JCT Churchill Fellowship - Literacy Project

Join us for the next LISS Network event on Tues 19 May, 7pm AEST!
🎤 Melanie Henry on literacy intervention research
🎤 Jackie on implementing literacy intervention in high school
Attend live to ask questions.
Register: https://forms.office.com/r/5kni3k4zdd

Opportunity for families & educators: Be part of new research on social media bans in schools

Our team at the Advancing Literacy Center (ACU) is exploring how social media bans are impacting young people - and we are looking for participants to help build the evidence base in this important space.

If you have adolescents at home: A short online study exploring views on social media, finishing with a brief reading task (TOWRE-2). Participants receive $20. Conditions:
✔️ Must be completed in a quiet space (reading aloud is recorded)
✔️ Responses are reviewed for completeness before payment
👉 Adolescent survey:Due to bots/spammers accessing the public link, the researchers have had to swap to offering online sessions with a researcher to complete this study. Please book a session time that suits you here: https://tinyurl.com/bddcnnzy

For parents : share your perspective on social media bans and their impact
👉 Parent survey:
https://lnkd.in/gsXFaNVS

💡 This is a great chance to contribute to research that can inform school policy and practice in a rapidly evolving area.

Please share with families, colleagues, and networks who might be interested!

🎉 We’re back! Join the LISS Network online 3rd March, 7 pm AEST with Prof Jessie Ricketts (Royal Holloway) to explore literacy intervention in secondary schools.
Register 👉 https://forms.office.com/r/yW7EsuT3r4

What a great pleasure to work with these guys across in New Zeland!

Reflection 2025 | Liz Kane Literacy

As 2025 comes to a close, I feel immense pride in the expertise, clarity and energy our facilitators have brought to their work this year. It has been an exhausting yet deeply uplifting year, and I’m incredibly grateful to our team and the educators we’ve worked alongside across Aotearoa.

A special mention must be made to Louise Dunn from Sunday Digital 🌟
Louise has worked tirelessly behind the scenes to keep our website and online shop up to date — and, most importantly, to ensure workshop information is live and registrations are open exactly when needed.

Look out for a refreshed Liz Kane Literacy website in 2026, thanks to Louise’s creativity, flair, and professionalism. We are incredibly grateful for your support.

In 2025, together we have:
• Delivered Ministry-funded Structured Literacy PLD across Years 0–3 and 4–8
• Our first NZ Leaders Tour to Melbourne, with 30 leaders from 11 schools, was a resounding success
• Worked with over 3,500 teachers and school leaders
• Continued to reflect, refine, and strengthen our PLD to support high-quality implementation of Structured Literacy
• Worked alongside schools nationwide to support classroom and whole-school implementation
• Led our first successful NZ Leaders Tour to Melbourne, with 30 leaders from 11 schools
• Undertook ongoing professional learning including Explicit Instruction with Dr Anita Archer (Oregon) and MTSS Reading in Secondary with Jess Colleu (Sydney)

Looking ahead to 2026:
• Expanding our team with additional accredited Literacy Facilitators, Anne Humphrey and Kristin Mason
• Welcoming two experienced secondary teachers to our team to support in-school professional learning - Rebecca Barrett, Taranaki and Charlotte Machin French, Wellington
• Tammy is travelling nationwide with her bespoke Year 0–1 professional learning day
• Partnering with Think Forward Educators to bring Carl Hendrick to New Zealand
• Launching our new Writing Workshop under the mentorship of Dr Nathaniel Swain
• Continuing our Ministry-funded Year 0–3 and Year 4–8 PLD
• Reintroducing the Little Learners Love Literacy Workshop, and more

Thank you to our incredible facilitators, partners, and the thousands of teachers and leaders we are privileged to work alongside. Your commitment to evidence-informed practice continues to inspire everything we do

How do you teach every child to spell with confidence — not just a few?

At Ballarat Clarendon College in Victoria, the answer lies in structure, consistency, and evidence-based teaching.
Led by Greg Ashman, Deputy Principal and author of Filling the Pail, the school’s teaching team has implemented Spelling Mastery to deliver measurable improvements in student spelling outcomes.

“We wanted a program that was explicit, research-based, and effective for every learner — and that’s exactly what Spelling Mastery provides.”
— Greg Ashman, Deputy Principal, Ballarat Clarendon College

This 4-minute video takes you inside the classrooms of one of Australia’s top-performing schools to see how teachers are using Direct Instruction to build confident, capable spellers — and why they believe fidelity and structure are the keys to success.

🎥 Watch the story now: https://bit.ly/4oAOH0o

✨ Exciting news! On November 1st, I’ll be speaking (for the first time publicly!) alongside the incredible Anne Castles at researchED Australia

We’ll be exploring one of the most urgent issues in education — falling literacy rates among Australian adolescents — and sharing new findings from our research at the Advancing Literacy ACU on supporting literacy development in secondary schools.

If November 1st feels too far away to wait, you might also like to join our October 21st meet-up on Literacy Intervention in Secondary Schools (email: [email protected]
) and access my free online modules for secondary teachers and leaders: https://lnkd.in/g2Em_SB3

🎟️ Tickets for ResearchED: https://lnkd.in/gFRiVbwV

Come and meet us in person on Nov 1st!

Podcast Question: How do teachers know what counts as evidence-based research?

