http://www.smh.com.au/news/National/Literacy-review-sparks rows/2004/11/08/1099781314496.html

Literacy review sparks row

SMH, November 8, 2004 - 5:54PM

Education Minister Brendan Nelson sparked a row over teachers skills and school funding as he announced an inquiry into children's literacy.

The inquiry, which is expected to report by mid-2005, followed Dr Nelson's receipt of a letter from 26 experts warning him that the main literacy teaching method was failing children.

The experts said the teaching method, known as "whole language", was ineffective for beginning and struggling readers because it ignored teaching letter-sound relationships, known as phonics.

But the Opposition, principals and teachers said the inquiry ignored the fact that literacy was taught in a variety of ways throughout the country to meet different needs, and taxpayers' dollars could be better spent on resourcing schools.

Dr Nelson said studies had shown that in some parts of Australia one in five children in year five could not pass a basic reading test.

And overseas studies showed the teaching of phonics was crucial to literacy.

"We are going to hold a national independent review of the way in which we train our teachers, how to teach our kids to read but also an examination of the way in which reading is being taught in our schools," Dr Nelson told Sydney radio 2UE.

Dr Nelson said he planned to announce the terms of reference and inquiry panel, which would include at least two parent representatives, in the next few weeks.

Opposition education spokeswoman Jenny Macklin said children with reading problems needed urgent action and solutions, not an inquiry.

"Too many children are not getting the intensive support they need to learn to read because of lack of commitment from the Howard government," Ms Macklin said.

President of the Australian Government Primary Principals Association John McMillan said it was a kneejerk reaction to launch an inquiry based on the researchers' concerns.

Surveys by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) showed literacy standards in Australian schools were high, as did the results of the basic skills tests carried out in NSW primary schools, he said.

"I think an inquiry is going to show that there is a disparity of approaches (to literacy teaching) across the states, but I think it's also going to show that most teachers are competent in teaching literacy," Mr McMillan said.

"All the evidence points to the fact that student skills in literacy are the highest that they have ever been."

Australian Education Union president Pat Byrne said Dr Nelson should discuss the issue with teachers.

"It's my experience that teachers are very pragmatic about approaches they use and what works," she said.

"Teachers will use what works."

But one of the 26 experts, Macquarie University's Professor Max Coltheart, said teachers themselves had said they were ill-equipped.

"Most of the teachers that we've discussed this with weren't trained to teach reading and have to make it up as they go along," he told ABC radio.

"We'd like to know exactly what they're taught about how to teach reading when they're doing their teacher training."

The whole language approach to teaching children was introduced into Australian schools in the late 1960s and early 1970s, in line with US and British educational trends.

Instead of learning to read and spell phonetically, children are taught to recognise familiar printed words by word guessing and then placing them in context in a sentence.