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Catholic Education Canberra Goulburn (CECG) welcomes a report by Equity Economics with recommendations to improve literacy outcomes in the ACT as an important contribution to school education improvement efforts.

Director Ross Fox hopes the report will be used across school systems to focus on improving equity in education through evidence-based instructional programs and professional learning.

The report highlights South Australian government schools and Catholic schools in the Archdiocese of Canberra and Goulburn as case studies in school systems that have shown rapid improvement in literacy outcomes based on the science of learning and the science of reading.

Mr Fox says the report provides useful analysis on what is required to support teachers and to manage change to benefit students.

“It’s a considered and thoughtful report that should be widely read,” Mr Fox says. “It’s a helpful contribution to our knowledge on how schools and whole school systems can build an evidence-based approach to literacy instruction.

“It’s great that the dedicated efforts of our teachers to improve learning for students is recognised in this way.

“I hope educators reflect on the findings and recommendations and that it generates further opportunities for collaboration in the ACT and beyond to deepen our understanding of the science of learning and the science of reading.”

In 2020, CECG changed our approach to teaching and learning in our 56 schools in the ACT and NSW with a professional learning program for teachers based on the science of how children learn.

“We wanted to lift education outcomes for our students and after a lot of investigation, discussion, research and consultations, we developed sophisticated professional learning for teachers with teaching resources to support teachers and students,” Mr Fox says.

“We have two aims – to ensure every student is a competent reader and to make high-impact teaching visible in every classroom. We support teachers to deliver high impact lessons with explicit instruction.

“We need more time to measure long-term outcomes but we are seeing significant improvements in schools and classrooms and positive feedback from parents that we are on the right track and making good progress.”

See the full report from Equity Economics here.