'It becomes satisfying': shift in education welcomed by teachers, parents

The final report from an independent inquiry recommended a focus on explicit teaching of core skills, standard screening of students and a system to support students before they are left behind.

Retired teacher Anna Linard tutors about 40 Canberra students in reading and numeracy. She was part of a Reading Recovery intervention program for six years but started to question its effectiveness.

Since switching to a method of teaching where the phonetic code is taught gradually and supported with what is known as decodable readers, she has seen a huge improvement in her students.

"I think teachers in the system are going to realise when they get on top of the learning they have to do just how much easier it is to teach the children and it becomes so satisfying. That's why I do it in retirement," Mrs Linard said.

Alanna King saw her six-year-old daughter Matilde's confidence grow after tutoring from Mrs Linard.

"You're given one tool after the next and put all those pieces together and wow, you can read a book," Ms King said.

ACT Council of Parents and Citizens Associations president Liane Joubert said parents would welcome more consistency across classrooms, ending the "postcode lottery" when it comes to schooling.

"Some of the parents in the ACT have told us how the children have really struggled to learn to read and they've had to make use of other supports such as tutors to learn this foundational skill," Ms Joubert said.

"We're hopeful that with the implementation of the recommendations, this in future will no longer be needed."

Australian Education Union ACT branch president Angela Burroughs said having clear guidance for teachers and centralised support would help prevent teacher burnout, especially for early career teachers.

"The thing that I'm really excited about in this report is the commitment to provide sample scope and sequence documents for our teachers and sample units of work," Ms Burroughs said.

"So that doesn't mean prescribing particular teaching units but what it does mean is that there is a basis from which to adapt your own classroom strategies so that you can respond with your professional judgement to meet the needs of your kids."

She said some teachers may find the report affirming while others may find the changes confronting.

"We are used to adapting. I don't think anyone will be concerned at our requirement to do the things that the evidence suggests is best quality practice if they provided the supports to be able to do that," she said.

Opposition leader and education spokeswoman Elizabeth Lee also welcomed the findings of the inquiry, which was launched based on a motion from the Canberra Liberals in October.

"It's very clear from this report that schools should move towards consistent, evidence-based teaching of literacy and numeracy," Ms Lee said.

"It is now incumbent on Minister Berry to be upfront with Canberra families and to commit fully to implementing these recommendations, not just 'in principle' and provide support to our hard-working teachers to do so."

Education Minister Yvette Berry said the government's full response in June would include funding to implement the recommendations.

"I accept that it is going to be a change. And for some teachers, that will be a significant one. We're going to support them to do that," she said.

"We don't want to increase workload through the implementation of these recommendations, and that's why we're going to our school principals and they'll be part of our developing the implementation plan."

Equity Economics strategic advisor Jessica Del Rio said the expert panel's report reflected many of the calls made in an Equity Economics report released last year, backed by the Snow Foundation and the ACT Alliance for Evidence-based Education.

"It is going to change the life trajectories of individuals students who would otherwise not be identified as struggling readers until year three, by which point it's too late to intervene," she said.

"It will mean that they have a greater likelihood of staying engaged in school, of going on to higher education or TAFE, to getting a job with a good salary."

She said the ACT could consider using an advisory group of the best experts in Australia to oversee the change management process, similar to the approach taken in Tasmania.

Centre for Independent Studies research fellow Trisha Jha said it was a positive step forward for ACT public schools, but the government would need to be mindful of the impact of change fatigue in the teaching workforce.

"They're actually trying to take a more collaborative approach where they're finding the successful schools and enabling that good practice to spread in a lateral way, rather than in a top down fashion," Ms Jha said.