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House of Assembly - Fifty-Second Parliament, First Session (52-1)
2011-03-10 Daily Xml
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LITERACY EDUCATION

Ms FOX (Bright) (14:57): Can the Minister for Education update the house on steps the government is taking to support school leaders to provide a strong focus on literacy education in schools?

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL (Cheltenham—Minister for Education, Minister for Early Childhood Development, Minister for Science and Information Economy) (14:57): I thank the honourable member for her question, which was beautifully asked, as usual—obviously the product of a fine literary upbringing.

There are a number of programs that the government has in place to support children develop their reading and writing skills, but the key way in which we are going to be able to do this is through building the skills of teachers and school leaders to ensure that they can provide high quality instruction to their students.

Yesterday I had the pleasure of being able to launch the second round of a program called Principals as Literacy Leaders, which is designed to equip primary school leaders with the skills and confidence to drive whole-of-school approaches to literacy improvement. It involves five days of professional development spread over 14 months, and the program helps principals examine what works in practice, tailoring their approach to their particular school. It also provides them with mentoring support that helps to bring the efforts of all staff to bear on the task of improving literacy outcomes.

There is a growing body of evidence which suggests that leadership is second only to classroom instruction by teachers to affect students' learning in this particular area. It is no surprise that, since the Principals as Literacy Leaders program was first trialled in 2009, it has grown in stature and credibility amongst educators. One principal remarked, 'This program has changed my life. I was feeling jaded and lacked confidence. This has given me a whole new perspective on my role as principal.' Another said, 'It has brought a whole new awareness of the nature of explicit teaching required in the school.' Yet another stated, 'This is the best professional development I have done in my entire career.'

Last year, 155 principals participated in the program, and I am pleased to be able to advise the house that a further 182 primary school principals will be supported to participate in the second round of the program, which was launched yesterday.

The success of the program in South Australia is in no small part due to the support that it has received from two of its strongest advocates: Leonie Trimper, the former national President of the South Australian Primary Principals Association, and the current President of the South Australian Primary Principals Association, Steve Portlock. I thank them for the leadership role that they have played in this regard.

The Principals as Literacy Leaders program is just one of a range of literacy education initiatives that we have introduced. There is also an accelerated literacy program to target students needing the most help. There are literacy coaches working with classroom students to tailor teaching approaches to the specific learning needs of their students, and new teaching guides have been provided to schools to help them improve students' understanding of phonics, spelling and writing.

The government takes its responsibility to ensure all students receive a solid grounding in the fundamentals in education very seriously. In addition to the literacy programs, we are upskilling primary school teachers through our $51.1 million Primary Maths and Science Strategy, and we are the first state in the commonwealth to have mandated minimum lesson times for maths, science and literacy in year 3 to year 7 classrooms. By focusing on these fundamentals in the early years, we are helping our young people be better prepared for high school and later life.

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