Every government primary school in Tasmania is now delivering at least one hour of structured literacy instruction each day, Education Minister Jo Palmer has announced.
The milestone means all Tasmanian government primary schools from prep to year six are teaching explicit, evidence-based literacy, up from just 25% in 2024.
Palmer marked the achievement during a visit to Perth Primary School on Monday.
Year 1 phonics check results show a 7% increase in students meeting or exceeding expected levels at the end of 2025 compared to the end of 2023.
The state government will spend $43 million this year on structured literacy and numeracy teaching.
“We know that when we strengthen early language and literacy skills, we give children the foundation they need for lifelong learning,” Palmer said.
“We are already seeing the incredible difference our lifting literacy approach is making with students growing in confidence as they become more accurate, fluent and independent readers.”
Perth Primary School principal Abbi Dean said her school was an early adopter of the program and had seen strong results.
“Our children are reading so much more fluently,” Dean said.
She said students do 30 minutes of explicit instruction each morning and every class does at least 15 minutes of fluency work, followed by structured text work on vocabulary and comprehension.
Dean said the routine had been particularly helpful for neurodiverse students.
“It takes the cognitive load off children because they know what to expect in the process,” she said.
She said even students who found the work challenging recognised the benefits, with one child telling reviewers during a recent external assessment that the program had noticeably improved their spelling.
Palmer said an independent review of education in 2024 by national educator Vicki Baylis had urged Tasmania to keep a sharp focus on lifting literacy.
Labor leader Josh Willie, a former teacher, said he welcomed efforts to improve literacy but questioned the government’s plan to cut millions of dollars from the education department.
“Four in 10 Tasmanian students are already behind their mainland counterparts in both literacy and numeracy skills,” he said.
“As someone who has taught in our education system, I know the system cannot do more with less.”
