Tasmania’s public primary schools will be required to dedicate at least two hours each day to literacy and numeracy under a new Liberal education policy.
Premier Jeremy Rockliff says that, if re-elected, all government primary schools will need to set aside one hour each day for structured literacy teaching and another hour for numeracy.
“We know that for all children to learn to read, write and spell, we must implement evidence-based structured literacy instruction in all schools, which includes phonics and that’s what we’ve done,” Rockliff said.
The literacy requirement is already in place, with the numeracy component to roll out from 2027.
Schools that are ready to make the switch earlier will be able to get started ahead of schedule.
MLC Jo Palmer said the policy would increase learning time while ensuring teachers have the support they need.
“Currently, primary schools are required to teach one hour of structured literacy a day and we’ll be leveraging this to add critical maths skills as well,” she said.
“We’ll work with school leaders and teachers to ensure schools are properly resourced and supported to implement this.”
The announcement comes as the government highlights improvements in literacy under its current structured approach.
Last year’s Year 1 phonics check showed a 5% rise in students meeting or exceeding expected phonics benchmarks in government schools.
Across all public, catholic and independent schools, 59% of Year 1 students were assessed as fluent decoders.
Rockliff said “all Tasmanian students” would be taught to read systematically and explicitly, based on the latest research, “by 2026”.
“We want all Tasmanian children to be able to read, write and add up,” he said.
“We are seeing success using these methods here in Tasmania and in other states and systems.”
