A “back to basics” overhaul on how Victoria’s Catholic schoolchildren learn reading and maths has yielded positive results including an improvement of more than 20 per cent in numeracy skills in the 12 months since the change was brought in.
Melbourne Archdiocese Catholic Schools shifted to explicit instruction for its nearly 300 schools in February last year. The method means teachers introduce concepts and skills that students learn “step by step”, with clear explanations and demonstrations of what they have to learn, including the use of phonics.
Bethany Catholic Primary School students Hazel Sobin, Marli Brennan and Joshua George with literacy leader Kirrily Wallace.Credit: Jason South
It was the largest school system in the country to embed the method into its teaching practice, and came four months before the Victorian government mandated the teaching style for state schools.
According to Melbourne Archdiocese Catholic Schools, there has been an improvement in year 3 numeracy proficiency across its school network.
Data shows a 41 per cent improvement in numeracy skills at St Mary’s College in Seymour after just one year, while other schools have had improvements of at least 17 per cent or higher.
“While still early days, we are already starting to see the green shoots of the systemic changes we are making,” said the organisation’s executive director, Edward Simons.
“Importantly, we are also hearing that our students, their parents and our teachers are enjoying this way of learning,” he said.
The organisation also expects to see additional improvements when NAPLAN results come out later this year.
For the nearly 600 students at Bethany Catholic Primary School in Werribee North, the introduction of explicit instruction has been a game-changer.
Principal Joanne Webster said the improvement in the school’s numeracy and literacy results were “just the start”. The school was an early adopter of phonics and explicit instruction, bringing in programs in 2023.
There was an 13.6 per cent increase in numeracy proficiency, as well as a 17.6 per cent increase in reading proficiency, between 2023 and 2024.
The gaps between students who were struggling and those doing well had decreased since the change, Webster said.
“The method really does provide them with greater support because we’re finding exactly what they need when an issue comes up,” she added.
Students at Bethany Catholic Primary School in Werribee North practise their phonics skills with principal Joanne Webster.Credit: Jason South
A child who had gaps in maths or reading could face difficulties as they progressed through the school system, but explicit instruction meant those gaps diminished, she said.
“These gaps in knowledge, that is what’s diminished.”
The principal said more children were also engaged and remembered what they’d learnt, even during the summer break.
“Kids go on school holidays, they’re away for six, seven weeks, and when they come back, they can’t remember what they’ve been taught,” Webster said.
”What we discovered last from December, the year before 2023 to 2024, we didn’t have the so-called a ‘summer slide’,” Webster said.
“Our kids retained their knowledge … it’s really strengthening their working memory.”
Teachers were also more confident because they were seeing improved outcomes for their students, she said.
The improvement in results was not a surprise for Trisha Jha, from the Centre for Independent Studies think tank.
“I’m not surprised at all, and certainly, schools that have moved to this sort of approach have started to see results pretty quickly,” Jha said.
The research fellow said explicit teaching was consistent for all students, and didn’t rely on their background or existing skill level to succeed.
“One of the ‘secrets’ about why explicit teaching works is because it’s based on this idea of thinking carefully on what you want the students to know, and breaking it down into accessible pieces, teaching it explicitly, giving students practice so the opportunity to do a small piece of learning ... and then build on the skill, or build on the knowledge,” she said.
The system-wide change throughout the Melbourne archdiocese schools also meant consistency for students and teachers, Jha added.
The government’s decision last year to also roll out explicit instruction meant students wouldn’t be receiving drastically different quality of education from school to school, whether they were private or public.
“That means that the quality of education starts to become even rather than letting this be a school-based decision, and that means that parents have the confidence that regardless of which primary school they send their kids to, that their kid is going to receive their quality evidence-based instruction,” Jha said.
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