All Victorian state schools will embrace phonics from next year as the government tries to improve reading levels in prep to year 2 students across the state.
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00:00It's a new approach to learning to read, and it's a real page turner.
00:06We're going to do our phonics now.
00:09Yeah!
00:10From next year, all state schools will be expected to teach a system called synthetic phonics
00:16to help students simplify and decode words.
00:19And it's already proving popular at some schools.
00:23We do see that growth of our students really quickly.
00:25Say lamb.
00:26Lamb.
00:27Without L, what's left?
00:29L.
00:30Phonics will be taught from prep through to grade 2 for at least 25 minutes per day
00:36and aims to prevent vulnerable children falling behind.
00:39Say cat.
00:41Cat.
00:42A strong focus of the system is on sounds and letters,
00:46where words are broken down to their individual components
00:50rather than learning through immersion.
00:52When schools move away from that to a more structured, explicit approach,
00:56then we see a significant uplift in children's reading and spelling performance
01:02and also, in many cases, in student wellbeing.
01:05There is only one clear approach, and that is to put phonics at the heart of your reading program.
01:12It comes after more than a quarter of Victoria's students
01:16failed to hit new NAPLAN proficiency standards for literacy last year.
01:20It is simply unacceptable that it has taken a decade for the Labor government
01:25to introduce phonics, evidence-based learning and explicit instructions in our classrooms.
01:31Some principals are worried the explicit model could hurt students' love of literature.
01:36The emotions are there.
01:38People have some very, very strong belief around what they are doing is working,
01:42but this is trying to get a greater balance.
01:44Parents over time are going to see that there's going to be less need
01:47for them to be paying for expensive intervention and tutoring services.
01:54Teachers are hoping the change will spell out a brighter reading future.