Government Education Portal - Australia

Aboriginal Education and Training, Participation and Achievement Standards Directorate  

URL:  http://www.det.wa.edu.au/education/abled/literacy_strategy.html

Category:  Literacy policy and reports 

The focus of the Directorate is to accelerate the educational outcomes of Aboriginal students, as well as to provide support to education providers and Aboriginal people in their leadership and community involvement in Aborginal education and training.

Boys and Books: Literacy and the Lives of Young Men  

URL:  http://wwwfp.education.tas.gov.au/english/wilhelm.htm

Category:  Literacy policy and reports  International 

A year-long study of boys' lives and the role of literate activity in those lives yielded several findings that bridged from their passionate interests out of school to the ways in which they conceived and enacted various literate practices. This paper focuses on the informants' interests and how these impacted their reading and writing. The paper argues that four major themes emerge: a need for a sense of control and competence, a challenge that requires an appropriate level of skill, clear goals and feedback, and a focus on the immediate experience.

Critical Literacy  

URL:  http://wwwfp.education.tas.gov.au/english/critlit.htm

Category:  Literacy policy and reports  School education topics 

Critical literacy is one of the four interrelated dimensions of language use. It shows us ways of looking at written, visual and spoken texts to question the attitudes, values and beliefs that lie beneath the surface. This website produced by the Tasmanian Educational Leaders' Institute outlines strategies for implementing critical literacy in the classroom.

Early Language and Literacy  

URL:  http://www.zerotothree.org/site/PageServer?pagename=key_language

Category:  Literacy policy and reports 

In the BrainWonders Early Literacy pages you will find information on how literacy skills begin in the early years in relation to the developing brain. The site sets out parent and caregivers questions about early literacy development and allow you to click through links to answers. Additional resources and booklists for children are also provided.

English Language and Literacy Assessment (ELLA)  

URL:  http://www.schools.nsw.edu.au/...ing/7-12assessments/ellatest.php

Category:  Literacy policy and reports 

The English Language and Literacy Assessment (ELLA) assists New South Wales schools to monitor their Year 7 and Year 8 (if elected) students' achievements in literacy.

Evaluation of MULTILIT - Making Up Lost Time In Literacy  

URL:  http://www.dest.gov.au/...les/making_up_lost_time_in_literacy.htm

Category:  Literacy policy and reports  School education topics 

The MULTILIT (Making Up Lost Time In Literacy) Initiative, directed by Professor Kevin Wheldall from Macquarie University Special Education Centre (MUSEC), comprises research and development into more effective ways of teaching low progress students experiencing difficulties in learning literacy skills, carried out in the MULTILIT classroom programs and in the MULTILIT Clinic at MUSEC and in outreach programs.

Evidence-based research for expert literacy teaching  

URL:  http://www.eduweb.vic.gov.au/...h/publ/literacy-summary-paper.pdf

Category:  Literacy policy and reports  National 

This paper was written to provide school leaders, literacy coordinators and teachers with high quality research-based information on how best to improve literacy skills to maximise student outcomes. It provides an analysis of major current theoretical perspectives on literacy teaching, including: the skills-based versus whole language debate; the exclusively print-based approach versus multiliteracies; the cultural heritage versus critical literacy theoretical models approach. The paper explores some frameworks developed in the literacy field that represent a movement towards bringing these competing views together. It also points to practical strategies that teachers and schools can implement to improve the effectiveness of literacy teaching and learning.

Improving outcomes in Literacy  

URL:  http://www.whatworks.edu.au/4_2_3.htm

Category:  Literacy policy and reports 

Salisbury North Primary School in South Australia uses the scaffolded approach to teaching literacy skills to students within the school. This site includes information about the pedagogy behind scaffolding literacy and improving educational outcomes for minority groups in Australia.

In teachers' hands: Effective teaching practices in the early years of schooling, report  

URL:  http://www.dest.gov.au/...esources/profiles/in_teachers_hands.htm

Category:  Literacy policy and reports  National 

The aim of the study was to identify teaching practices that lead to improved literacy outcomes for children in the early years of schooling. The report investigated the link between children's growth in English literacy in the early years of schooling and their teachers' classroom teaching practices. The report concluded that effective early literacy teaching requires teachers who can ensure high levels of student participation, have deep knowledge about literacy learning, can simultaneously orchestrate a variety of classroom activities, can support and scaffold learning, can target and differentiate their instruction, and can create classrooms characterised by mutual respect.

Leading to change: The leadership challenge in literacy  

URL:  http://www.ascd.org/.../The_Leadership_Challenge_in_Literacy.aspx

Category:  Literacy policy and reports 

This Educational Leadership article argues that while there is expert consensus on a set of instructional practices that create proficient readers, this consensus will not translate into reality in the classroom unless school leaders really believe that literacy is a priority, take personal responsibility to understand literacy instruction, define it for their colleagues, and observe it daily.