The performance of Tasmanian students was at the forefront of everyone's minds last week when the preliminary NAPLAN results were released.
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It showed that the state is bridging the educational gap compared with the rest of the nation, with improvements in writing, grammar and punctuation.
Our educators - and most importantly and influentially, parents - should be applauded. They do a wonderful job in what can often be a stressful environment where every child's need is different.
The state government has invested money in reading, writing and arithmetic by funding grassroots programs such as Launch into Learning and, more recently, the Learning in Families Together.
Programs like this are run through schools, bridging the divide between families and their local school before a child begins kindergarten. The program provides support and learning through play.
According to a 2012 report for the Family-School and Community Partnerships Bureau, “the learning trajectory begins well before children enter school, and once children are attending school, they continue to learn at home, and in the community”.
Results from the Launching into Learning Longitudinal Study 2007-2014 showed that those prep pupils who participated in the 2011 Launching into Learning programs continue to outperform non-participants across all socio-economic backgrounds in NAPLAN results.
Between 2009 and 2013, students who participated in Launching into Learning outperformed students who did not by between 4.2 and 10.3 percentage points.
The impact of parental engagement in a child’s education continues to improve with higher grades, lower drop-out rates and a greater likelihood of starting post-secondary education.
Beyond that, the Family-School and Community Partnerships Bureau report also said stated that a parent’s involvement also sees students have better social skills, improved behaviour and a greater sense of personal competence and efficacy for learning.
It is too early to tell if the LIFT program will continue the work off the back of Launching into Learning given it was only launched in term 1 this year.
Funding in education – especially grassroots programs – is paramount if the state’s NAPLAN results are to continue.
Afterall, learning begins at home.
