Phonological awareness is a critical skill for all students’ literacy development and a predictor of later reading and spelling success.

Phonological awareness consists of five subskills beginning with word, syllable, onset/rime awareness, moving to the more complex subskills of basic and advanced phonemic awareness.

About the assessment

The Phonological Awareness Diagnostic Assessment is a short on-demand assessment that tells teachers how students are progressing in phonological awareness. The assessment complements existing strategies used to identify students' progress in foundational literacy skills development.

It allows students to demonstrate what they know and can do and clarifies for teachers their students’ skill level for the subskills. Teachers will be able to use the assessment flexibly, by choosing which subskills they will assess, to suit the needs of individual students.

The assessment takes 10-12 minutes and is conducted by classroom teachers with individual students. Teachers use the online tool to enter student responses.

The assessment can be used for any student from Kindergarten onwards.

Student feedback and analysis

Student responses are mapped to indicators from the National Literacy Learning Progression indicators with information automatically recorded in PLAN 2. A Student Assessment Analysis will provide teachers with feedback to inform decisions about next steps in learning for that student. The analysis will be accessed from the assessment tool in the department's Assessing Literacy and Numeracy (ALAN)

How can my school access the assessment?

Teachers will be able to access the assessment tool at any time via ALAN (from 1 June 2020).

How will my school be supported?

Visit the resources webpage for materials to assist you to implement the Phonological awareness diagnostic assessment.

Visit the Literacy and numeracy PL webpage for professional learning opportunities looking at practical application of evidence-based teaching of reading.

Watch this video which explains how the Phonological awareness diagnostic assessment can support teachers.