Principal calls for Govt to scrap Reading Recovery

Principal calls for Govt to scrap Reading Recovery as participation falls 🙌

We're pleased to see the new data out from the Ministry of Education NZ showing a further drop in the number of schools participating in this failed literacy intervention.

Participation in the programme has been declining since 2013. In 2019, there were over 8,000 students taking part. That number has now dropped by 21% for the year 2021, with just over 6,000 students taking part.

🗣️ A huge thank you to Principal Jason Miles, from Kaiapoi North School, who was quoted saying that "It's not the best approach for our most needy students" and called for the programme to be ditched and the funding reallocated.

🗣️ Thanks also to Massey University education psychologist James Chapman, for speaking to the media for the second time this week, saying he’s not surprised by the figures, and that the programme needs major changes to stop failing New Zealand children.

👉 "Between two and four years after children have been successful in reading recovery, their results have gone backwards. They are way behind their normally achieving peers”

🗣️ We're also really pleased to see that National Party’s education spokesperson, Erica Stanford MP said the Government needs to take a more structured approach to the programme.

👉 "It's very important that New Zealand take a look at that data and consider whether or not we continue on the reading recovery model or move to a different tier three intervention that takes into consideration the latest science around structured literacy”

We also want to see the $30 million dollars of taxpayer money that our Ministry of Education spends on Reading Recovery each year reallocated into a tier 2 and 3 intervention programme that adheres tightly to the principles of Structured Literacy.

You can read the full article and watch the news clip here.