A contentious mandatory reading ability test for Victoria’s prep and year 1 pupils is being scrapped at the end of this school year.
The English Online Interview was compulsory for prep and year 1 students, and the state government spent $11.3 million to upgrade it to include a phonics component in 2023.
But Victoria decided late last year to decommission the tool, and it’s no longer mandatory for schools to use it in prep and year 1 this year.
The test is a one-on-one interview between a teacher and a student, where students are assessed on reading, viewing, writing, speaking and listening. It takes up to 40 minutes, and teachers record each student’s responses onto the online system that generates a report.
Prep and year 1 students will no longer sit the English Online Interview.Credit: Getty Images
The phonics component of the EOI faced criticism because it only had 10 words, and five of those were “non-words” which are used to teach sounding out skills. The national standard phonics test had 40 words, and half are “non-words”.
It was also carried out in term 1, but experts argued it should be carried out in term 3, when children have a better grasp of the principles.
Schools will replace the English Online Interview with a mandatory year 1 phonics check, but there will be no mandatory reading test for prep students.
Professor of cognitive psychology Pamela Snow, a co-director of La Trobe University’s Science of Language and Reading Lab, welcomed the move.
“The English Online Interview, with very good intentions, tries to do way too much,” she said.
She said the areas it covered were important, but it wasn’t always accurate in identifying areas where students were struggling.
“It’s a very good thing that it’s being decommissioned,” she said.
Getting rid of it wouldn’t disadvantage Victorian students or teachers, the professor said.
The new phonics-based test will be introduced this year across Victorian government primary schools but won’t be mandatory until 2026, according to the government website.
“The year 1 phonics check is a short assessment that provides information to teachers on a student’s phonics knowledge. It takes just 5 to 7 minutes for a teacher to complete with each student and involves year 1 students using phonics knowledge to decode real and non-real words,” says the website.
Snow supported the move to the new tool but pointed out it would not test preps.
“There is a case to be having a conversation about what [assessment tool] could be used in term 4 of prep, for example,” she said.
She said as teachers became more confident with explicit instruction, which has been mandated across Victoria’s public schools, they would be better able to spot students who need help.
Some parent groups have also supported the shift away from the English Online Interview, with Dyslexia Victoria Support founder Heidi Gregory saying it wasn’t “fit for purpose”.
Families wanted to know what to expect with the new tool and wanted testing done as early as possible, so issues could be dealt with sooner rather than later.
“We can’t wait any longer … parents need to know when they should be off to an allied health professional or get their kids assessed,” Gregory said.
She argued any new test or tool needed to be compulsory, and that there should be reports available for parents and teachers.
“The evidence is clear that explicit teaching and the use of systematic synthetic phonics instructions gets results – and we continue to support teachers in the rollout through lesson plans and the new phonics check, helping teachers to gather more detailed information about students’ literacy skills,” said Education Minister Ben Carroll. “The year 1 phonics check is quicker and more appropriate than the English Online Interview and will be mandatory for all year 1 students in government primary schools from 2026.”
Victorian Principals Association president Andrew Dalgleish said it was a positive move, but it wasn’t universally welcomed.
“There has been some consternation from some schools,” he said of the move to replace the EOI.
But he said replacing the EOI with the phonics check made sense given the shift towards explicit instruction, and the assessment tools had to match the evidence.
Opposition education spokeswoman Jess Wilson said the new test should become mandatory sooner. “By allowing the use of this substandard test to continue into 2025, the Allan Labor government is jeopardising learning outcomes for students across the state,” she said. “Instead of further delays, Labor must immediately mandate the use of a new phonics screening test that aligns with national standards.”
South Australia was the first state to implement a year 1 phonics screening check in 2017. NSW followed in 2021 and Tasmania in 2022. SA publishes key data from the assessment annually, and it is not clear if Victoria will follow suit.
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