Literacy and numeracy

Professional collaboration allows best practice to be identified and shared across classrooms. Effective collaboration explicitly aims to improve teacher practices and student outcomes.

A range of professional learning is available that focuses on evidence-based approaches to explicit teaching and effective assessment of literacy and numeracy. These opportunities encourage professional collaboration within schools and with other schools.

Focus on vocabulary professional learning is available for teachers of Years 3–8 and is the first of the ‘Focus on Understanding Texts’ suite to be released. Focus on Understanding texts: The components of reading – Blended learning is also available.

CESEs publication How schools can improve literacy and numeracy performance and why it (still) matters provides an evaluation of evidence based practices that can improve student literacy outcomes. It supports a whole school collaborative approach to literacy, with a focus on early intervention and targeted teaching of foundational skills such as reading.

PLAN2 supports collaboration across faculties by displaying observations of students’ literacy and numeracy skills recorded in subject areas or groups other than a teacher’s own class.

Professional learning is supported by literacy resources that assist teachers to translate their learning into action. Statewide staffrooms provide an opportunity to connect with colleagues across the state, share resources, and get the latest news and advice on supporting students with their reading development. There are a range of staffrooms to join including Literacy NSW.

The School Support Contacts (staff only) page allows teachers to search for a school to find contact information for non-school based staff. Additional support can also be found in the Literacy and numeracy support (staff only) section of the department’s service navigator.