I loved this question from Bec in the recent Teacher Takeaway Podcast because it’s something every teacher asks – there’s so much research out there, and it can feel overwhelming to know what’s reliable.

Here are some simple practical tips (not an exhaustive list!) to help:

1) Check the source : e.g., peer-reviewed journals

2) Look at the type of evidence: e.g., randomised controlled trials (RCTs) → compare groups with and without the intervention.

3) Check for replication: e.g., Has it been shown in multiple studies, with different students, and in real classrooms? One study isn’t enough.

4) Ask about impact: e.g., Does it report actual student outcomes (reading progress, spelling scores), or just “teachers liked it”? Look for measurable improvements.

5) Watch for red flags: e.g., big promises like “works for every child” or “quick fix in 10 lessons.” are often deceptive; Lots of jargon with no clear explanation of learning impact.

For example: When I started planning my first research study as part of my PhD, my supervisors suggested I pre-register my research. I wondered, “What exactly does that mean?”

Pre-registration is where you plan and register your study design and methods before collecting any data. It sounds simple, but it makes a huge difference. It helps prevent “cherry-picking” results and keeps the focus on your questions and methods, not just the outcomes.

This approach actually comes from medicine, where transparency is essential, but it’s now being used in education through frameworks like Open Science. Here’s a link to mine: https://osf.io/wqrtk

I have to say, pre-registering my study has been incredibly helpful. It forced me to clarify my design and methods from the start, and I feel much more confident about the integrity of my work.

You can hear more about this discussion on the podcast here 👉

It’s another new week and new episode for you with the lovely Jessica Colleu Terradas on all things literacy

Jess and Bec sat down to chat about Jessica’s work as a literacy leader, instructional coach and PhD student at the Centre for the Advancement of Literacy.

Take a listen via the link in our bio or by heading to https://linktr.ee/teachertakeawaypodcast

Over the past few months, I’ve been fortunate to work with secondary teachers and leaders across several states, all deeply committed to improving outcomes for struggling readers in secondary school.

Most recently, I travelled to Tasmania to work alongside the wonderful Suzie Keil from Independent Schools Tasmania, delivering full-day professional learning sessions in Launceston and Hobart about strengthening Tier 1 instruction for struggling readers in secondary settings. The conversations were rich, and the commitment to making change was clear - especially as part of the 2024-26 Lifting Literacy Implementation Plan (https://shorturl.at/63vPe)

Several opportunities have come up this year and I feel lucky I have been invited to present a workshop at the Literacy Guarantee Unit Conference (SA Department for Education) and deliver a keynote at the South Australian English Teachers Association (SAETA) Conference in Adelaide. The most memorable moment was my contribution to the Advancing Literacy Conference in Ballarat alongside Dr Wes Hoover, and the brilliant team of researchers at the Advancing Literacy Center📍 https://shorturl.at/0wcjM

I’m also currently involved in the Victorian Department of Education’s Learning Communities initiative for 2025, led by Terri Hibbert in the Wimmera South West Area Team, delivering webinars and learning opportunities aimed at building literacy knowledge across secondary schools.

What’s been especially heartening is the growing recognition—across systems, schools, and states—that secondary students who struggle with reading need and deserve targeted support within core instruction, in addition to interventions. There’s a shift happening. It’s slow, and there’s much more to do, but it feels like the momentum is building.

More to come in my system too, as we are about to pilot a Literacy in Secondary School Project at Catholic Education- Archdiocese of Canberra and Goulburn

For those continuing the work in schools, access my set of online professional learning modules focused on practical, research-informed approaches to secondary literacy:
👉 https://lnkd.in/g2Em_SB3
(Acknowledging the generous support of Winston Churchill Trust - AU and The Snow Foundation)

And for NSW teachers, there’s a great opportunity coming up—a free training day in Sydney with Prof. Jessie Ricketts, focused on supporting struggling readers in secondary settings:
📍 Event details : https://shorturl.at/ntKm0
Follow the Center : https://x.com/adv_literacy

Attention NSW Secondary School teachers - a free PL opportunity to improve your students' reading comprehension
Featuring Prof. Jessie Ricketts, Director of the Language & Reading Lab, Royal Holloway, University of London, Prof. Anne Castles, Dr. Danielle Colenbrander and Prof. Genevieve McArthur.
Please RSVP using this link: https://acu.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_1H5aW6R4sTgNIWO

I am delighted to present the keynote at the SAETA State Conference 2025

Join me and book your tickets at https://www.aate.org.au/events/event/saeta-2025-annual-state-conference

Catch Them All: A Call to Action
Adolescent literacy is often overlooked, yet it’s crucial for student success. Too many secondary students struggle with reading, limiting their access to learning and future opportunities. How can we change this?
The proposed solution involves a multi-tiered approach that includes universal screening, progress monitoring, explicit instruction and age-appropriate reading interventions grounded in research. As a teacher, literacy specialist, instructional coach, and Churchill Fellow, I’ll share insights from global research and real-world experience to highlight what works in supporting struggling readers. The presentation will highlight the key findings of my Churchill Fellowship report (released in June 2023) where I investigated literacy screening and intervention practices for older struggling readers. Let’s ensure every adolescent develops the literacy skills they need to thrive—because it’s never too late to learn to read. Link to my Churchill report: https://www.churchilltrust.com.au/fellow/jessica-colleu-terradas-wa-2020/