Latest / Dr Justin Coulson's Happy Families / The Reading Crisis Hitting Aussie Kids

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The Reading Crisis Hitting Aussie Kids · Dr Justin Coulson's Happy Families

• 0:05
  Speaker 1: Hello, this is the Happy Families Podcast. One in three
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: Australian kids is not reading proficiently. Let me say that again.
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: One in three Australian kids is not reading proficiently. They're
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  Speaker 1: pretty good at typing what I need to into Netflix
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  Speaker 1: or TikTok, but not reading proficiently in a classroom of
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: twenty four kids. And there are too many classrooms of
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  Speaker 1: twenty four, they're usually bigger. That's eight kids. Let's multiply
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  Speaker 1: that out. One third of thirty kids in a classroom.
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  Speaker 1: Ten kids are not reading proficiently. And in some remote
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  Speaker 1: communities there are literally kids who have never owned a
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  Speaker 1: single book of their own today. What that does to
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  Speaker 1: a child? Why the first five years decides so much
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  Speaker 1: of it? And what's happening this Book Week which starts
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  Speaker 1: tomorrow but technically the schools will kick it off on
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  Speaker 1: Monday to put books in those kids' hands. Stay with us. Hello,
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: this is the Happy Families podcast where you get real
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: parenting solutions every single day. It straight as downloaded parent
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: in podcast. My name's doctor Justin Pilson. Normally on a Friday,
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: I'm chatting with my wife missus Happy Families about I'll
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: do better tomorrow, the stuff that we did right, the
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: stuff that we did wrong, how we're nailing it or
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  Speaker 1: how we're failing it, so that you can make your
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  Speaker 1: family happier. But as you would have known or heard
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: from last week, Missus Happy Families is in the US
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  Speaker 1: with three of the kids, and I've got one of them.
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  Speaker 1: Two of them have moved out. I have to kind
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  Speaker 1: of do the maths. It feels like we've got a
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  Speaker 1: big family. And so today, rather than talking about the
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  Speaker 1: successes and failures that we've had since Kylie's not here,
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  Speaker 1: I'm having a chat with Rachel amorusaka Rachel is from
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  Speaker 1: Roope reading out of Poverty, and my conversation with her
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  Speaker 1: is about what is going on with kids and reading
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  Speaker 1: in Australia generally, but specifically what's happening for those kids
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  Speaker 1: who are unfortunately the most impoverished and the most distant. Rachel,
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  Speaker 1: I'm so glad that you're on the pod. Thanks for
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  Speaker 1: joining me. One in three kids is not reading proficiently.
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  Speaker 1: In other words, in a standard class of thirty kids,
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  Speaker 1: that's ten of them who are struggling to read. When
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  Speaker 1: I was writing my book about boys, the data shows
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  Speaker 1: that one eighth of adolescent boys Grade nine boys are
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  Speaker 1: functionally illiterate. So I'd love for you to just step
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  Speaker 1: that up for me. What does that actually look like
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  Speaker 1: day to day for that child and for the family
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  Speaker 1: at home.
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  Speaker 2: Hi, justin thank you so much for having me on.
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  Speaker 2: So yes, it's such a huge nime to sit with
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  Speaker 2: one in three children, such big context to put it
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  Speaker 2: into ten children in a classroom of thirty. The Grandin
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  Speaker 2: Institute actually looked into this using Knaplan data and this
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  Speaker 2: is the fourth year in a row that one in
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  Speaker 2: three children in Australia aren't meeting grade level expectations and reading.
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  Speaker 2: So for a child, this can look like struggling to
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  Speaker 2: sound out words whether classmates are reading easily, or avoiding
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  Speaker 2: reading aloud in class because you feel embarrassed. It can
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  Speaker 2: also mean falling behind in subjects, not because you don't
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  Speaker 2: understand the concept, but because you can't keep up with
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  Speaker 2: the reading required to get there.
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  Speaker 1: It's not just an English issue. You could be in science,
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  Speaker 1: so you could be in math, so you can be
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  Speaker 1: in health and pe and because you're not reading well,
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  Speaker 1: you're not getting what's going on there as well.
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  Speaker 2: Exactly, it's such like a big flow on effect, and
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  Speaker 2: it also goes beyond the classroom because a kid who
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  Speaker 2: falls behind in reading can start to see themselves as
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  Speaker 2: not a reader or not smart, and it shapes how
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  Speaker 2: they engage with school from that point on.
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  Speaker 3: So if most kids who don't feel.
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  Speaker 2: Embarrassing class or can't read or can't keep up, they
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  Speaker 2: don't want to go to school, and then you take
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  Speaker 2: a sick day here and there because of how you feel.
