Literacy needs a life course revolution

The analysis of literacy patterns in Aotearoa New Zealand starts with a simple question: What are the most reasonable explanations for our problems in excellence and equity in literacy?

What are the plausible hypotheses for: the overall drop in literacy achievement in successive cycles of international assessments; and the limited impact of efforts over decades to change the distributions of achievement for Māori and Pacific students and those from low socioeconomic communities?

This seemingly simple question turns out to be very difficult to answer – or at least difficult to generate reasonable hypotheses for, as distinct from explanations that are unreasonable or unable to be supported by the evidence.

There are two difficulties in particular. One is the complexity of the phenomena and the second is the tendency to approach the evidence from one perspective or within one limited period in development. Together these mean that proposed explanations often reflect a confirmation bias or – in the familiar metaphor of the blind men and the elephant – each of us only seeing one part of the whole.

By 15 years of age (when one of the international assessments occurs) there are multiple potential causes, some remote and some far closer.

Answering the question requires a life course approach. This is because education is a comprehensive form of socialisation, in which almost all our children and young people participate, across many years of their lives.

Looking at development across the years is necessary because of the complex networks of influences. Some influences are constant while others come into play at different times, each one dependent on and interacting with the other. We must also consider how children’s development occurs in various contexts – with some very close to learning and teaching and others more encompassing.

These embedded systems of influence – from the immediate interactions between a teacher and a learner through to policies enacted by a system – require consideration, taking into account immediate causes and the wider conditions that enhance or constrain learning and development.

The evidence from research points to four sensitive stages in a young person’s learning journey and three crucial transitions, where specific actions will improve literacy, adding to or making more consistent those features that already powerful. These require guaranteed targeting and compensatory resourcing for those students and communities the system has typically not served well.

These stages and transitions are identified for English medium schooling. There are parallels for Māori medium, which require further descriptions. But one system intervention is clearly needed: the rapid expansion of high-quality Māori medium schooling.

An edited excerpt from “The literacy landscape in Aotearoa New Zealand: what we know, what needs fixing and what we should prioritise” by Stuart McNaughton, Chief Education Scientific Adviser and Professor of Curriculum and Pedagogy at the Faculty of Education and Social Work at the University of Auckland