School teachers to be retrained to get back to basics

‘The reading wars are over.’ Universities failed to ensure all teachers know how to explicitly teach children to read and write, so now taxpayers are stumping up for free remedial training.

Teachers are being offered free short courses in maths, science, phonics, classroom management and explicit instruction. Picture: iStock

Free remedial training courses are being offered to thousands of teachers who left university without knowing how to explicitly teach children to read, write and do mathematics.

The University of Adelaide has launched a new microcredential course focused on explicit teaching, funded by the federal government.

Federal Education Minister Jason Clare urged teachers to take up the free training.

“The reading wars are over,’’ he said.

“We know evidence-based teaching methods work and this free short course will help teachers in the classroom.

“This will support teachers and help to improve how students learn how to read and write and do maths.’’

Explicit instruction – sometimes known as direct instruction – is an old-school style of teaching that was displaced by the failed fad of “student-directed learning’’.

Teachers who teach explicitly use sequenced lessons to ensure students have mastered one concept before they move on to the next.

The teacher will explain a new concept, ask children to practise or repeat what they have learned, and then explain it again for students who have not understood.

Universities have been ordered to include explicit instruction in their teaching degrees by the end of next year.

A microcredential to show teachers how to teach children to read using phonics – the sounding out of letters and words – will be available early next year.

Already, 1280 teachers have studied a microcredential in classroom management, which shows them how to keep classrooms calm and under control.

Teachers can complete the online courses at their own pace at a time that suits them.

Teachers will be retrained in explicit instruction methods.

Charles Sturt University is also offering two free microcredentials to upskill out-of-field mathematics and science teachers.

They will be delivered online from March to October next year, requiring 10 hours of study each week.

The courses will be delivered online with interactive tutorials and live lectures.

Georgie Stuart, CSU project lead for partnerships and microcredentials, said it was important to fill critical gaps in the teaching workforce as qualified maths and science teachers retire.

“By supporting teachers to become fully qualified in key subject areas, we are also working to break the vicious cycle of out-of-field teaching, which affects student participation, engagement and achievement, teacher attrition and stress on schools,’’ she said.

The Australian Mathematical Sciences Institute director has warned that year 12 enrolments in high-level maths – a prerequisite for many medical, engineering and science degrees – have fallen to “all-time lows’’.

Only 9 per cent of year 12 students studied specialist maths, while 17.7 per cent studied maths methods in 2022.

Forty per cent of high school maths classes are being taught by “out-of-field” teachers – including those who specialise in physical education, history or English.

One in three Australian students failed to meet minimum standards in this year’s National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy.