Education

School
improvement
planning –
incorporating
literacy and
numeracy
plans
The department is supporting improvement in schools
through the closer alignment of assessment data with
targeted curriculum planning. Schools have been provided
with comprehensive data on the performance of their
students in the 2012 NAPLAN. During 2013, teachers
were further supported in this with access to an improved
online resource—the NAPLAN Toolkit.
In addition, Curriculum Services and Educational
Performance Services are providing further school-level
support, including help desk assistance to aid their data
analysis and planning.
Principals and teachers are translating their findings into
revised literacy and numeracy plans (as part of school
improvement plans) at the school level, and implementing
teaching and learning strategies to address the identified
areas of future action. The plans are consistent with the
expectations set in the department’s School Support and
Expectations document. Under the literacy and numeracy
section, areas for schools to focus on are:
• development of whole-school approaches to literacy
and numeracy
• actively engaging with departmental support
• use of data to support good teaching practice.
Lead teachers and lead schools, in partnership with
principal network leaders support schools in aligning
their identified areas of future action with professional
learning support. The Professional Learning Institute
has been funded to support professional learning as a
response to identified statewide needs, utilising data at
the statewide level.
Professional
learning to
support
literacy and
numeracy
The Professional Learning Institute and Curriculum
Services have identified, developed and delivered a range
of professional learning opportunities over the course of
2012–13 to ensure that school leaders have the requisite
knowledge and skills as instructional leaders. Professional
learning programs, with a focus on literacy and numeracy
achievement, are:
• Principals as Literacy Leaders
• Secondary Principals as Literacy Leaders
• Literacy for Learning
• Numeracy Initiative Inquiry.
These key professional learning opportunities for school
leaders are further supported by network based literacy
and numeracy inquiries that are coordinated by network
lead teachers.
Data informed teaching practice and school leadership
have been further supported though the ‘Working with
Data’ professional learning program. Using data to inform
strategic school improvement planning and understanding
how data translates into effective pedagogy were two of
the key objectives for participants.
Transition to
the Australian
Curriculum
During 2013, Australian Curriculum English, Mathematics,
Science and History are being taught, assessed and
reported against in all schools from Prep to Year 10.
Geography will be implemented from Prep to Year 8
in 2014 and other subjects progressively from 2015.
Literacy and numeracy are General Capabilities under the
Australian Curriculum and are expected to be taught across
all subjects and learning areas.
Education Ministers agreed to use Australian Curriculum,
Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA) content
statements for senior secondary English, Mathematics,
Science and History (14 subjects in total) ‘as the common
base for developing local courses’ in December 2012.
Eight curriculum teacher leaders with specific learning
area responsibility across Years 9–12 have been
appointed to provide direct school-based support for
the Australian Curriculum.
Other
literacy and
numeracy
initiatives
The following funded literacy and numeracy initiatives
occurred in 2012–13:
• Literacy Grants ($2.39 million) – literacy intervention
support was provided to schools with the highest
Educational Needs Index (ENI). General Literacy
Grants ($4 million total) were allocated across
all schools.
• Reading Recovery ($340,550) – a school-based literacy
intervention for Year 1 was a funded improvement
strategy with 30 schools participating in 2012.
• Flying Start ($10.99 million) – a staffing allocation made
to primary and combined schools to support literacy
teaching and learning from Kindergarten to Year 2.
All primary and combined schools provided this early
intervention in literacy.
• Premier’s Reading Challenge – is a 10 week program
offering all Tasmanian students and schools a range
of incentives to read more often and more widely.
Students from Prep to Year 6 are challenged to read
at least one book in each week of the program.
The Challenge aims to improve the reading and
literacy skills of students, raise parent and community
awareness about the importance of reading with
children and give young students a pathway to a
lifelong love of books and reading. In 2012, 11,623
primary school students and 156 schools completed
the Premier’s Reading Challenge, with more than
116,000 books read and over 1,800 book reviews
submitted.
• Partnerships in Teaching Excellence (PiTE) – this
pre-service training program is in part used to better
prepare beginning teachers as literacy and numeracy
teachers. Twenty-two university students were part
of this initiative in 2012 and 20 of those students are
now employed in government schools. There are
16 students in the program in 2013.
Pre-Compulsory and Compulsory Education » Literacy and Numeracy
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