Literacy Practice Leaders setting standards in CET Schools

Literate Learners for Life was created to improve literacy standards for all students in Catholic schools throughout Tasmania. This initiative is lived out daily by talented and dedicated teachers within the Catholic Education Tasmania system who implement the Literate Learners for Life programs and approaches to help support their teaching.

In every CET school, there is a Literacy Practice Leader (LPL) who has been appointed to work two days a week. They solely focus on literacy in their school. Ensuring that their students are given every opportunity to succeed, and are striving towards higher functional levels of literacy. Without the guidance of our Literacy Practice Leaders, this initiative would not have the impacts and be the success it is today. 

There are many stakeholders that are impacted by this initiative, but none more so than the students who are learning and practising literacy every day. Through direct instruction, phonics, and a number of other strategies that have been put in place to support students, the results are clear. Students who are taking part in this initiative are experiencing success in learning integral Literacy skills. 

Literacy Practice Leader, Katie Johnstone from Sacred Heart Ulverstone Catholic School, spoke about how much she has enjoyed being the point of contact for all things literacy within her school. “Leading literacy in my school was quite daunting at first, but it’s been great.” said Katie, “We have received lots of support from Lisa Fenning (Literacy Project Lead Advisor, CET), in building knowledge of evidence-based practices so I had more knowledge that I could share with teachers at my school.” CET educators now have one point of contact within their school for all things Literacy, and they know that they can rely on the LPL at their school to help support them with their Literacy teaching. 

Each LPL has an understanding that they are a wealth of information, strategies and knowledge that can be shared with their fellow staff members. The beauty of this particular structure is that every school has a person who is employed in this position, and whenever there are issues or problems that arise in this space in their school, they have a collective of more than thirty LPL’s from other schools that are available to support them. There is a collaborative and collegial approach to supporting each other by following a single-minded goal of improving literacy standards for the students of Catholic schools in Tasmania. 

There are many keys to creating success within literacy in schools, but the collaborative approach between LPLs across all schools rather than just their own school is crucial. Whenever there is an issue that might arise within a school, there is a willingness to work in collaboration to help answer any concerns that are raised by any members of their literacy network. There is a shared support network in place that provides examples, strategies and shared experience to help all LPLs give the best possible support to the students of their school. 

Lisette Noonan, Literacy Practice Leader at Corpus Christi Catholic School explained how collaboration has been key, “​​I think collaboration amongst other teachers is just so powerful. Especially within our literacy practice leaders group.” said Lisette. “It's really great to know what other schools are doing and where they're finding challenges, but also successes as well. I think that's what's been so powerful about this initiative is that everybody is so happy to share and so happy to help each other out.” 

Literate Learners for Life aims to improve the literacy skills of each and every student in Catholic schools, so that they can experience the joy that reading can bring. It’s giving students from all backgrounds the opportunity to learn the same content, no matter where they live, or who their teacher is. 

MaryAnn Munnings, Literacy Practice Leader from St Finn Barr’s explained how Literate Learners for Life has given students from all backgrounds an opportunity to learn integral literacy skills at her school. “It’s putting children with English as another language, on a level playing field with everyone else, because they are all hearing and being taught the same thing.” said MaryAnn. “We’re astounded with how we’ve had a child attend our school who didn’t speak English, and with a few weeks they were almost at the same level as other students in their class thanks to InitiaLit.” 

There are many strengths to this initiative, but Literacy Practice Leader Sarah Clark from St Mary’s College, summed it up perfectly. “The biggest strength of this initiative is that it creates equity in Literacy education across all CET schools.” She said, “It’s incredibly important that all students have access to scientifically proven teaching methods and programs that are going to improve their reading and writing, no matter where they live, or who their teacher is, or which school they go to.” 

Literate Learners for Life continues to influence all Catholic schools in Tasmania, Literacy Practice Leaders cannot wait to see the continual improvement of their students and the opportunities they have to grow throughout their education. Educators love seeing growth in their students, and they will be proud to see the strives they will have made by the time they reach Year Three and experienced the entire suite of InitiaLit’s teaching from Prep through to Year Two. Seeing their students achieve success in literacy, or any other subject is why teachers teach, and Literacy Practice Leaders help play a major role in improving outcomes of the students in CET schools.