The ACT government has accepted “in principle” the eight recommendations of the final report of the Literacy and Numeracy Education Expert Panel.

The Literacy and Numeracy Education Expert Panel was appointed in November to provide the Education Minister Yvette BerryMinister with advice on opportunities to strengthen literacy and numeracy outcomes for all ACT public school students, with a particular focus on equity.

Opposition Leader Elizabeth Lee says the inquiry was established following a motion in the Legislative Assembly in October by the Canberra Liberals calling for a full independent inquiry into literacy performance in ACT government schools, after the release of data which showed outcomes for literacy in ACT government schools had been underperforming over the last two decades.

“Experts in this field have been calling for leadership in explicit instruction of phonics for years and it’s pleasing to see that these calls have been backed up by this inquiry.”

“I note from media reporting that the Education Minister has said that the Government will accept the report’s recommendation ‘in principle. It is now incumbent on Minister Berry to be upfront with Canberra families and to commit fully to implementing these recommendations, not just ‘in principle” and provide support to our hard-working teachers to do so,” Ms Lee said.

The government says the expert panel’s overarching message was “for the ACT to achieve equity and excellence in education, our schools need a system wide approach to teaching and learning”.

Minister Berry says she acknowledges and embraces this message.

“I’ve heard there is a broad desire across the ACT community for a more consistent system-wide approach to teaching and learning in ACT public schools,” she says.

“Teachers and school leaders have told us they want more centralised curriculum support and consistent assessment tools that provide real-time feedback, so they can use their professional judgement on what really matters – delivering high quality teaching.

“The Expert Panel has provided evidence-based and practical suggestions for how we can strengthen our public education system by working together as one system, delivering better learning outcomes for students, and better workloads for teachers and school leaders.

“I look forward to rolling out the expert panel’s recommendations with a focus on ensuring the ACT’s public education system is the most equitable in Australia, and reversing the unsustainable workloads of our teachers and school leaders.”

Work will now begin on designing a four-year implementation plan. Implementation will begin from the start of the 2025 school year.

The report can be read at education.act.gov.au