Over the past decade, there has been much debate between countries regarding the optimal time to start formal literacy instruction. Finland, a country where children start formal schooling at a later age and develop children’s literacy skills with great success, has received much attention and accolade. In contrast, children in English-speaking countries tend to start formal literacy instruction earlier and yet recent evidence suggests one in three Australian school students are not mastering the required reading skills. So, what’s going wrong?
First and foremost, the comparison between Nordic countries to English-speaking countries is misleading.
English orthography is a writing system with a complex set of rules that govern how speech is represented in text – enabling readers to connect graphemes to sound and to meaning. As such, the deep orthography of the English language takes longer to learn than most other alphabetic languages. While humans have evolved to use and understand spoken language, the same can’t be said for learning to read or write. Human brains are not naturally wired to read. Reading must be taught.
Despite decades of disagreement about how to teach reading, the evidence is clear.
According to the Grattan Institute Report (2024), formal reading instruction should occur in the early years and must include systematic and explicit instruction in reading and understanding texts. At Ipswich Grammar School, our reading success starts with our youngest boys learning 26 letters and sounds in their first 26 days of Prep. Over twenty years ago, Professor of Education Dr Martin Kozloff stated, “If a child memorises ten words, the child can only read ten words, but if the child learns the sounds of ten letters, the child will be able to read 350 three word sounds, 4320 four sound words and 21650 five sound words.”
Why then would we delay literacy instruction?
Furthermore, our Junior School reading routines progress promptly to build on this foundational knowledge from Prep to Year 6. We strive to equip our boys with the skills to successfully decode the letters and sounds in written language and the strategies to effectively comprehend the meaning of texts.
What we do, works.
We also know, our boys’ reading ability significantly predicts how much they will choose to read.
Recently during my Junior School classroom visits, I questioned some of our seven and eight-year-old boys: why do we need to learn to read? I was met with eyes wide opened, thoughtful facial expressions, brains ticking and hands up eager to express ideas, “so we can read stories”, “so we can learn facts”, “so we can read when we are grownups” – all entirely true. But the final statement, with an enthusiasm equivalent to the morning of his birthday, resonated with me deeply, “because when I read, it’s as if a movie is playing in my head and I can’t wait to know what happens next, so I just keep reading!”
Be still my teaching heart – he’s got it!
We teach our boys to learn to read, so they learn to LOVE to read.
So, when is the best time to teach our boys to read? I’d say the sooner the better.
Anja-Lee Caldwell
Junior School Curriculum Leader