Speaker’s notes: Professional Learning presentation on the Literacy and Numeracy 6 – 18 Month Strategy
Speaker’s notes: Professional Learning presentation on the
Literacy and Numeracy 6-18 Month Strategy
Slide title
The Literacy
and
Numeracy 618 Month
Strategy
Speaker’s notes
This professional learning workshop has been designed to build
participants’ understanding of the Literacy and Numeracy 6-18 Month
Strategy.
2
Purpose of
this session
This workshop has several aims:
• To provide a brief introduction to the Victorian Literacy and
Numeracy Secretariat, who developed the Strategy and to
reinforce the importance of literacy and numeracy teaching and
learning for all students, teachers, school leaders, families and
communities
• To provide participants with key background information on
the development and purpose of the Strategy
• To provide opportunities for school leaders, through the
provided activities, to deepen their understanding of the
Strategy and to explore the implications the Strategy may have
on their own work.
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The Victorian
Literacy and
Numeracy
Secretariat
The Victorian Literacy and Numeracy Secretariat (VLNS) was
established in January 2010 with the appointment of former Hume
Regional Director, Dr Stephen Brown (pictured) and works to
coordinate and influence literacy and numeracy improvement action
with an initial focus on Smarter Schools. These are the 300+ schools
in receipt of National Partnership Smarter Schools Funding, including
those funded through the Low SES status school communities and
Literacy and Numeracy initiatives.
Number
1
It has been developed using the E5 Instructional Model as a planning
framework. See the design framework (on the VLNS website) for this
professional learning workshop for more details.
The VLNS released the Literacy and Numeracy 6-18 Month Strategy
in April 2010. The VLNS will evaluate the effectiveness of the
Strategy in the latter part of 2010.
The VLNS has nine terms of reference, which provides the structure
and focus for the Secretariat’s work. The terms of reference are to:
1. Ensure regional literacy and numeracy plans align with
DEECD policy and programs
2. Work with regional offices to support the effective
implementation of all DEECD literacy and numeracy
initiatives with an immediate focus on the national partnerships
initiative involving 300+ low SES, literacy and numeracy
schools
3. Build strong connections with other relevant parts of the
Victorian Literacy and Numeracy Secretariat
Speaker’s notes: Professional Learning presentation on the Literacy and Numeracy 6 – 18 Month Strategy
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
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Literacy and
Numeracy in
Victoria –
Key
Documents
Department, especially the Office for Policy, Research and
Innovation and the Office for Children and Portfolio
Coordination
Work with regions and networks to develop student literacy
and numeracy targets and to support the development of
detailed plans to meet those targets
Monitor and evaluate literacy and numeracy performance in all
schools, in collaboration with Data, Outcomes and Evaluation
Division and generate future recommendations for further
research, policy and programs and the targeting of resources
Identify examples of excellent practice in schools and networks
and share the practice across the system
Build on an emergent culture where the literacy and numeracy
performance of individual students is continuously monitored
and evidence based strategies are implemented to support
improvement in the literacy and numeracy outcomes
Support regions to engage principals, teachers, early childhood
educators and parents in the importance of improving literacy
and numeracy outcomes
Identify strategies that best meet the literacy and numeracy
needs of students from Koorie and ESL backgrounds.
Animation: Each text / duo of texts comes in on mouse click.
There is a suite of key documents that all participants are encouraged
to be familiar with in order to deepen their understanding of literacy
and numeracy in Victoria.
The Literacy and Numeracy Statement was released in December 2009
and provides a comprehensive overview of literacy and numeracy in
Victoria. It reinforces the ambitious goals set in the 2008 Blueprint for
Education and Early Childhood Development, highlights the important
role that families play in literacy and numeracy learning and provides
information on the resources and programs that make up Victoria’s
multifaceted approach to literacy and numeracy learning and teaching.
The other key documents need to be considered in light of the
Statement.
The Literacy and Numeracy 6-18 Month Strategy was designed to
support the application of the Literacy and Numeracy Statement and to
assist school leaders, including Regional Network Leaders and
Principals, to focus their energy on literacy and numeracy
improvement. It contains detailed information of assessments and
analysis, resources and planning – the Strategies will be unpacked
later in this session.
The Key Characteristics for Effective Literacy Teaching P-6 and 7-10
were designed to support teachers to develop their literacy knowledge,
understanding and skills. The documents are divided into VELS levels
Victorian Literacy and Numeracy Secretariat
Speaker’s notes: Professional Learning presentation on the Literacy and Numeracy 6 – 18 Month Strategy
and aim to provide practical support to teachers. The 7-10 document
has a focus on literacy across the Domains and provides support to all
secondary teachers, regardless of the subjects they teach. They are
online documents, and while they can be printed, they include many
hyperlinks and are therefore best used with an active internet
connection.
The Key Characteristics for Effective Numeracy Teaching P-6 and 710 provide similar support in numeracy; however the 7-10 document is
designed primarily for teachers of mathematics.
A Numeracy Teaching within the Domains document is out for
consultation and addresses numeracy teaching across VELS Domains
from 7 to 10.
All of these documents are available via the DEECD Student Learning
Website.
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The Strategy
in a nutshell
Animation: Each statement appears on mouse click.
There are some key ideas to note when discussing the Strategy:

It is one component of Victoria’s approach to literacy and
numeracy improvement. It is not everything you need to know
but it is a good starting point.

