Free Talk: The Better Start Literacy Approach Success Story

The Better Start Literacy Approach is an example of a ‘structured literacy approach’ that is based on the science of reading. The Government recently announced that all teachers in state-funded schools will need to teach young children to read using structured literacy teaching methods from the start of next year.

Find out more at Professor Gail Gillon’s free public talk on Wednesday evening, 13 November, including how you can help your child or grandchild learn to read using this method, how structured literacy teaching supports children with dyslexia or word-reading problems, and how scientific evidence supports structured literacy teaching.

Professor Gail Gillon, Director of the Child Well-being Research Institute at Te Whare Wānanga o Waitaha | University of Canterbury (UC), will share the story of how the Better Start Literacy Approach (BSLA) developed from small pilot research trials in Christchurch schools to accelerating early literacy learning for over 45,000 five- and six-year-old children right across our country.

“Structured literacy approaches are based on the ‘science of reading’ or years of cumulated knowledge from robust scientific studies as to the critical foundation skills that support children’s reading and writing success,” says Professor Gillon. “As the name suggests, the approach provides structured and systematic teaching using explicit teaching techniques to develop children’s reading and writing skills.”

“It’s fantastic that the Government is making a further significant investment in structured literacy approaches in our primary schools. Our Better Start Literacy Approach, developed by our team at the University of Canterbury, is an example of a structured literacy approach.”

Since 2020 the Ministry of Education has been funding the rollout of BSLA. Teachers in over 900 primary schools across the country are now successfully implementing the approach in their junior classrooms.

About the speaker

Director of the Child Wellbeing Institute at UC, Professor Gail Gillon (Ngāi Tahu iwi) is a world-leading expert in children’s speech, language and reading development. She has won several awards for her research excellence including the University of Canterbury’s Research Medal and Research Innovation Medal. She has co-led the development of the Better Start Literacy Approach, which is now being implemented by over 6000 junior-school teachers in New Zealand and is attracting significant international attention. With a professional background in both Speech Language Therapy and Education, Professor Gillon’s area of research focuses on understanding the relationship between spoken and written language development, in particular, the importance of children’s phonological awareness in reading and spelling development.

UC Tauhere Connect public lecture: The Better Start Literacy Approach success story presented by Professor Gail Gillon, UC Education, 7pm – 8pm, Wednesday 13 November 2024, in the Central lecture theatre (C Block), Ilam campus, University of Canterbury, Christchurch. Register to attend free at: www.canterbury.ac.nz/ucconnect. 
This event will be livestreamed on UC’s Facebook page, is free to register to attend in person and can be viewed later on YouTube. Videos of UC Tauhere Connect talks are available a week after the live lecture. Check them outhere.

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