Square Pegs is pleased to be a co-founder of the
Tasmanian 100% Literacy Alliance

 

Square Pegs are pleased to co-founding member of the Alliance and co-author of the Tasmanian #100PercentLiteracy Alliance Road Map to a Literate Tasmania as part of passionate collective of experts and advocates.

 

The Tasmanian #100percentliteracy Alliance Road Map to a Literate Tasmania calls on the Tasmanian Government to lead and prioritise the development and implementation of a community-wide plan to improve literacy for ALL Tasmanians. 

The objective is to transform the aspirational aim of #100percentliteracy in Tasmania to a target, with a timeframe and a plan on how to achieve it. The swift, decisive and dynamic response to the COVID-19 pandemic (including that of our amazing educators) has demonstrated what Tasmanians can achieve in urgent situations, with leadership and investment.

The Road Map to a Literate Tasmania outlines three overarching strategies:

1) Develop a strategic, whole-of-government, community-wide framework to achieve a Literate Tasmania. This should be informed by an independent, expert advisory panel or Ministerial Taskforce (including whole-of-government, community wide stakeholders and leading experts from Tasmania and other jurisdictions) to:

​

• map existing organisations and resources to develop an integrated framework for a Literate Tasmania that links and leverages these strategies and resources;

​

• undertake a peer review of existing policies and programmes to identify any evidence of practice gaps, and programme or skills gaps as well as opportunities to redirect resources to more effective, impactful strategies; and

​​

• establish short- and medium-term measurable targets, aligned with the long-term goal for #100PercentLiteracy in Tasmania.

​​

2) Adopt and implement as an immediate priority the recommendations of the Primary Reading Pledge and invest in the resources (human and physical) and capacity building required to achieve the goal of close to zero Tasmanians starting grade 7 at or below the National Minimum Standard (NMS) for reading by 2031;

3) Proactively support literacy improvement throughout the wider community, including in the early years (pre-school), secondary schooling, adult education, the justice system, and among other vulnerable Tasmanians. This is in addition to strategies that target primary-school-aged children, because #100PercentLiteracy is wider than schools alone.

The Alliance believe that this roadmap will lead to measurable improvement in Tasmania’s poor literacy and educational outcomes, improving not only the lives of Tasmanians, but also boosting Tasmania’s economy.

Dyslexia impacts more than 10% of the population and it often goes unidentified. Square Pegs supports the introduction of early screening, standardised assessments and a tiered, evidence based response to literacy challenges, as set out in the Roadmap. This will help to ensure that children with dyslexia are identified and do not continue to fall through the gaps!