http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,17509563%255E13881,00.html

SCHOOLS

Main questions left unanswered

Kevin Donnelly

December 09, 2005

WHILE Teaching Reading might be of benefit, the report says nothing new. Researchers have known for years that whole language, where children look and guess, guarantees reading failure, and a host of reports have advocated teaching the relationship between letters and sounds represented by phonics.

The national report also fails to deal with significant roadblocks that, if ignored, will seriously weaken any attempt to raise standards. The recent primary curriculum benchmarking report proved, with the exception of NSW, that state and territory syllabuses promote whole language and not phonics.

The report's recommendations calling for changes to teacher training and professional development will be useless if classroom teachers are made to work from syllabuses based on the failed whole-language model.

In Australia, millions of dollars have been spent on Reading Recovery, a New Zealand-inspired program.

Given that the Victorian Auditor-General and the US Congress question the program's effectiveness, it's strange that the Rowe report makes no mention of the program and whether continued investment is justified.

It's true that national and state-based literacy tests at years 3, 5 and 7 measure reading ability.

What is not mentioned in the reading report is that the bar in the literacy tests is set so low that children who cannot read and write still pass by simply guessing the right answers.

Kevin Donnelly is executive director of Education Strategies and author of the recent primary curriculum benchmarking report funded by the federal Department of Education, Science and Training