Their voice goes out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world.
In them he has set a tabernacle for the sun. - Psalm 19:4
2025 - 2035
FRAMEWORK
Rationale
As partners in Catholic education and open to God's presence, we pursue fullness of life for all.
Literacy - the ability to read, write and engage in discourse - forms the basis of all academic learning and is integral to wellbeing and fullness of life.
Therefore, it is our responsibility as Catholic primary educators to provide effective, responsive and integrated instruction across all modes of English, in order that all graduates of our primary schools are equipped with the literacy skills they need to participate positively in future learning and life endeavours.
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Vision
Step 1: Commit to at least 90 per cent of students becoming proficient readers
(a) Commit to a long-term goal of at least 90 per cent of students reaching proficiency in reading, as measured by the proportion of students in the ‘strong’ or ‘exceeding’ categories in NAPLAN, across Years 3, 5, 7, and 9.
(b) Commit to a 10-year target of increasing by 15 percentage points the proportion of students across Years 3, 5, 7, and 9 who reach proficiency, based on 2023 state-level NAPLAN data. Averaged across all states, this will require an uplift from 68 per cent in 2023 to 83 per cent in 2033.
(c) Report on progress on targets, including progress of high achievers and disadvantaged students, through a stand-alone annual report tabled in all Australian parliaments.
Grattan Institute The Reading Guarantee February 2024
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All DOBCEL primary school graduates will be confidently literate.
Mission
Australia’s governments, and Catholic and independent school sector leaders, should commit to a 10-year ‘Reading Guarantee’ strategy to meet the reading challenge. The strategy should include six steps.
First, they should commit publicly to ensuring that at least 90 per cent of Australian students learn to read proficiently at school.
Second, they should give schools and teachers specific, practical guidelines on the best way to teach reading.
Third, they should ensure schools have well-sequenced, knowledge rich curriculum materials and effective assessment tools.
Fourth, they should require schools to do universal screening of reading skills and help struggling students to catch-up. Fifth, they should ensure teachers are equipped to teach according to the evidence through training, new quality-assured micro-credentials, and by creating specialist literacy roles.
And sixth, they should improve system monitoring and accountability by mandating a nationally consistent Year 1 Phonics Screening Check for all students, and strengthen school and principal reviews. This will require significant investment and political commitment, but the gains will be worth it. If implemented well, Australia would finally deliver on a key promise of schooling: to teach children to read.
Grattan Institute The Reading Guarantee February 2024
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Through Flare, DOBCEL:
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Flare Framework
The Flare Framework centres around Six Commitments, each supported by five key descriptors.
The commitments are upheld by all educators and are used as a reference point by leaders, teams and practitioners to make consistent decisions that support high-quality structured literacy instruction.
This Framework is separated into six sections based on the six commitments, with an elaboration of each descriptor housed within the applicable sections.
Commitment
Descriptors
Main Menu
Commitment 3.
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Flare Roadmap
Working Towards Establishing the Flare Framework
This document (linked below) has been designed to illustrate the progression a school may take from beginning to adopt the Flare Framework to having the framework firmly established. This may serve as a planning or auditing tool for schools as they progress through the Flare Phases of Support.
The recommended timeframe for moving from 'Ready' to 'Established' would vary according to school context, but would generally take at least five years. Schools may expect to find themselves moving flexibly along the continuum depending on staffing and other factors.
Click on the image
to access the Roadmap
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1a) Based on Scientific Research and Evidence
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Evidence-Informed Practices
We prioritise pedagogical and educational practices that have the support of high-quality scientific research and evidence as defined by The Hierarchy of Evidence.
We are primarily guided by the 2005 findings of The Australian National Inquiry into the Teaching of Literacy which condensed the findings of over 450 submissions as well as the 2024 Grattan Institute Report, The Reading Guarantee.
Professional Learning is based within the findings of recognised researchers and authors who report on empirical studies relating to education, psychology, linguistics, cognitive science and neurology.
Decisions are made with the confident justification of contemporary research, and with awareness of potential bias, (self-reportage, vested interest, etc.)
This document from AERO may help guide research and evidence-based decision making. The CRAAP test can also be a useful resource.
1b) Responsive to New Findings
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Evidence-Informed Practices
The Sciences of Reading and Learning are ever-evolving and are informed by advances in the fields of education, psychology, cognitive science, linguistics and neurology. As we find out more about how the human brain learns, and as research provides further insights into the most effective and efficient educational practices, we must be open to new learning and prepared to respond strategically.
