Tasmanian Labor wants to revolutionise the teaching of reading and writing in the state, pledging to adopt a phonics program in primary schools.
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If it wins government on May 1, Labor intends to spend $45.5 million on launching what it says will be the most ambitious literacy program Tasmanian schools have yet seen.
A Rebecca White Labor government would employ more than 350 additional teachers over the next six years to provide both small group and one-on-one teaching to students in need of extra help.
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A further 20 speech pathologists would also be employed to work with students.
The key element of the package is the commitment to a phonics approach to literacy education. Phonics is the matching of sounds of spoken English with individual letters or groups of letters.
Tasmania has the worst literacy rate in the nation, hovering around 50 per cent. Labor hopes its phonics program will go some way to addressing this.
"All children should be able to read and write by the time they finish primary school but right now too many still can't," Labor leader Rebecca White said.
"The Liberal Party is failing our children and it is having a massive impact on their education, employment and health outcomes."
Under Labor's plan, a Year 1 phonics check would be mandated, while the party also has a goal of ensuring that by 2030 all young people meet an expected reading standard above the national minimum by Year 7.
Labor education spokesman Josh Willie said all students would receive general classroom instruction on phonics beginning in Prep and that any students struggling with reading through the Year 1 phonics check would be given additional, small group instruction.
All children should be able to read and write by the time they finish primary school but right now too many still can't.
- Rebecca White, Labor leader
Just a month before Premier Peter Gutwein called an early state election, Education Minister Jeremy Rockliff set a new literacy target, announcing that he wanted all Tasmanian Year 7 students to meet the national minimum reading standard by 2030.
The Tasmanian #100percentliteracy Alliance said Labor's plan was "commendable". It reserved particular praise for the party's commitment to the Primary Reading Pledge, which seeks to ensure all children who finish primary school are able to read.
"This will help ensure that Tasmanian students start high school above the national minimum standard for reading by 2030," a statement from the group read.
Independent economist Saul Eslake said improving Tasmania's literacy levels would be key to the future prosperity of the state.
"The Libs should also make the same commitment because if they don't, assuming they're more likely to win, then they won't achieve the 100 per cent literacy goal," he said.
"It's an absolutely essential part of meeting the goal which the government has signed up to."
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