National gov’t backs phonics with new funding

<h3>The Morrison Government wants teachers to teach kids to read with phonics&period; <&sol;h3>&NewLine;<p>&&num;8220&semi;Our Government will fund the Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership &lpar;AITSL&rpar; to provide expert advice on incorporating phonics into the national accreditation standards for initial teacher education&comma;&&num;8221&semi; Minister for Education Dan Tehan said&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<blockquote>&NewLine;<p>&&num;8220&semi;I have tasked AITSL to create a small taskforce to advise on implementing the Government’s phonics in ITE election commitment&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<&sol;blockquote>&NewLine;<p>&&num;8220&semi;AITSL will draw on the taskforce’s expertise&comma; focusing on ensuring graduate teachers can teach the fundamentals of literacy through learning how to teach the five essential elements of literacy&colon; phonemic awareness&comma; phonics&comma; vocabulary development&comma; reading fluency&comma; comprehension&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&&num;8220&semi;There is clear evidence that children benefit from phonics instruction in learning to read and spell so our Government wants teachers to have the skills to teach phonics well&period; AITSL will progress the proposed changes to the accreditation standards to all education ministers for endorsement in December 2019&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The government planned to introduce a free&comma; voluntary phonics health check for Year 1 students so parents and teachers can better understand a child’s reading level and what support they may need&period; This received a <strong><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;school-news&period;com&period;au&sol;news&sol;the-coalitions-10-million-for-year-1-phonics-checks-would-be-wasted-money&sol;">mixed reception<&sol;a><&sol;strong> from educators as many insist the &dollar;10m allocation would be better spent elsewhere&period; <&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;