The Strategy’s primary function is to support ongoing, rich
dialogue about how a school is working to improve literacy
and numeracy outcomes for every student.

It was developed to support National Partnership Smarter
Schools in focussing their energy and resources on improving
literacy and numeracy learning and teaching. All schools are
encouraged to use the Strategy as a tool to promote
conversation and to reflect on practice. Many may find they are
already engaged in many of the strategies listed, as well as
other, additional activities.

This may be because the Strategy outlines minimum
expectations for action. If schools are already engaged in all of
these strategies, and doing them effectively, conversations will
be about what else you can do to focus your energy on literacy
and numeracy improvement.

Finally, the Strategy is not a checklist: don’t just tick off what
you have done. If you do use the Strategy as an audit tool,
which is one of the activities discussed later, ensure that there
is conversation about what you are doing and why, what you
don’t do and what you do in its place. Remember the dialogue
Victorian Literacy and Numeracy Secretariat
Speaker’s notes: Professional Learning presentation on the Literacy and Numeracy 6 – 18 Month Strategy
is the key.
6
Building
familiarity
This presentation has been developed in Prezi, a zooming presentation
tool, and is stored online. It provides a more comprehensive
background to the Strategy and would be useful where there has been
limited exposure to the Strategy so far.
At this stage Prezi is not compatible with PowerPoint so to view the
Prezi you need an active internet connection.
Click on the link provided in the presentation. This will take you
directly to the Prezi.
Click on “More” and select Full screen.
Then clicking on Play (the triangle) move your way through the path
set for this presentation.
Notes for the Prezi
The Prezi has 4 parts with no additional information required for
presentation:
• The Victorian context, with quotes from the Literacy and
Numeracy Statement and the Blueprint for Education and Early
Childhood Development
• The Aims of the Strategy
• The Strategy itself
• Uses for the Strategy
You may choose to skip this Prezi if you believe your participants are
already familiar with the Strategy. Alternatively, this Prezi can also be
navigated by participants prior to the workshop. Email participants this
link:
https://prezi.com/secure/ad1e5cc41900c3b21706310707b0fe6409d69e
f2
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Structure
Animation: Each image appears on mouse click.
The Strategy uses the Effective Schools Model as its conceptual
organiser. This model was chosen for a number of reasons, including:
• Schools are already using, or are familiar with, the Effective
Schools Model to focus their effort for school improvement. It
does not introduce any additional models.
• Highlighting that literacy and numeracy improvement is not
restricted to Focus on teaching and learning and Purposeful
teaching, but a whole-school responsibility and challenge
• Putting literacy and numeracy improvement at the heart of
school improvement.
In addition, the Strategy was divided into two components – the first is
Assessment for Learning. This provides an overview of typical
assessments for each year of schooling as well as advice on analysing
student learning data to inform the teaching and learning programs.
Victorian Literacy and Numeracy Secretariat
Speaker’s notes: Professional Learning presentation on the Literacy and Numeracy 6 – 18 Month Strategy
This section also provides advice on what to do for students achieving
well above or well below expected levels.
The second component is Whole-school Planning, which outlines the
actions required across the school to support literacy and numeracy
improvement. This includes professional learning requirements,
actions required for students requiring individual learning plans,
recommendations for resourcing and advice for working in partnership
with families.
Neither component is sufficient on its own. It is the balance of the two
that is vital for literacy and numeracy improvement.
There are other ways that the Strategy could have been structured,
other elements that could have been emphasised. If you have feedback
on the structure please email the VLNS (vlns@edumail.vic.gov.au)
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A
practitioner’s
story
This is the story of how one principal has used the Strategy to support
her work, as an instructional leader.
Eastwood Primary School is in the Eastern Metropolitan Region and
while this is a primary context, the core actions taken by Lee Ann and
her team will be familiar, and instructive, in all educational settings.
The digital story runs for 6 minutes.
You will need audio output when showing the digital story.
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Ordered
sharing
Ordered sharing activity.
Depending on the time available this activity can be conducted in
between 5 and 15 minutes.
Ordered sharing protocol: each member of the small group speaks
without interruption in response to the digital story. Once all members
of the small group have shared their response they are invited to move
into conversation mode, including asking questions to clarify their
understanding of the responses.
You may like to also dedicate time for whole group sharing, again
depending on available time.
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Reflecting on
practice
Animation: The highlighting circles appear with one mouse click.
This is the activity that Lee Ann discusses in the digital story and is
made easier through the provision of the Strategy in Word version.
The activity involves all participants highlighting what they are
already doing in the Strategy. This provides an opportunity for staff to
Victorian Literacy and Numeracy Secretariat
Speaker’s notes: Professional Learning presentation on the Literacy and Numeracy 6 – 18 Month Strategy
reflect on practices across the school within the selected term.
During the discussion it is important to note what all participants
believe is already happening and to spend time ensuring that there
is a shared understanding of the activities. It is also important to
discuss the gaps, or as Lee Ann indicated, ‘things that don’t sit
comfortably.’
