In an interview for Riotact, Dr Lorraine Hammond, a pioneer of the Science of Learning teaching movement, has underscored the importance of explicit teaching in transforming classroom practices in light of the recent literacy and numeracy inquiry.

The article highlights the adoption of High Impact Teaching Practice by Catholic Education Canberra Goulburn through the Catalyst program as the benchmark for reform. Through embedding a scientifically backed, data-driven methodology, significant improvements in student outcomes have been witnessed across the Archdiocese and these results cannot help but attract attention from government schools, creating a compelling case for wider adoption.

Dr Hammond recognises the barriers and resistance to government school and system reform, despite the weight of evidence behind High Impact Teaching Practices. She urges the Directorate to bypass those teachers attached to the past and start with a “coalition of the willing”, to build momentum towards positive change.

“Because teachers are altruistic and they want the best, it just creeps very, very quickly, because then parents are like, ‘Well, hang on, what’s happening at that school down the road, they’re doing this. Why aren’t we doing that, too?’”.

In addition to best practice teaching, Dr Hammond believes that routine and an orderly working environment are a key contributor to success. The CECG approach creates a structured environment for learning, with classroom architecture designed to ensure that students are ready and willing participants and to ensure that teachers achieve whole class engagement.

This approach is particularly important when it comes to literacy. “To get to 100 per cent reading, you’ve got to go through the bottom 20 per cent, so this is going to help everybody. If we don’t go through that bottom 20 per cent they’re never going to learn how to read. That’s the position that Catalyst took as well.”

Read the full article on Riotact

Explore the Catalyst Teaching Approach