Educators say while it can be a useful tool, mandating the approach is counter-productive when students have different needs.
The Minister of Education, Erica Stanford, announced earlier this month that from Term 1, 2025 all state schools would teach reading using structured literacy.
Stanford said schools countrywide had seen improvements in student achievement using the approach.
“Structured literacy is about getting back to basics and teaching children to read by using sounds and phonics to understand words.”
The Government’s target is to get 80 per cent of Year 8 students to curriculum level by 2030 and structured literacy would help achieve that, she said.
The rollout will include a $67 million package as part of Budget 2024 for professional development on structured literacy for teachers, phonics checks to assess student progression, additional support for students who need it and resources for teachers.
Classroom teacher and head of literacy at Hora Hora School, Joseph Tobin, said despite being a “huge fan” of structured literacy, he is against the mandate.
“I’ve seen through observation and data that it [structured literacy] can be an effective approach, but I am incredibly opposed to a Government mandate.”
Minister of Education Erica Stanford. Photo / Mark Mitchell
Tobin said it was a removal of the “rights and responsibilities” teachers have to work with students’ needs.
He said the tool can be useful because it “explicitly teaches” the code of English, which can be quite complicated.
But teaching “from a textbook” could be disastrous for some students who may struggle to engage.
“You can’t force a child to learn. It’s that saying that you can show them the door, but they have to walk through it.”
“It’s an incredible tool and great approach but it’s not the only approach and it’s not the only approach that works.”
Tobin said Northland is an area of high need when it comes to educational resourcing and engaging students within the classroom.
Improving student attendance comes hand in hand with engaging students in the classroom, he said.
Tobin also believed the proposed package would not be enough to address the needs of schools and teachers.
“Politicians are blaming teacher practice for falling literacy rates but the real problem is government cutbacks to valuable resources,” he said.
Former reading recovery and classroom teacher Christine Bertram, who worked in Whangārei most of her career, said “placing children into boxes” does not work.
She said an interactive approach where teachers knew their children, their backgrounds and their educational needs has always worked.
Bertram believed some children may thrive under the approach while others would be completely turned off from reading.
NZEI Te Riu Roa president Mark Potter said structured literacy is not a “silver bullet”.
“There is recent evidence for structured literacy working for many children, but the research also shows that personalising and differentiating learning to meet the diversity of children we have in our classrooms is the key art teachers bring to their work.”
“Teaching is an art and a craft, not just a science. A teacher knows what teaching approach will work best for the variety of learners in their classroom.
