South Australia has launched its new Numeracy and Literacy Strategy over the last week, with the State Government claiming that it will see a significant improvement to NAPLAN results and will set annual academic targets and deliver increased information sharing with parents.

State Education Minister, Jennifer Rankine, said that the Great start – Strong foundations – Powerful learners literacy and numeracy strategy will see increased support for numeracy and literacy coaching and development.

“There will be one plan for each child with a focus on specific learning, and higher expectations will be set for both students and teachers,” Ms Rankine said.

Key parts of the Strategy include: 

  • promoting family participation in child health checks
  •  the development of courses, workshops and online resources
  • supporting schools to develop consistency of teacher judgement against achievement standards
  • a plan to host a State-wide learning summit
  • implementing progress indicators to track numeracy and literacy development
  • involving children and young people more in providing feedback to their teachers
  • ensuring achievement information is passed on at major points of transition
  • working with teacher professional associations and universities to develop and deliver numeracy and literacy resources
  • coaching and mentoring in literacy and numeracy for newly appointed teachers