Education consultant at Literacy Education Solutions and adjunct associate professor at La Trobe University Dr Tessa Daffern said during her time as an academic teaching literacy and English subjects to pre-service teachers she became worried about low academic standards.

Dr Daffern's research in the ACT revealed teachers' knowledge of words and sentences was not as strong as it should be.

"I found this was also a common issue where teachers and pre-service teachers, not all but some of them, did find it difficult to even articulate what a sentence actually is and how to create a grammatically correct sentence," Dr Daffern said.

"If we're going to be asking children how to write a sentence well, teachers need to be able to do that themselves."

In her submission to the independent inquiry into literacy and numeracy in ACT's public schools, Dr Daffern said she raised concerns during her time as an academic of the University of Canberra from 2016 to 2019.

During her tenure, she observed practices where pre-service teachers were awarded pass grades despite her expressing concerns on many occasions that their academic standards were not adequate for a pass.

Dr Daffern said her attempts at the time to bring in course content aligned to the science of reading, such as explicitly teaching phonics and using diagnostic assessments for spelling and phonics, were not supported.

During the four years she was at the university, the literacy units were more aligned to a balanced literacy approach and practices such as using running records and predictable readers were encouraged.

"I wasn't alone in feeling this way at the time. I am sure that steps have been taken and I hope that steps have been taken since then to make this more of a priority," she said.

At a different institution, Dr Daffern said she was advised to leave teaching phonics to the last week when fewer students would be attending lectures.

Last year, Dr Daffern became an adjunct associate professor at La Trobe University's SOLAR Lab, which is dedicated to the science of language and reading.

"I've struggled to find my place in the academic world at times, because I've been to various institutions where teaching phonics is almost like a bad thing to do. And to try and break that cycle has been quite isolating and frustrating."

The University of Canberra did not directly respond to questions about Dr Daffern's claims regarding pass grades being incorrectly awarded and whether her attempts to change course content were not supported.

University of Canberra associate dean of education Professor Duncan Driver said all initial teacher education units were regularly revised and were backed by research.

"The university's core literacy units for primary education provide our students with the foundational knowledge and skill to teach the reading, writing, spelling, speaking and listening components of English language literacy in the early years of school, including knowledge and skill drawn from what is often called the Science of Reading (SOR) and/or the six keys to reading instruction: phonics, phonemic awareness, fluency, vocabulary, comprehension, and oral language," Professor Driver said.

"The university's programs of study are accredited with the relevant regulatory bodies for overseeing teaching quality in the ACT and nationally, and have consistently met the Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership's (AITSL) Program Standards."

The current executive dean of education, Professor Barney Dalgarno, is also the chair of the ACT literacy and numeracy inquiry.

Dr Daffern told the inquiry she recommended the ACT build up teachers' knowledge of linguistics so they were able to design effective programs without using commercial, scripted spelling programs.

She recommended the ACT implement a phonics screening check to ensure schools could intervene early for students who were falling behind.

She also said teachers need to be able to do a spelling error analysis to find out what types of mistakes students are making to tailor the lessons appropriately.

"You don't need a program to tell you what to teach, when to teach, if you've got that knowledge.

"Schools are best placed to build a program that works specifically for that context, that also brings in the knowledge that we have from the research on how children learn to spell and how children learn to read."

She said rote-learning lists of words was not recommended and that older students could do inquiry-based activities after concepts had first been taught explicitly.

"Equipping students with the knowledge of how words are structured is more important than rote learning of word lists in isolation."

She said teachers she had worked with were eager to improve their practice.

Universities that offer initial teacher education have been given until 2025 to change their course content to include evidence-based instruction in core areas.

The expert panel running the ACT inquiry is due to send a final report to the Education Minister by April 30.