We keep abreast of updated research and evidence through engagement with Australian Educational Research Organistion (AERO), Australia's national education evidence body.
AERO determines the areas of research that the existing evidence base suggests would most improve excellence and equity, via ongoing monitoring of emerging data and research, liaison with other education researchers, and in consultation with an expert Research Committee. AERO considers the scalability of potential solutions within Australian education as a factor in determining their likely impact.
Another guiding resource is What Works Clearinghouse. This independent US body was established to review educational research, determine which studies meet rigorous standards, and summarize the findings.
"If you disagree with scientists about science, it’s not really a disagreement. You’re actually just incorrect. Science is not truth, it’s the process of finding the truth. When science evolves, it didn’t lie to you, it learned more."
1c) Tracked via standardised & norm-referenced data sets
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Evidence-Informed Practices
The Flare Framework uses standardised and norm-referenced data sets to assess student skills and knowledge (over time, and within a given year) according to the Simple View of Reading, Scarborough’s Rope and the Big 6 pillars of literacy instruction as identified in the National Inquiry. These assessments allow for early identification, inform core instruction and intervention, and enable evaluation of pedagogy, organisational structures and the overall methodology.
Components Being Assessed
Assessments
Schedule
1d) Data-informed
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Evidence-Informed Practices
“The ultimate purpose of taking data is to provide a basis for action or a
recommendation for action”
Deming 1942
Data informed practice describes the systematic use of data by schools and educators to improve student learning, specific instruction, classroom practices and overall wellbeing.
It is important to remember that the key purpose of data is to improve teaching and learning rather than collecting numbers and scores for their own sake. For data to be most useful, it should be collected systematically and for a clearly identified purpose. These data requirements are outlined in the Assessment schedule, and data analysis is regularly scheduled for collaborative PLT agendas ino order to make collective instructional decisions.
No instructional or organisational decision is made without the basis of data to support it.
Marzano’s Developmental Scale (The New Art and Science of Teaching, 2017) allows evaluation of data usage in our classrooms. In Flare schools, we collectively work within the Applying and Innovating stages.
Not using | I am unaware of the existence of data, do not understand it or do not engage with it. |
Beginning | I attempt to use data in my work, but there are flaws in the way I use it or my methods are incomplete. |
Developing | I use data in my role, but I do not monitor the effect that it has on students. |
Applying | I use data in my practice and I monitor the extent to which this impacts my students and their learning. |
Innovating | I have a high level of expertise in using data and I modify my practice for individual students in my class. |
The following data categories are collected and analysed:
1e) Independently Reviewed
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Evidence-Informed Practices
All aspects of the Flare Framework including:
is subject to regular internal review and informed by external review. This review occurs through a research partnership with LaTrobe University.
2. Effective & Efficient Pedagogies
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2a) Comprised of systematic, cumulative, explicit & diagnostic instruction
Systematic
Systematic Instruction is planned, logically sequenced and intentional. It is characterised by a well-organised, pre-planned scope and sequence of instruction, where important prerequisite skills are taught before more advanced skills.
Cumulative
Cumulative Instruction builds upon the learning from the lesson before. Learners have multiple opportunities to practice and apply previously learnt skills as they gradually build new skills. Previously learnt skills become automatic and no longer require effort, freeing up cognitive load for the new skill to be worked upon.
Explicit
Explicit Instruction is direct and intentional. Learning is never implicit, hoped for, nor incidental. The teacher leads the learning by carefully explaining and modelling.
The teacher is the expert. The learners are novices.
Instruction follows the I Do, We Do, You Do model.
Diagnostic
Diagnostic Instruction involves close monitoring, immediate error correction and on the spot feedback.
Learners are monitored at every stage of the instruction and errors or misconceptions are identified and corrected at the point they occur. There is constant interplay between assessment and instruction.
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Effective & Efficient Pedagogies
“Cut the fluff and teach the stuff.”
“Practice makes permanent.”
- Dr Anita Archer
2b) Informed by Cognitive Load Theory
Instructional practice based within Cognitive Load Theory (Sweller, 1988) aims to reduce extraneous load and optimise intrinsic load.
It is vital that educators at all levels understand CLT and its implications for teaching and learning.
