With much media coverage once again focusing on the teaching of early reading in Australian primary schools, the Primary English Teaching Association Australia (PETAA) would like to acknowledge the incredible work of all primary educators in this country.

Australian literacy professionals across the academic and in-school sectors (including PETAA), have long acknowledged the importance of an explicit, systematic and sequenced approach to teaching early reading, in order to support students in learning to read for meaning and learning. For students to learn how to read for meaning and learning purposes, they need to be explicitly taught the skills required to both decode and comprehend the texts they are reading. This is done in the context of a literacy rich curriculum, in incredibly diverse classrooms.

There are thousands and thousands of primary teachers doing this every day already around Australia. 

Teachers are experts in their field, demonstrating an ongoing commitment to learning and professional development themselves, to remain up to date with the latest evidence on teaching and learning in the classroom. 

This dedication to strengthening pedagogical and content knowledge is often left out of the news and rarely features in attention-grabbing headlines. PETAA acknowledges and respects the expertise on display in classrooms across the country, and supports teachers on their evolving journey to delivering best-practice early reading instruction. Quality, curriculum-linked resources and professional learning, such as those provided by PETAA, support teachers in strengthening their own knowledge and skills. PETAA acknowledges the recognition of these resources and training as critical. 

There are barriers to receiving this training and support. The administrative and additional duties placed on teachers in schools due to a lack of funding takes time away from professional development, as well as planning, programming and development of sequenced lessons that are tailored to their own students’ needs. 

To support teachers, PETAA urges federal and state education departments to invest in more support staff to take on administrative duties, freeing teachers up to plan explicit literacy instruction and seek quality professional learning to evolve their understanding as research and evidence evolves. This is what teachers are calling for and would be better use of government funds (taxpayers’ money) than current plans to produce or duplicate resources that are already available from associations, educational publishers and other reputable organisations.