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Did DI do it? The impact of a programme designed to improve literacy for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students in remote schools

Part of: A dialogue about the role of Direct Instruction (DI) in very remote schools

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 January 2020

John Guenther Open the ORCID record for John Guenther [Opens in a new window]  and
Samuel Osborne
John Guenther*
Affiliation:
Batchelor Institute, c/o Post Office Batchelor, Darwin, NT 0845, Australia
Samuel Osborne
Affiliation:
Regional Engagement (APY Lands), University of South Australia, Mawson Lakes Campus, Mawson Lakes, South Australia 5095, Australia
*
Author for correspondence: John Guenther, E-mail: john.guenther@batchelor.edu.au
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Abstract

Over the 10 years of ‘Closing the Gap’, several interventions designed to improve outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students have been trialled. In 2014 the Australian Government announced the ‘Flexible Literacy for Remote Primary Schools Programme’ (FLFRPSP) which was designed primarily to improve the literacy outcomes of students in remote schools with mostly Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students. The programme, using Direct Instruction (DI) or Explicit Direct Instruction, was extended to 2019 with more than $30 million invested. By 2017, 34 remote schools were participating in the Northern Territory, Queensland and Western Australia. This paper analyses My School data for 25 ‘very remote’ FLFRPSP schools with more than 80% Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander students. It considers Year 3 and 5 NAPLAN reading results and attendance rates for participating and non-participating primary schools in the 3 years before the programme's implementation and compares them with results since. Findings show that, compared to very remote schools without FLFRPSP, the programme has not improved students' literacy abilities and results. Attendance rates for intervention schools have declined faster than for non-intervention schools. The paper questions the ethics of policy implementation and the role of evidence as a tool for accountability.

Keywords

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander educationdirect instructionliteracy outcomespolicy interventionsremote education

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