Teachers who attend to CLT:
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Effective & Efficient Pedagogies
"I have come to the conclusion that Cognitive Load Theory is the single most important thing for teachers to know."
2c) Driven by the I Do, We Do, You Do, Do it Again instructional model
The I Do, We Do, You Do model is an explicit instruction model comprising of the following instructional steps:
I do it (MODEL): My turn
During the I Do stage of the model, the teacher explains what they need to know and shows them how to do the things they need to be able to do. Then, the teacher checks for understanding before moving on to the next stage.
We do it (PROMPT): Let’s do this together
During the We Do stage of the model, the teacher scaffolds tasks and guides students as they work with the material being taught. The teacher also offers feedback and gauges students readiness to move to the next stage.
You do it (CHECK): Your turn
During the You Do stage of the model, students complete learning tasks independently, but only tasks similar to what the teacher has covered in the I Do section of the lesson/s. Feedback is given on independent work.
A fourth can be added to the model to incorporate spaced practice and cumulative review, according to a Scope and Sequence for instruction.
Do it Again (REVIEW): Your turn (unless student response suggests I Do, We Do, You Do should be repeated)
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Effective & Efficient Pedagogies
Above: Dr Anita Archer explains explicit instruction according to the
I Do, We Do, You Do model.
2d) Underpinned by Dehaene’s Pillars & Rosenshine's Principles
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Effective & Efficient Pedagogies
Dehaene’s Pillars of Instruction and Rosenshine’s Principles guide lesson design.
Student attention is carefully directed and all students are actively engaged at every stage of learning. Errors are corrected on-the-spot and there are regular reviews of previously learnt content and skills.
Novel information is presented in small, steps and long-term retention is supported by frequent checks for understanding and opportunities for students to respond to rich questions.
Teachers provide models of success, guide initial practice and then encourage independent practice and consolidation, through an I do, we do, you do, do it again approach.
Teachers provide the scaffolding and support necessary to ensure all students experience success.
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2e) Embedded within Multi-Tiered Systems of Support
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Effective & Efficient Pedagogies
A Multi-Tiered System of Support (MTSS) is a systematic, continuous improvement framework that focuses on the positive educational experiences and outcomes of all students.
MTSS is a way of thinking and doing that utilises high-impact, evidence-based pedagogical practices to ensure every student receives the appropriate level of support, instruction and adjustments to be successful.
MTSS assists schools to identify and organise resources and pedagogy responsively through alignment and monitoring of curriculum standards and behavioural expectations. Practices are implemented with fidelity and sustained over time in order to accelerate the educational outcomes of every student.
Instructional methods must be in alignment across tiers
3. Structured Literacy Methodology
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3a) Intentionally sequenced instruction in Phonology, Orthography, Morphology & Etymology, Syntax and Semantics
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Structured Literacy Methodology
We guarantee systematic, cumulative, explicit and diagnostic instruction in the five elements of Structured Literacy (International Dyslexia Association).
A collaboratively designed and regularly reviewed Literacy Curriculum and Integrated Literacy-HASSS Scope and Sequence strategically orders instruction in:
Instruction for early readers focuses heavily on the first two elements, with limited focus on the other elements. As the readers gain more skills and experience, the focus of instruction shifts gradually and purposefully towards the final two elements.
Phonology | The study of the sounds in spoken English |
Orthography | The alphabetic code of written English |
Morphology | The study of units of meaning in English words |
Syntax | The correct use and order of words in sentences |
Semantics | The comprehension of language |
3b) Underpinned by the Simple View of Reading (Gough & Tunmer, 1986)
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Structured Literacy Methodology
Above: DOBCEL Video explanation of The Simple View of Reading
The Simple View of Reading is a widely-accepted theoretical model that explains Reading Comprehension as a product of Decoding (or Word Recognition) and Language Comprehension.
We must provide systematic, cumulative, explicit and diagnostic instruction in both decoding and language comprehension if we are to achieve the goal of reading comprehension.
We must also ensure that the appropriate interventions are provided when reading comprehension is not achieved.
"The general application of the SVR to the study of reading has been extensive, and it has served as the guiding assumption for much research since it was proposed." Lonigan et. al 2018
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x
LC
=
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3c)Enhanced by rich literature according to a Reading Spine
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Structured Literacy Methodology
Two key features of a Structured Literacy approach include a commitment to both high-quality literature and low-variance routines and curricula. The aim of a Reading Spine is to outline the high-quality literature that is to be read, listened to and/or studied by students across their time at school, thereby limiting variance and guaranteeing access to quality text for all students, irrespective of teacher preference.
