-the-new-phonics-screening-check-69717">as have other experts</a>) a trial and possible subsequent adoption of the <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/phonics-screening-check-2017-materials">Year 1 Phonics Check</a> that has been statutory in English primary schools since 2012.</p>
<p>In this context, it’s worth noting that England’s results in PIRLS 2016 – the first group to take the Year 1 Phonics Check – are the <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/12/04/official-uks-phonics-revolution-has-dramatically-improved-school/">best they have ever been</a>.</p>
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<p>The Phonics Check is a quick (five-minute) and <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1467-9817.12029/abstract">effective</a> reading check. It’s <a href="http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/victoria/new-national-test-for-grade-1-students-to-test-phonics-and-numeracy-skills/news-story/40393c70917290ce1a0af2179a99b2e4">neither stressful for children nor onerous for teachers</a>, and provides immediate information to teachers about this fundamental aspect of literacy development. </p>
<p>The expert panel acknowledged that phonics is one of <a href="https://www.cis.org.au/app/uploads/2016/07/rr11.pdf">five essential components</a>, alongside: </p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.fivefromfive.org.au/phonemic-awareness/">phonemic awareness</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.fivefromfive.org.au/fluency/">fluency</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.fivefromfive.org.au/vocabulary/">vocabulary</a>, and </li>
<li><a href="http://www.fivefromfive.org.au/comprehension/">comprehension</a>. </li>
</ul>
<p>But of those five components, there is <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.3109/17549507.2015.1112837">good reason</a> to believe that phonics isn’t being taught effectively or assessed consistently in many schools. For the children most at-risk of reading failure – including those from socioeconomically or language impoverished homes, and children with learning difficulties – the consequences are <a href="https://www.google.com.au/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=4&ved=0ahUKEwjC2_G8tvTXAhVEhbwKHU39BOQQFgg4MAM&url=https%3A%2F%2Fresearch.acer.edu.au%2Fcgi%2Fviewcontent.cgi%3Ffilename%3D2%26article%3D1004%26context%3Dtll_misc%26type%3Dadditional&usg=AOvVaw0tgERYP-guTNXFATjo47ab">devastating</a>. </p>
<h2>Literacy on the agenda</h2>
<p>This Friday, Australia’s federal, state and territory education ministers will come together for the year’s final <a href="http://www.scseec.edu.au/">Education Council</a> meeting. Their agenda will include the need for a national Year 1 literacy and numeracy check. </p>
<p>The PIRLS statistics will be thoroughly dissected and debated. But it’s important to remember these statistics represent real children. </p>
<p>What does it mean to be unable to read? One mother of a Year 6 child poignantly described it as “not being able read the jokes in Christmas crackers around the table at Christmas lunch”.</p>
<p>This should not be the case for a child who has spent seven years at school. A literacy check in Year 1 could prevent many Australian children from falling through the cracks, and facing a lifetime of disadvantage.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/88646/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dr Jennifer Buckingham is Senior Research Fellow and Director, FIVE from FIVE reading project, The Centre for Independent Studies
Board Member, Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership (AITSL)
Council Member, Learning Difficulties Australia (LDA)
Associate Investigator, Centre for Excellence in Cognition and Its Disorders, Macquarie University.
Previously: Chair of Expert Advisory Group to the Australian Government on a National Year 1 Literacy and Numeracy Check
</span></em></p>The results of an international study into reading skills offer reason for optimism for Australian students. But tragically, too many children are still being left behind.Jennifer Buckingham, Senior Research Fellow, The Centre for Independent Studies; Associate Investigator, ARC Centre of Excellence in Cognition and its Disorders, Macquarie UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.