The Department of Education is expanding early literacy assessments to all Victorian Government primary schools following a successful pilot in 2022.
Announced by the Minister for Education, Natalie Hutchins, the assessments are to provide valuable information to help teachers plan sequential instruction to support the literacy learning of all students.
“Almost 55,000 students in Victorian government schools have been assessed through the English Online Interview for Grade 1 students last week alone, with strong positive feedback from students, families and teachers,” Ms Hutchins said.
“The English Online Interview is an important resource for teachers, providing them with a point-in-time overview of student achievement, supporting student learning and informing teaching practices and curriculum planning,” she said.
“Every Grade 1 Victorian Government school student will have their early literacy skills, including phonics, assessed each year through the English Online Interviews in Term 1.”
Ms Hutchins said schools and teachers had been provided with support, like funded time release for teachers, to learn to implement the new assessment, analyse results and design appropriate responses.
She said updates had also been made to the Literacy Teaching Toolkit to provide teachers with additional detailed guidance on the teaching of phonics and phonological awareness ready for Term 1, 2023.
“In Victoria, the teaching of phonics is a central component of learning the English language and is an explicit part of the curriculum,” the Minister said.
“Phonics is one of the key building blocks in learning how to read and teaching literacy must include systematic phonics instruction, alongside supporting students’ literal, inferential and evaluative comprehension within rich and meaningful literacy contexts.”