The Flare Reading Spine is built around Doug Lemov’s 5 Plagues of the Developing Reader - five types of texts that children should have access to in order to successfully navigate reading with confidence. These are complex beyond a lexical level and demand more from the reader than other types of books. These plagues are:
Archaic Language
The vocabulary, usage, syntax and context for cultural reference of texts over 50 or 100 years old are vastly different and typically more complex than texts written today. Students need to be exposed to and develop proficiency with antiquated forms of expression in order to read such complex text.
Non-Linear Time Sequences
In passages written exclusively for students—or more specifically for student assessments— time tends to unfold with consistency. A story is narrated in a given style with a given cadence and that cadence endures and remains consistent, but in the best books, books where every aspect of the narration is nuanced to create an exact image, time moves in fits and starts. It doubles back. The only way to master such books is to have read them time and again and to be carefully introduced to them by a thoughtful teacher or parent.
Narratively Complex Books are sometimes narrated by an unreliable narrator. Other books have multiple narrators or non-human narrators, often with multiple intertwined and apparently unrelated plot lines. These are more difficult to read than books with a single plot line and students need to experience these as well.
Figurative/Symbolic Text operates on an allegorical or symbolic level not reflected in Lexiles. They include critical forms of text complexity that students must experience and have explained to them.
Resistant Texts are those written to deliberately resist easy meaning-making by readers. Perhaps half of the poems ever written fall into this category. You have to assemble meaning around nuances, hints, uncertainties and clues.
The Flare Reading Spine can be found in the Lit-HAS Scope and Sequence document. This Reading Spine is complemented by a variety of teacher-selected texts.
3d) Steeped in oral language
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Structured Literacy Methodology
The relationship between oral language and broader literacy development has been well established.
Effective oral language skills are explicitly taught throughout the primary years in the Flare methodology.
The image (left) details Louisa Moats’ Components of Oral Language, and highlights how those components are prioritised in the Flare Methodology.
3e) Responsive to Assessment
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Structured Literacy Methodology
The Flare Assessment Calendar outlines a schedule of formal assessment measures. The assessments are delivered with fidelity and the results recorded in the Flare Data tool for collaborative analysis. This analysis informs instructional priorities, as well as decisions around intervention and extension initiatives.
Analysis of formal assessment data is supportive of the ongoing formative assessment that is prioritised in diagnostic instruction. As teachers strive to ensure 'high levels of success' before moving on, they are informed by frequent 'checks for understanding' and provide on-the-spot error correction. Mistakes and misapprehensions are seen as positive indicators of learning, but are swiftly and explicitly corrected so that they are not rehearsed and stored in long-term memory.
It is vital that teachers actively 'lean-in' and maintain an active role during all aspects of guided and independent practice. The coaching , correction and, sometimes re-teaching they provide during this time is integral to achieving 'high levels of success' for all students.
Student outcomes reflect the quality of instruction they received. As Dr Anita Archer reminds us "how well we teach equals how well they learn".
"Assessment is the bridge between teaching and learning."
4. Knowledge-
Rich Content
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4a) Intentionally sequenced content in Science and Humanities
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Knowledge-Rich Content
The Victorian Curriculum provides guidance for expected achievement standards at each year level and for each subject area. What it lacks (particularly in science and humanities), however, is specificity. Global statements about extreme weather and geological conditions (for example) abound, but we are left wondering which specific phenomena, condition, community, country, force, mineral, time, or effect to teach our students to ensure a cumulative and solid knowledge bank is established.
This results in high-variance due to teacher-choice and individual knowledge or preference.
Developing a knowledge-rich curriculum, which outlines the specific nouns of what is to be taught and when, ensures:
In the Flare methodology, the Victorian Curriculum standards form the basis for science and humanities instruction, with the Inquisitive and Core Knowledge programs used to elaborate on these standards and establish the specific ‘what’ and ‘how’ of instruction.
A two-year (and three-year) cycle of this explicitly outlined knowledge drives instruction in science, humanities and specialist areas, and forms the basis for content-driven literacy instruction.
“(We need to)… ensure that students leave school in possession of the bodies of knowledge that are likely to be needed to understand common sources of information; knowledge that is historical, political, scientific and literary.”
