The remarkable success of Catholic schools in the ACT and Goulburn in this year’s NAPLAN results underscores the urgent need for explicit teaching to be delivered in every Australian classroom.
As confirmed by the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA) in its ‘My School’ results, 13 catholic schools have made the ‘schools making a difference’ top 20 list in the ACT.
One of the standout performers is Good Shepherd Primary School in Amaroo where NAPLAN results have soared because of the ‘Catalyst’ program which comprises evidence based-teaching practices such as structured literacy, supported by high quality curriculum resources and high impact teacher coaching.
I was delighted to visit Good Shepherd Primary last year to see Catalyst in action and the importance of getting back to basics in the classroom.
Education Minister Jason Clare promised to drive evidence-based teaching with a new national school reform agreement but continues to be caught up in a school funding war with New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, and South Australia.
Labor’s failure to conclude agreements with four states puts at risk increased funding and critical reforms for more than 80 per cent of government schools.
By not getting on with the job, Labor is failing teachers, students, and their families.
Labor is also failing to listen to many educators who say the national curriculum is ‘impossible to teach’.
Labor’s proposed school reforms do not address classroom behaviour and teacher safety or the need to adopt a concise, knowledge-rich national curriculum, aligned with international best practice. That is simply not good enough.