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  Speaker 1: And education is just so vital for our children's success. Rachel,
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  Speaker 1: give me a snapshot of group Reading out of Poverty
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  Speaker 1: because my take on this, having worked in education and
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  Speaker 1: around education for twenty plus years now, is that while
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  Speaker 1: there are middle class and wealthy kids who will struggle
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  Speaker 1: with literacy from time to time, the biggest literacy challenges
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  Speaker 1: seem to be in the lower levels of our socioeconomic
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  Speaker 1: strata in Australia. That may be politically incorrect to say,
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  Speaker 1: it may sound horrible, but I think the evidence would
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  Speaker 1: point in that direction.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, of course.
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  Speaker 2: So Reading out of Poverty, or we call it ROOF,
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  Speaker 2: is a Melbourne based charity. So we've been around since
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  Speaker 2: twenty thirteen to give children age zero to five the
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  Speaker 2: foundational literacy skills they need to flourish in disadvantage communities
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  Speaker 2: in Australia. S Yeah, we call it disadvantaged communities and
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  Speaker 2: we work throughout all of Australia.
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  Speaker 3: We heavily focus on the early years.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah, I was going to say, so zero to
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  Speaker 1: five is what Roop's about. Why does that window matter
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  Speaker 1: so much? I mean, there's a lot of countries that
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  Speaker 1: don't even start talking about reading with kids until oh, sorry,
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  Speaker 1: teaching kids to read until they're six or seven or eight.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, So the first five years of a child's life
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  Speaker 2: is like when their brain is developing faster than at
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  Speaker 2: any other point in their life. So vocabulary, imagination, and
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  Speaker 2: early literacy skills are being built in that window. Kids
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  Speaker 2: who grew up with books at home tend to start
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  Speaker 2: school feeling more confident and ready to learn.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah. I was just thinking about my granddaughter. One of
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  Speaker 1: my favorite things to do on a Sunday night when
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  Speaker 1: the family visits is to lay down on the bed
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  Speaker 1: and I'll read stories to her for forty forty five minutes.
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  Speaker 1: And she's only three, but she at the age of three,
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  Speaker 1: she knows what books are. She knows you turn the pages,
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  Speaker 1: you don't swipe because she doesn't have screen. She has books.
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  Speaker 1: But more than that, she loves books. She can't wait
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  Speaker 1: to lay down and get involved and get invested in books,
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  Speaker 1: which means that she loves the idea of reading. She
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  Speaker 1: can't wait, even though she's only three, She can't wait
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  Speaker 1: to be reading for herself. Right.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, books aren't just about the reading itself. It's about
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  Speaker 2: building connection with parents and caregivers. It can spark your
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  Speaker 2: child's imagination and it can actually help them learn about
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  Speaker 2: emotional well billing too.
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  Speaker 1: Rachel amorus Akra is from Reading Out of Poverty. Book
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  Speaker 1: Week is next week. Rachel, after the break, let's have
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  Speaker 1: a chat about what you'd love to see happen in
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  Speaker 1: book week in schools around the nation. And I want
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  Speaker 1: to speak specifically about the work you're doing to try
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  Speaker 1: to help those people from the most disadvantaged communities to
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  Speaker 1: find a love of books and reading and get books
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  Speaker 1: into their house. That's next on the Happy Families podcast.
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  Speaker 1: We're talking book Week next week. I don't know if
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  Speaker 1: you've got your costumes ready for your kids to travel
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  Speaker 1: off to school and look like their favorite character from
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  Speaker 1: their books. Rachel Amarasakra. This Book Week you as a
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  Speaker 1: roup organization are Reading out of poverty organization are focused
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  Speaker 1: on East Arnham Land. So paint the picture for me.
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  Speaker 1: Where is East Arnham Land? Everyone knows it's at the
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  Speaker 1: top of the territory, but I need to know more
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  Speaker 1: than that. Who's living there and what does a child's
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  Speaker 1: access to books look like in East Arnham Land in
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  Speaker 1: twenty twenty six.
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  Speaker 2: So land is right up in the far northeast corner
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  Speaker 2: of the Northern Territory. We're about one thousand kilometers from Darwin,
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  Speaker 2: and it's home to one of the oldest living cultures
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  Speaker 2: on Earth, stretching back to more than sixty thousand years.
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  Speaker 2: With the deep remoteness of the communities there, it brings
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  Speaker 2: very real challenges. Kids often lack access to food, they
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  Speaker 2: can experience poor sleep because of overcrowding, and they also
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  Speaker 2: have very little access to resources like books. A lot
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  Speaker 2: of the children right now don't own a single book,
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  Speaker 2: and that's what we're trying to change this Book Week.
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  Speaker 1: When it comes to these East onnam Land communities, what's
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  Speaker 1: the reading situation like? Are parents able to sit down
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  Speaker 1: and read to the kids at the parents literate? Do
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  Speaker 1: they have books on the bookshelves, a children having that
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  Speaker 1: snuggle time where they get to lay down with a
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  Speaker 1: parent and open up a book and look at those pages.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah.