Science, Geography, History, Economics & Business, Civics & Citizenship, Technologies
Idioms sequence, The Arts
4b) Reflective of the integral role of knowledge in reading comprehension
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Knowledge-Rich Content
“If we want our children to be broadly competent readers, thinkers, and problem solvers, they must have a rich, broad store of background knowledge to call upon, enabling them to flex those mental muscles.”
― E.D. Hirsch
The 1988 'Baseball Study' (Recht & Leslie) provided a practical illustration of the theory that underpins the Simple View of Reading and Scarborough's Reading Rope. Their findings demonstrated that knowledge of a particular subject is integral to the comprehension of text about that subject.
Above: N.Wexler talks about the role of knowledge
Alongside explicit teaching of the alphabetic code and the systems of written English, we also need to provide explicit teaching about core knowledge. This includes Science, the Humanities, the Arts and Civics & Citizenship.
The Flare Lit-HAS Integrated Scope and Sequence outlines a 2-year cycle of core knowledge instruction.
The teaching of background knowledge and topic vocabulary is prioritised over instruction in general comprehension strategies such as 'visualising' and 'predicting'. We still teach these strategies, but they are in the background. Content knowledge is in the foreground of comprehension instruction.
4c) Fortified by the Hochman Method principle, the content drives the rigour
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Knowledge-Rich Content
The Writing Revolution provides teachers with an evidence-based and proven instructional methodology, the Hochman Method Ⓡ
The methodology rests on explicit, carefully sequenced instruction, building from sentences to compositions. The Hochman Method is not a separate writing curriculum but rather an approach designed to be adapted to and embedded in the content being taught in any subject area and at any grade level.
Writing and content knowledge are intimately related. You cannot write well about something you do not know well.
A key principle of The Writing Revolution is that the content of the curriculum drives the rigour of the task. The form of the activity may be the same for any given grade level, but the content is what makes it more or less rigorous.
E.g Students are to complete a sentence stem using the because, but and so strategy:
Year 1. George knew he had to give Grandma her medicine…
Year 4. Fractions are like decimals…
Year 6. Gough Whitlam was a popular Prime Minister…
TWR strategies are explicitly outlined in Flare's Scope and Sequence, and all use content as the driving force of the rigour. The Writing Revolution is a key framework for instruction used in the Flare Methodology.
“Writing isn’t merely a skill; it’s also a powerful teaching tool. When students write, they - and their teachers - figure out what they don’t understand and what further information they need. When students write about the content they’re studying, they earn to synthesize information and produce their own interpretations. That process helps them absorb and retain the substance of what they’re writing about and the vocabulary that goes with it. The content drives the rigour”
Judith Hochman
4d) Purposefully integrated with literacy instruction
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Knowledge-Rich Content
Flare's Integrated Lit-HAS Scope and Sequence provides the content basis for literacy instruction. Whilst the literacy curriculum determines the phonology, orthography, morphology & etymology, syntax and semantics skills and content to be taught, the content of the texts and instructional materials being used to teach those skills is always derived from the knowledge curriculum.
This means that students are reading and writing to learn about a specific topic from the knowledge curriculum, reducing cognitive load and providing ample integrated opportunities to build solid knowledge schema.
4e) Designed to close the knowledge gap and build cultural capital
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Knowledge-Rich Content
The achievement gap between students at the top and bottom of the socioeconomic scale is significant, and it is a gap that hasn’t narrowed in 50 years.
Evidence from cognitive science shows that reading comprehension depends far more on how much knowledge the reader has about the topic than on abstract skills. The more general knowledge you have, the better you do on reading tests—and often, in life. Hence the phenomenon we’ve come to call the achievement gap: students who acquire more knowledge about the world—usually outside school, from their better-educated and higher-income families—have an advantage on the tests.
To narrow the equity gap, we need to immerse all children, and especially those from low-income families, in content-rich subjects, building their knowledge beginning in Foundation (if not before).
Flare schools ensure that content-rich instruction is prioritised for all students, in order to address the Knowledge Gap and ensure cultural capital is accessible to all.
Above: Natalie Wexler on The Knowledge Gap
“Evidence-based, knowledge-building curriculum promotes equity: Students must learn mainstream history and culture along with content that more directly relates to their own experience. Children from economically under-resourced communities need to have and feel the power of being able to tap into the collective knowledge base that drives academic success in this country as well as the knowledge of how they themselves and their communities contribute to that larger narrative. Having both kinds of knowledge reinforces the idea that you belong in the room. That puts rich content in the foreground, including history, science, and art.”
