Australia Association for Research in Education
teaching writing
Write at the start, all kids need to keyboard
In Australia, children are expected to develop computer-based writing skills as soon as they start schooling yet the writing performance of students is plateauing or even declining. Across the globe, results from national standardised tests show a large percentage of students writing at or below basic proficiency. That includes Australia. The role of research in …
What we want to say right now to Sahlberg and Goldfeld
Schools are places for all kinds of success, including academic achievement. In their recent article, “If not now, …
Proactive and preventative: Why this new fix could save reading (and more)
When our research on supporting reading, writing, and mathematics for older – struggling – students was published last week, most of the responses missed the heart of the matter. In Australia, we have always used “categories of disadvantage” to identify students who may need additional support at school and provide funding for that support. Yet …
AERO’s writing report is causing panic. It’s wrong. Here’s why.
If ever there was a time to question public investment in developing reports using ‘data’ generated by the National Assessment Program, it is now with the release of the Australian Educational Research Organisation’s report ‘Writing development: What does a decade of NAPLAN data reveal?’ I am sure the report was meant to provide reliable diagnostic …
Death by TEEL: Are formulas for writing harmful?
Teachers in Australia currently experience extraordinary pressures to teach to the test. In this post we want to take a closer look at how that pressure is affecting the teaching of writing. Tickbox template writing is now sought by external assessors in Australia where the focus is on basic skills and imitation of standardised practices. …
Learning to write in Year 1 is vital: new research findings
By the time children are eight they can spend up to half their day at school involved in a range of lessons that require them to write. Consequently, children who struggle with writing can be seriously disadvantaged. My colleagues and I decided to investigate what was happening with the teaching and learning of writing in …