Leader of the Opposition and Shadow Education Minister, Elizabeth Lee MLA, has welcomed the findings of the Literacy and Numeracy Education Expert Panel.

The inquiry was established following a motion in the Legislative Assembly in October by the Canberra Liberals calling for a full independent inquiry into literacy performance in ACT government schools, after the release of data which showed outcomes for literacy in ACT Government schools have been consistently underperforming over the last two decades.

“Experts in this field have been calling for leadership in explicit instruction of phonics for years and it’s pleasing to see that these calls have been backed up by this inquiry.”

“I note from media reporting that the Education Minister has said that the Government will accept the report’s recommendation ‘in principle.”

“It’s very clear from this report that schools should move towards consistent, evidence-based teaching of literacy and numeracy. It is now incumbent on Minister Berry to be upfront with Canberra families and to commit fully to implementing these recommendations, not just ‘in principle” and provide support to our hard-working teachers to do so,” Ms Lee said.

What the findings of this independent report show is that this Government has ignored the evidence and the advice of experts in this field for years.

Back in 2017 when the then Federal Education Minister, Senator the Hon Simon Birmingham, backed a plan to introduce national phonics testing in year 1, the ACT Education Minister dismissed this and expressed concern that national phonics checks will do little more to identify students who need support.

The findings of this report show that she was wrong back then and it’s our children who have paid the price.

“This Minister has consistently ignored the evidence, ignored pleas from teachers and parents and ignored the significant improvements shown in other jurisdictions who have implemented these measures. Let’s hope she doesn’t ignore this review.” Ms Lee concluded.