Natalie Wexler, Forbes Magazine
5. Low-Variance Principles
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5a) Contingent upon ongoing, responsive and high-quality professional learning
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Low Variance Principles
The most recent report from the OECD on attracting, developing and retaining effective teachers states that “the broad consensus is that “teacher quality” is the single most important school variable influencing student achievement”.
The Flare Strategy recognises that the teacher is the most important learner in the room. Professional Learning is scheduled and intentionally sequenced across the Flare implementation plan, in line with the School Improvement and Annual Action Plan priorities. It is responsive to teacher need and classroom reality, and involves observations and feedback on practice.
Rigorous professional learning is delivered via a variety of mediums, allows for building teacher content knowledge as well as knowledge of pedagogy and practice and is reflective of AITSL’s High Quality Professional Learning cycle (below).
5b) Delivered through prescribed timetables and curricula
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Low Variance Principles
All classes F-6 conduct a consistent Literacy Block according to a prescribed routine.
Teachers are trained and supported in the application of the components of the routine, including:
The routine is divided by a movement break during which the students have the chance to eat a snack and move their bodies (usually outdoors). This is crucial to the success of the teaching and learning routines.
Teachers are guided in the development and maintenance of consistent executive expectations, such as the set up of materials, seating arrangements, transition behaviours and so on. This is done with the intention of reducing extraneous cognitive load.
"Consistent and predictable classroom routines provide students with clear expectations for appropriate behavior. Teachers establish classroom routines to help minimize distractions and interruptions that can slow instruction and disrupt student engagement in academic content." Ideas that Work
5c) Supported by common instructional materials
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Low Variance Principles
Use of common and consistent instructional materials serve four key purposes:
Teachers are provided with classroom display materials, focus texts, slide deck templates and pre-written 'idiom of the week' slides. All of these resources are available via the Flare Website.
Above: Extract from the Flare Slide Deck Style Guide
5d) Reliant upon common routines, cues and transitions
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Low Variance Principles
Prosocial behaviour and social-emotional wellbeing is supported by the Flare commitment to Rosenshine's Principle #7: Obtain a high success rate.
Common routines, consistent cues and tightly-managed transitions help ensure that all students can experience success. Teachers using the Flare methodology consistently implement:
Students are explicitly taught how to line up (recommendation: roll order), how to enter and exit learning spaces, how to pay attention and behave respectfully during lessons, and how to strive for success. The expectations are consistent from F-6, and from classroom to classroom and are reinforced by all teachers and leaders.
When the expectations are not met, they are reviewed, rehearsed and 'reset'.
5e) Driven by clear achievement targets
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Low Variance Principles
The Flare Assessment Calendar outlines a schedule of formal assessment measures. The assessments are delivered with fidelity and the results recorded in the Flare Data tool for collaborative analysis. This analysis informs instructional priorities, as well as decisions around intervention and extension initiatives.
The norm-referenced, standardised assessments provide grade-level benchmarks, which provide educators with clear targets for student achievement. Our goal is that all students will experience at least one year's growth for one year's input, and will attain at or above the grade-level benchmarks in all aspects of Literacy. Students who are identified as 'susceptible' to not achieving benchmark will become eligible for targeted, well-tracked interventions.
Research shows that having clear and transparent learning goals at both the school and classroom level leads to improvements in learning achievement.
6. Strategic Leadership
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6a) Upheld by clearly communicated procedures, commitments & accountability measures
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Strategic Leadership
Effective change management and strategic improvement depend on maintaining a culture of high expectations and commensurate high support.
A statement of commitment and reciprocity, such as the example shown here, should be co-created by schools or teams and used to review and reflect upon leadership and educator commitment to Literacy improvement.
Whilst the Literacy Leader has a vital role to play in developing and upholding the statement of commitment, ultimate accountability resides with the Principal.
