Curtin University will host a new centre for excellence aimed at enhancing the literacy skills of primary school students and boosting literacy teaching in Western Australia.
The centre will study the teaching methods of teachers from five selected schools who have achieved strong and sustained improvement in their students’ reading and writing skills. A total of 60 teachers will be selected as literacy ambassadors to lead the initiative.
The selected primary schools will work with Curtin academics to develop and trial resources as well as professional learning, which will be available to schools across the WA.
Under the agreement, the State Government will provide Curtin University $2 million to run the centre and related programs.
From 2019, 20 public school teachers who wish to become experts in explicit literacy instruction will be selected for an internship with the centre for intensive professional learning. A further 40 teachers will be selected over the period of 2020-21.
“In consultation with the Department of Education, leading education experts from Curtin will review the teaching methods of some of the best-performing schools when it comes to improvements in literacy results,” said Curtin University Vice-Chancellor, Professor Deborah Terry.
“By drawing on the expertise of some of WA’s best primary teachers, the WA Centre for Excellence in Explicit Teaching of Literacy will create a training resource that ultimately aims to deliver better literacy achievements for WA children.”
The $2 million WA Centre for Excellence in Explicit Teaching of Literacy forms part of the Western Australian Government’s wider $3.5 million commitment to improve literacy teaching in WA public schools.
