Hon Trevor Mallard
Minister of Education
January 2002
EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION
The Government is committed to improving literacy among all
New Zealand communities. Education Minister Trevor Mallard outlines his
enthusiasm for some recent research results reaffirming the importance
of early childhood education and professional development for teachers.
A few years ago, I completed a speed-reading course for a few hours
over several weeks. I estimate that that investment of my time has helped
me do my job more effectively by saving me thousands of hours.
Over the last 18 months more than a hundred early childhood and classroom
teachers in Mangere and Otara committed between 20 to 30 hours of their
time in an investment that is not only going to help them do their jobs
more effectively but have ongoing life-long benefits for children in those
suburbs.
A research project of international significance has shown that with
appropriate support within a classroom setting, children from poorer backgrounds
can learn to read and write well. It shows that the key to improvement
is lifting teachers' expectations. It also shows that the many excuses
for poor performance are not valid and in fact there are no excuses for
failure.
The 'Picking
Up the Pace' report released recently shows that the reading and writing
achievement of six-year-old children in the 12 schools involved had improved
dramatically and is now close to the national average. While it may seem
out of the ordinary to crow about being average, both here and internationally
children from such communities have traditionally had very low literacy
levels. These results are so positive we should be singing about them
from the top of the Sky Tower.
Take, for example, reading books. The children went from the simplest
one sentence books to reading much more complex books at average levels.
This remarkable turnaround has been achieved by an investment in teachers,
a careful analysis of the situation and well-targeted support.
The research focused on two interventions. The first was in early childhood
centres where professional development focused on teaching in literacy
and language activities. The children whose teachers took part in the
professional development showed higher achievements in both literacy and
language in comparison with children who had been in the centres before
their teachers had the professional development.
In the primary schools, teachers of year one classes were helped with
ways to identify the knowledge and abilities their pupils started school
with and then utilise that starting base to boost the children's literacy
rates. They learnt how to interact with the children so that the children
could quickly understand what they were being asked to do. So robust were
the efforts even at this stage of the research that significant gains,
both educationally and statistically, were achieved across a broad range
of literacy measures. A lot more children achieved in the average range
expected for their age. Overall, the high-risks of children underachieving
early in their schooling was greatly reduced.
The researchers also brought both lots of teachers together so that they
could understand what was happened in each other's sector and use that
information to help their own teaching. (Coincidentally, fostering better
links between early childhood and primary education was a major recommendation
in the early childhood strategic plan that I released recently). The teachers
involved say their attitudes, expectations and understanding about the
importance of increasing early education literacy levels have changed.
They learned how to observe and respond to children's behaviour in a more
specific and focused way. In leaps and bounds, teachers became more confident
about accepting responsibility for making sure children achieve in these
early years.
The teachers have already taught more than 400 children since the project
began. But they will never lose the skills that they gained and it's likely
to have a positive spin for generations to come.
There are still improvements to be made but I feel positive about our
ability to improve the quality of learning in New Zealand schools.
The work in Mangere and Otara stands out because lifting literacy in
those communities was an especially daunting task. But all around the
country schools are focusing on improving literacy and coming up with
initiatives that suit their communities.
More than 2000 principals and other professional leaders have taken part
in literacy leadership programmes. They're paying attention to ensuring
their teachers have the skills to teach reading well. A key to that is
accepting that children learn in lots of different ways. The 'one method
suits all' approach is a relic. Some children learn really well through
the contextual method known as 'whole language'. Others respond more to
a greater emphasis on phonetics. The key skill that literacy experts are
trying to pass on to teachers is how they can identify which teaching
methods suit each child.
The Government is backing this work up with sophisticated computer-based
testing material so that teachers can analyse how well each child is doing
and if necessary adjust their teaching style. Those programmes will be
available to all schools from the beginning of next year.
The Government's response to the select committee report is an overall
acceptance of many of the points that they have made, but also a reminder
that there is exciting and innovative work in our schools in the literacy
area. We will always strive for improvements in teaching and learning,
but I am proud of the progress being made.
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