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  Speaker 2: So sadly there's the gap between adults also being illiterate unfortunately,
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  Speaker 2: and then therefore not being able to read to their child.
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  Speaker 2: And that's where having culturally appropriate books in the right
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  Speaker 2: languages is going to help make the difference.
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  Speaker 3: And that's what we're doing this book Week.
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  Speaker 2: We're fundraising to get culturally appropriate books into the hands
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  Speaker 2: of these families. So number one, they can see themselves
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  Speaker 2: in the stories, the families and the children, and they
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  Speaker 2: can understand the language that they're coming in. It's not
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  Speaker 2: just throwing English at them and expecting both the child
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  Speaker 2: and the adult to learn.
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  Speaker 3: I would say majority of the families there do not
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  Speaker 3: own a book let alone.
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  Speaker 2: A bookshelf of books, which is so normal to the
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  Speaker 2: everyday person to have books left, right and center. Because
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  Speaker 2: they're so remote, access to libraries is also very very
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  Speaker 2: poor to even go borrow a book let alone getting
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  Speaker 2: access to books at school.
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  Speaker 1: Rachel every now and again, when I'm in Sydney, I'm
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  Speaker 1: traveling between the international and the domestic terminals along I
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  Speaker 1: think it's I think I think it's called Joys Drive
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  Speaker 1: or something like that. And there's this sign it's been
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  Speaker 1: there for years, as big billboard as you're heading from
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  Speaker 1: international to domestic above the freeway. I don't know if
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  Speaker 1: you've seen it or not. I can't remember exactly what
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  Speaker 1: it says, but there's a picture of an Indigenous child
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  Speaker 1: I would assume from one of those remote disadvantaged communities
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  Speaker 1: that you're describing, and it has a sentence that essentially
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  Speaker 1: says it gives an Indigenous Australian literary statistic, basically says
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  Speaker 1: this really significant percentage of Indigenous kids in Australia can't read.
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  Speaker 1: And then it says something quite provocative, and again I'm
• 9:24
  Speaker 1: misquoting it, I'm paraphrasing it, but essentially it says if
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  Speaker 1: these were white children, we wouldn't stand for it. Something
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  Speaker 1: along those lines. It's kind of hard to read, and
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  Speaker 1: the reality is I think that it's right. So at route,
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  Speaker 1: you're doing some work for Book Week, because we celebrate books,
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  Speaker 1: we want our kids to be involved in books. We
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  Speaker 1: know how valuable it is. You've created some literacy packs.
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  Speaker 1: The whole idea is let's get some books into East
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  Speaker 1: Arnham Land to help these kids to become much more
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  Speaker 1: literate than they presently are, to close that gap. Tell
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  Speaker 1: me a bit about what you're doing for Book Week.
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  Speaker 2: So this Book Week, which runs from the twenty second
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  Speaker 2: to twenty eighth of August, we're fundraising to get books
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  Speaker 2: directly into the hands of these children. We're raising funds
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  Speaker 2: to buy culturally appropriate books to put into literacy paths.
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  Speaker 2: A literacy path is put together by our amazing volunteers
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  Speaker 2: and it includes five age appropriate books along with some
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  Speaker 2: educational resources like step by step learning how to read,
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  Speaker 2: some bookmarks, some information for teachers and more. We'd love
• 10:28
  Speaker 2: to see people get involved in share broups mission. The
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  Speaker 2: easiest way today is to donate. Every twenty five dollars
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  Speaker 2: sends one literacy path to a child in East Arnenware
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  Speaker 2: this Book Week.
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  Speaker 1: All right, Rachel. So what we'll do is we'll link
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  Speaker 1: to the roop website and the donation site in the
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: podcast show notes. Guys, what are we talking about? Twenty
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  Speaker 1: five bucks? If you can spare twenty five bucks, let's
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  Speaker 1: make a difference. It actually feels really nice to do
• 10:51
  Speaker 1: something for other people twenty five bucks. It might mean
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  Speaker 1: that you don't get to take the kids out for
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: a smoothier on ice cream on the weekend, but we
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  Speaker 1: could actually change kids' lives by putting books in their hands.
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  Speaker 1: Books make our lives richer. Details in the show notes.
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  Speaker 1: Rachel amoros Akara from Roupe really appreciate the conversation. Thank
• 11:08
  Speaker 1: you so much. Thank you all the details in the
• 11:10
  Speaker 1: show notes. To find out more about UP and what
• 11:12
  Speaker 1: they're doing, or to volunteer and get involved in increasing literacy,
• 11:16
  Speaker 1: especially in disadvantaged communities throughout Australia. Happy Families Podcasts audio
• 11:20
  Speaker 1: and sound engineering by Justin Ruland from Bridge Media. Mim
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: Hammonds looks after our admin and other support and if
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: you'd like more information to make your family happier, you'll
• 11:28
  Speaker 1: find it at Happy families dot com dot you