23101 (2024). Hon Jan Tinetti to the Minister of Education

23101 (2024). Hon Jan Tinetti to the Minister of Education: Has the Minister received a briefing that shows that at the core of its philosophy reading recovery believes in teaching children the habits of poor readers; if not where did the Minister get this advice from?

Hon Erica Stanford: I have received a great deal of information about ‘whole language’ approaches that teach struggling readers to use a range of cues to ‘read’ text. These are characterised as the strategies of readers lacking the foundational decoding skills which all readers need. I have been advised by the Ministry of Education that there are key differences between the Reading Recovery approach to teaching literacy and the approach taken in targeted (Tier 2) and tailored (Tier 3) structured literacy supports. These include differences in the way phonics is taught and decodable books are used. Schools in New Zealand that are already teaching structured literacy approaches are seeing significant improvements in student achievement and a reduction in the need for additional support. Reprioritising funding from Reading Recovery will ensure that all students access the literacy support they need.