Foreword:
by
Howard Fancy
Secretary of Education
Ensuring that all students achieve good
strengths in literacy is critical to their subsequent success in education
and throughout their lives. Increasing the effectiveness of teaching
practice in this critical area is therefore a priority. This publication
is an important contribution to increasing the range of quality resources
information available to teachers. It has been designed as the key
reference for professional development programmes as well as providing a
platform for further materials to support literacy teaching and learning
in classrooms. It builds from the work of the 1998 Government-appointed
Literacy Taskforce. This Taskforce provided advice that was a key input
into the development of the Literacy Numeracy Strategy.
The Literacy Taskforce focused on ways to
ensure that all children receive the best possible teaching in the first
four years at school. Included in its report were recommendations that:
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A statement of best practice be drawn up
and promulgated to schools. This statement should also guide the
Ministry of Education’s development and distribution of curriculum
materials for both children and teachers and guide schools’ purchases of
materials.
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Reading in Junior Classes be revised.
Effective Literacy Practice in Years 1-4
has been developed in response to those recommendations and is
integral to the ongoing implementation of the Government’s Literacy
Strategy.
During the development of this handbook, surveys of research have
highlighted the extent to which effective teaching practice influences
learning outcomes. It is now very clear that effective teaching is the single
largest system influence on the achievement of all students. In order to
be as effective as possible, teachers need access to quality resources and
information.
Research also highlights a number of
important dimensions that contribute to effective teaching practice. The
Statement of effective literacy practice that this book articulates is
informed by evidence. It focuses on those dimensions of effective
practice that are identified in both New Zealand and international
studies.
I would like to thank
all those people who have been involved in producing this handbook. The
process of development and consultation has involved many teachers,
academics, researchers, and policy makers. The result is a handbook that
links literacy teaching practice and learning process, providing advice
that we can be confident will lead to improved outcomes for students.
Howard Fancy
Secretary of Education
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