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What We Did
A Better Start National Science Challenge team have been researching effective ways to accelerate early reading and writing success for children who enter school with lower levels of oral language. Research shows that early reading ability is a strong predictor of later reading and education success which is also linked to children’s overall healthy wellbeing.
A Better Start Literacy approach integrates this multifaceted approach and has involved teachers, community and whānau as well education and health professionals. The successful pilot of this approach involved over 250 children in their first year at school in the eastern suburbs of Otautahi, Christchurch. The children were born in the year or following year of the Christchurch 2011 earthquakes and a high number showed lower levels of oral language at school entry.
The research study showed a new approach leads to accelerated development in reading spelling and oral language compared to current class literacy curriculum. This approach proved equally successful for boys and girls and for Māori and Pasifika students.
Following the successful pilot trial, the Ministry of Education funded further trials in both Auckland and Christchurch schools. This second series of controlled intervention trials replicated and extended the positive findings in improving literacy outcomes for all children.
The Ministry of Education have now awarded Profs Gillon and McNeill and their research team a $10Million contract over two years following a competitive procurement process. The contract will allow the roll of the Better Start Literacy Approach to schools right around the country through the professional learning and development of approximately 4000 new entrant and year 1 teachers and 500 literacy specialists.
Who Was Involved
- Better Start National Science Challenge E Tipu e Rea, Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment
- Ministry of Educational Foundational Learning Grant
- Co Leader: Professor Brigid McNeill, School of Teacher Education and Child Well-being Research Institute
- For further details see: Better Start Literacy Approach (betterstartapproach.com)
Why It Matters
“We don’t want to wait for children to fall behind their peers in reading before we provide targeted support. We need a systems change to ensure all children experience success in their early literacy attempts,” says Professor Gillon.
Learn More
- Early literacy success is critical to children’s wellbeing | University of Canterbury
- Gillon, G. T., McNeill, B. C., Scott, A., Denston, A., Wilson, L., Carson, K., & Macfarlane, A. H. (2019). A better start to literacy learning: findings from a teacher-implemented intervention in children’s first year at school. Reading and Writing, 32(8), 1989-2012.
- Gillon, G.; McNeill, B.; Denston, A.; Scott; A. & Macfarlane, A. (2020) Evidence-Based Class Literacy Instruction for Children With Speech and Language Difficulties. Topics in Language Disorders, 40(4), 357-374.
- Schluter, Philip J., Jesse Kokaua, El-Shadan Tautolo, Rosalina Richards, Tufulasi Taleni, Hyun M. Kim, Richard Audas, Brigid McNeill, Barry Taylor, and Gail Gillon. Patterns of early primary school-based literacy interventions among Pacific children from a nationwide health screening programme of 4 year olds. Scientific reports 8, no. 1 (2018): 1-13. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-29939-w
