NZPF Conference 2022: Prof. Russell Bishop

 Leading to the North-East. How to solve the Literacy Crisis in two years.



Prof. Russell Bishop

Emeritus Professor for Māori Education in the Faculty of Education at the University of Waikato, New Zealand. 

  • 35% of 15 year-olds in NZ are functionally illiterate.

  • Maori are over-represented in this figure.

  • There are very sound, practical suggestions about how to improve literacy in the literature from both advocates of Balanced and Structured Literacy approaches.

  • However, teaching variability and lack of consistent infrastructural support for teachers limits the success of most interventions.

  • The Government has recently released a new literacy and numeracy strategy.

  • However, it needs an effective model for schools to respond to and sustain the strategy.

  • Literacy is a proxy for achievement, attendance data in NZ - get literacy right you will get other things right too

  • Institutional racism has existed for a long time and is still prevalent. 

  • Nina Hood research - showing strategies that can improving literacy

  • Information Fidelity - is a major problem

    • degree to which an intervention is delivered as intended

    • Ensures untended outcomes, However…

    • Stuart McNaughton report - every point teaching variability is the major feature of Literacy education in NZ - both between and within schools

 

3 schools who have addressed the literacy crisis: Have all used different literacy strategies with fidelity. 


  • Programmes implemented with fidelity, and sustained sustained:

    • ‘Balanced Literacy

    • ‘Structured Literacy'
    • ‘Literacy across the curriculum’ approach

How did they do it?

  1. All teachers implemented the chosen strategies with high levels of fidelity (as they were designed to be implemented to reach the desired outcomes)

  2. Leaders let them, do it

What do school leaders need to do to support fidelity / tikanga?

School analysis - rate against each of the headings for school context. 1 = low. 5 = high.

Formative Messages from this analysis

  1. It only takes 2 years

  2. Implementation fidelity is crucial 

  3. There are huge problems with the balanced approach - variability of the way it is implemented is appalling. Lack of support for teachers to implement as was designed. 

  4. Structured literacy is useful (unless you can make it work for both Māori and others - as a leader of learning) but:

    1. Not all are created equal. BSLA is a cracker programme because of the fidelity it requires of teachers when implemented (as opposed to numeracy project. Māori did not equal others).

    2. The money runs out (eg Te Kotahitanga - successful but the money ran out, so meant it was unsuccessful over time - relied on MoE funding, rather than school investment). When schools are paying for it - teachers will do it. There won’t be fidelity when the money runs out. 

    3. Explicit teaching approach - how well will it blend with other programmes? 

  5. Literacy Learning is a ‘life course’ activity

  6. Need for formative assessment practices

  7. Teachers need institutional, infrastructural support - ongoing coaching, team meetings, PLC’s, etc - collaborative activity has a very high impact on sustainability. 

  8. The role of principals - leaders can expect change with giving support. If the principal is not leading it - forget it. 

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