Literacy revolution

A revolutionary new University of Queensland-developed literacy package will soon be available to classrooms throughout Australia and overseas.

A package of unique literacy programs for students from year one to high school (Steps on the Path), was launched recently by Assistant Director General of Education Queensland, Terry Kearney.

UQ Vice-Chancellor, Professor John Hay, AC, said the initiative of UQ’s School of Health & Rehabilitation Sciences was believed to be a world-first. “These programs integrate health and educational expertise into unique interdisciplinary programs, which teachers deliver. They equip teachers to provide effective literacy intervention and guide students with sensorymotor difficulties and poor phonological (sound) awareness into lives enriched by literacy,” he said. “Childhood literacy difficulties – if not remedied – can become a lifelong burden. These programs are showing how research and collaboration can deliver positive results for children, families and schools.”

Blackwater North State School and Boondall State School are two communities that have achieved excellent outcomes with the program. In the space of three years, Blackwater North State School reduced by more than half the percentage of children needing extra intervention.

Boondall State School adopted one of the programs in 2003 and achieved results that helped it win an Education Queensland 2006 Showcase Award, Professor Hay said. The programs are suitable for most students with literacy problems. They were written by speech pathologists and occupational therapists, in close consultation with teachers.

Project Leader, Carolyn Burrows, said the programs were unique because they combined knowledge from all of these areas and had been designed in age-specific packages. “This inter-disciplinary approach provides teachers with internationally researched methods that target two major road blocks to literacy – poor phonological awareness and sensorymotor difficulties,” she said. “Many students who struggle with reading and writing have difficulties in both of these areas, and researchers are now acknowledging the link. When both areas of intervention are provided at the same time, students’ literacy skills develop more than if intervention focuses on one area.”

A licensing agreement has recently been secured with publishing company, Plural Publishing Inc., to take the package to the international market. There will be a staged release of the programs. The Early Literacy Foundations (ELF) program for year one and two students is now available. Programs for mid–upper primary students (Phonological Awareness for Literacy (PAL)) and secondary school students (Phonological Awareness Training for High Schools (PATHS)) will both be rolled out by the end of the year. Further programs are under development, including one for “prep” children.

Since the launch, the allied health team has been asked to work with education professionals in remote Indigenous communities to improve their literacy outcomes.

• FUNDING: The University of Queensland and Queensland Health
• RESEARCHER: Carolyn Burrows
• EMAIL: c.burrows@uq.edu.au
• WEB: www.shrs.uq.edu.au/shrs/clinics_and_services/ interdisciplinary-program.html

   Complete package ... brochures explain Steps on the Path

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