Be prepared to use a variety of open-ended questions:
• Where are our gaps / opportunities?
• Why don’t we ...?
• Why should we…?
• How could we do this differently?
• What are our strengths?
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What could
this mean for
you?
This activity requires a template – ‘What does it mean?’
This activity has been designed to promote reflection and to provide
an opportunity for school leaders to discuss their work in literacy and
numeracy improvement.
If you are running this activity in the presentation
Allocate 10 – 15 minutes. Participants will need a copy of the Strategy
(or a term from the Strategy) to complete this activity.
Large groups (eg staff meetings) Distribute one card (with one section
of the Strategy explained) to each small group and have them discuss
the two questions. Provide a written answer to the second question for
collection and further consideration.
Small teams (eg leadership teams) Distribute one card to one person,
or have all participants complete all eight sections, or complete the
sections participants consider relevant to their own work. Ask for 3-5
minutes of silent reflection and then answers can be discussed in pairs.
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An Action
Plan
This activity requires a template – ‘Developing an action plan?’
(displayed here and presented with examples on the next two slides)
This activity has been designed to promote reflection and to provide
an opportunity for school leaders to plan their immediate actions for
improving literacy and numeracy outcomes.
It builds upon the planning structures provided in the School and
Network Improvement and Accountability Frameworks.
If you are running this activity in the presentation
Allocate 15 – 20 minutes. Participants will need a copy of the Strategy
Victorian Literacy and Numeracy Secretariat
Speaker’s notes: Professional Learning presentation on the Literacy and Numeracy 6 – 18 Month Strategy
(or a term from the Strategy) to complete this activity.
The activity is best completed in pairs or small groups.
All members of the leadership team are encouraged to participate to
ensure that it reflects whole school practice.
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Developing
an action plan
(1)
Animation: Each statement appears after one mouse click for the
primary example.
This is the first example template that focuses on Professional
Leadership in term 3 2010.
The ‘what’ has been taken from the Professional Leadership
component of Term 3 2010.
We have taken one task (or one ‘what’) and looked at using the Key
Characteristics documents to develop staff capacity in planning and
instruction in a primary setting and a secondary setting.
In a primary context it may be that the action involves building the
capacity of year level or team leaders to become literacy leaders
within their teams.
This approach also has a focus on determining what success will look
like from the outset – ‘starting with the end in mind’ and being really
clear what you are aiming to achieve, can assist school leaders in
determining what action they need to take.
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Developing
an action plan
(2)
Animation: Each statement appears after one mouse click for the
secondary example.
This is the second example template that focuses on Professional
Leadership in term 3 2010.
The ‘what’ has been taken from the Professional Leadership
component of Term 3 2010.
We have taken one task (or one ‘what’) and looked at using the Key
Characteristics documents to develop staff capacity in planning and
instruction in a primary setting and a secondary setting.
In a secondary context it may be working with a specific Domain
team, in this case Science, and developing a level of understanding
that will enable the Science teachers to incorporate literacy planning
within their regular curriculum planning meetings.
This approach also has a focus on determining what success will look
like from the outset – ‘starting with the end in mind’ and being really
clear what you are aiming to achieve, can assist school leaders in
Victorian Literacy and Numeracy Secretariat
Speaker’s notes: Professional Learning presentation on the Literacy and Numeracy 6 – 18 Month Strategy
15
Developing
your own
action plan
determining what action they need to take
This is one approach to completing the action plan template.
•
•
•
•
•
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Select just one component (or element of the Effective Schools
Model) to start. This allows for clarity of purpose. This is not
to say that the components don’t overlap, in many areas they
do but these areas of overlap can be determined once actions
have been initially mapped.
It is recommended that the person with responsibility for the
area create the action plan – this enables them to take
ownership of the tasks from the beginning and also promotes a
model of distributive leadership that shares responsibility for
literacy and numeracy improvement across the school.
Use the template to assist in ordering thoughts. If your school
or network uses different templates for planning, use them
instead of the template.
Ideally, work through one task (or ‘what’) so that you have
time to understand the process.
This is a six term schedule and while each component is
present every term, some terms have more detail than others.
Term 1 in either year is a good place to look for more
information.
Evaluating the It is important that the Strategy is not seen as an additional task. It
Strategy
should be seen as a tool to help school leaders focus on literacy and
numeracy improvement.
Therefore its effectiveness in supporting your work should be
evaluated through your current planning and reflection practices.
The processes outlined in the School and Network Accountability
Frameworks support this work.
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Contact Us
Please visit the VLNS website – the Strategy is published in both PDF
and Word versions on the site, as are all the resources used for this
presentation.
For any further communication, please contact the VLNS via the email
address provided.
The Literacy and Numeracy 6-18 Month Strategy PowerPoint
http://www.eduweb.vic.gov.au/edulibrary/public/teachlearn/student/vlnsstratproflearn.ppt
Victorian Literacy and Numeracy Secretariat