This newsletter highlights the professional development strategies of three schools, Metford Public School, Assumption School Bathurst and The Riverina Anglican College in Wagga Wagga, that have used Australian Government Quality Teacher Programme projects to bring about improvements in the literacy skills of their students.

All three schools initiated their projects in response to specific, identified literacy needs of their students. State testing had revealed weaknesses in the writing and grammar skills of students at Metford Public School and schools in the Bathurst Diocese respectively. Surveys of staff at The Riverina Anglican College showed that there were shared literacy demands in the units of work taught in the various Year 7 subjects, yet teaching and learning strategies were not always consistent across faculties. Informed views, such as these, assisted in determining the direction of the schools’ projects.

The Metford Public School and the Bathurst Diocesan projects benefited from the input of academic partners. Participants commented on the value of using an expert outsider to help shape the focus of their projects, especially during the early phases of implementation. Although the three schools were seeking whole-school solutions, they all recognised the usefulness of starting out with small teams of key people to drive their projects.

Metford Public School used a cross-stage team of six and The Riverina Anglican College began with a team of four, which included teachers from English, Special Needs and the library. Two teachers from Assumption School Bathurst worked with six teachers from three other schools in the Bathurst Diocese. The scope and carriage of each project was then widened to encompass all teachers in the schools involved.

Provision for teacher learning was an important part of each project. The schools recognised that student literacy needs could not be addressed without attending to the need for deepening the teachers’ professional knowledge and understanding of literacy. Various approaches were used, from action learning, lesson observation, teacher reflection, modelling of teaching and learning strategies, to discussion and collaborative learning.

Top