In striving for Literacy improvement we uphold the following commitments: | |
Leaders will: | Educators will: |
Provide high-quality professional learning | Engage positively in all professional learning |
Provide access to a clear Literacy curriculum | Implement the Literacy curriculum |
Provide training in best-practice pedagogies | Use best-practice pedagogies with consistency |
Coordinate assessment | Implement assessment |
Maintain a data tool | Use the data tool as intended |
Keep abreast of research and best practice | Trust that informed decisions are made |
Provide opportunities to review practice | Participate in the review process |
Protect instructional time | Ensure that instructional time is maximised |
Offer support | Seek support as required |
Provide time and guidance for collaboration | Collaborate productively |
Model optimism and a desire to succeed | Engage with optimism and a desire to succeed |
6b)Sustained by dedicated literacy leadership
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Strategic Leadership
The success of the Flare Primary Literacy Strategy depends upon dedicated Literacy Leadership.
The Literacy Leader works closely with DOBCEL colleagues to provide high-level support, according to a co-designed commitments statement, such as the one shown on the previous page.
The Literacy Leader reports to the Principal.
Literacy Leaders are responsible for:
6c) Enhanced by professional collaboration
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Strategic Leadership
Genuine professional collaboration is a way of working in partnership that:
Collaborative partnerships can involve teachers, teaching teams or schools, and may also include psychologists, speech pathologists, occupational therapists, and others. It is important to understand that the professionals in the collaborative relationships will not always agree on everything. However, it is the shared goals and focus on the student and the student’s access to high-quality education that is non-negotiable. Professional collaboration can benefit students by contributing to high-quality teaching practices, targeted support, and consistency in the education experience.
The Centre for Inclusive Education
6d) Supported by diligent protection of instructional time
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Strategic Leadership
We ensure that opportunities for Literacy and knowledge curriculum instruction are maximised for every learner.
Principals, Literacy Leaders and teachers co-commit to minimising interruptions to core instruction and strive to ensure at least 8 hrs per week of content-based Literacy instruction for every student.
This core instruction may be supplemented by related intervention or extension initiatives, as indicated by assessment results.
Failure to sustain an educational environment where unencumbered instructional time is considered inviolate may well result in less than effective and efficient teaching and learning.
6e) Driven by a long-term implementation plan
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Strategic Leadership
Flare Literacy Leaders are supported to develop a school-specific implementation roadmap based on the Flare Roadmap and to monitor progress against this roadmap, making strategic adjustments as required.
Click on the image
to access the Roadmap
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FOR MORE INFORMATION
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Dehaene S (2010). Reading in the brain: The new science of how we read. Penguin Books.
Ehri L C (2005). Learning to Read Words: Theory, Findings, and Issues. Scientific Studies of Reading, 9(2), 167–188. https://doi.org/10.1207/s1532799xssr0902_4
Ehri L C (2014). Orthographic Mapping in the Acquisition of Sight Word Reading, Spelling Memory, and Vocabulary Learning. Scientific Studies of Reading, 18(1), 5–21. https://doi.org/10.1080/10888438.2013.819356
Fisk, Selena (2021) Data Storytelling in Australian Schools pg 1
Five from Five (2020). Primary Reading Pledge: A plan to have all students reading by the end of primary school. MultiLit Pty Ltd.
Geary D C (2008). An Evolutionarily Informed Education Science. Educational Psychologist, 43(4), 179–195. https://doi.org/10.1080/00461520802392133
Hunter, Stobart & Heywood (2024). Grattan Report - The Reading Guarantee. https://grattan.edu.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/The-Reading-Guarantee-Grattan-Institute-Report.pdf
Moats L C (2020). Teaching Reading Is Rocket Science: What Expert Teachers of Reading Should Know and Be Able to Do. Washington DC: American Federation of Teachers. https://www.aft.org/ae/summer2020/moats
Scarborough H S (2001). Connecting early language and literacy to later reading (dis)abilities: Evidence, theory, and practice. In Handbook for research in early literacy (pp. 97–110). Guilford Press.
Snow P C (2021). SOLAR: The Science of Language and Reading. Child Language Teaching and Therapy, 37(3), 222–233. https://doi.org/10.1177/0265659020947817
Sweller J (2008). Instructional Implications of David C. Geary’s Evolutionary Educational Psychology. Educational Psychologist, 43(4), 214–216. https://doi.org/10.1080/00461520802392208
AERO https://www.edresearch.edu.au/resources/introduction-science-reading
OECD https://www.oecd.org/education/school/34990905.pdf
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KEY SOURCES
This framework is adapted from the SunLit Pedagogical Framework written by Emma Rutherford, Rebecca Thurman and Breeana Wade. Updated by Emma Rutherford, Holly Southwell and Breeana Wade in December 2024.