A report on improving reading results blocked by the Victorian Department of Education?

Claire Halliday

Publication of a taxpayer-funded study into six primary schools that improved their students’ reading results has been blocked by Victoria’s education department.

That’s the claim made this week in The Age newspaper.

The report explored reading results from six government schools that made the decision to dump reading strategies and, instead, deliver a structured approach that focused on phonics to its students.

All six schools involved, including three advantaged schools and three disadvantaged schools, had been keen to address reading results that had plateaued, or were declining, the study showed. But, following the transformation that was rolled out without guidance from the Department of Education, the study claimed all schools were now reporting measurable gains in the students’ outcomes.

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“This process of transformation appears to have been driven by key individuals in these schools without any formal guidance,” the report stated.

In the study all six participating schools were de-identified, but after The Age obtained a freedom-of-information request, it revealed that four are located in Melbourne, with the remaining two in regional Victoria.

Schools explore independent reading education

Members of La Trobe University’s School of Education were named as authors of the report that detailed the findings of the Victorian schools, and referred to the approach these schools embraced as “the science of reading”.

In The Age article, it is claimed that the Victorian Department of Education commissioned a report into this trial strategy for teaching reading to primary students but covered large slabs of the report in grey block to redact key information before it was released publicly.

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Transforming evidence into practice for reading and spelling instruction: A descriptive study of six Victorian schools, was written from a series of in-depth interviews with teaching staff in 2021 and 2022.

The so-called science of reading approach is based on the use of “systematic synthetic phonics instruction, regular monitoring of progress, early intervention for students who appear to be struggling, and the use of decodeable books as take-home readers”.

It actively rejects the approach known as balanced literacy, which incorporates a combination of whole-language techniques and phonics to teach reading. The Age article  reported that most of the study’s findings, and all of its recommendations, were redacted from the copy provided to the newspaper.

Report on reading transformation results blocked from publication

The Education Department’s ruling was that full disclosure of the report would “inform debate on a matter of public importance”, but that it “would be likely to inhibit frankness and candour in the making of communications”.

The Age also used FOI to access correspondence between the Education Department and La Trobe University, to reveal that the authors’ request to publish their report in an academic journal was rejected.

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“We acknowledge your decision to not allow us to publish the research findings via a peer-reviewed journal in their current form,” lead author Associate Professor Tanya Serry wrote to the department’s executive director of inclusive education, Sharon Barry.

Although Professor Serry then proposed expanding the research’s scope to cover views of policy-makers, as an in-kind contribution by La Trobe, but this offer was also rejected.

“If our offer to extend the scope of the research to accommodate department concerns is not accepted, we would be grateful if you could provide advice on how best to inform study participants that the findings will not be published,” Professor Serry wrote.

Balanced literacy technique vs science of reading

Ms Barry’s written response stated, however, that the department preferred “to use the current research to further promote the ways that Victorian government schools have adopted evidence-based literacy instruction practices, rather than publishing the research findings via forums or a peer-reviewed journal”.

Professor Serry told The Age that La Trobe’s researchers had seen their report as “a good news story” about schools that have switched to teach reading with a more evidence-based approach.

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Because of Victoria’s policy of school autonomy, with schools in the state being responsible for their own operations and performance, Professor Serry said that department seemed hesitant to advise schools on the best way to teach reading.

“The study sought to explore the experiences of staff from six Victorian government schools that have undergone, or are undergoing, a transformation process to adopt evidence-based literacy instruction practices and interventions considered important for students with literacy learning difficulties,” a spokesperson from the Department of Education said.

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Claire Halliday has an extensive career as a full-time writer - across book publishing, copywriting, podcasting and feature journalism - for more than 25 years. She lives in Melbourne with children, two border collies and a grumpy Burmese cat. Contact: claire.halliday[at]educationdaily.au