Writing Instruction for Impact

Overview

The Australian Writing Survey

In the last decade, large scale testing at national and international levels has made it possible to track performance trends in ways not possible in earlier eras. National testing in literacy education, for example, has shown declines in writing performance in every Australian State and Territory (Wyatt-Smith & Jackson, 2016). It was in this policy context, and growing concerns about declining performance in writing in particular, that the Australian Writing Survey (AWS) was created in order to examine how writing is taught across the phases of learning and in a wide range of curriculum areas. The survey was developed by Professor Claire Wyatt-Smith and Christine Jackson. It is informed by the Australian Curriculum, New South Wales Department of Education Literacy Continuum, the Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership, Professional Standards for Teachers, and the Action Now: Classroom Ready Teachers Report (Teacher Education Ministerial Advisory Group, 2014).

The New South Wales Education Standards Authority commission ILSTE to undertake a survey study to examine how writing is taught across the phases of learning and in a wide range of curriculum areas. The instrument used was the AWS which was completed online by 4,306 teachers. By design, the AWS was organised to generate information in eight main categories namely, Initial Teacher Education, Professional Learning and Development, Writing Strategies and Instruction, Text Types, Language in Use, Use of Digital Technologies, Assessment and Reporting and NAPLAN Writing. Taken together, these constituted a purpose-designed framework for generating information about the practices teachers used in classroom writing instruction.

Funding

• $94,074.52 (NESA consultancy)

Duration

2017-2018

Industry Partners

New South Wales Education Standards Authority

Chief Investigator/s

Professor Claire Wyatt-Smith

Christine Jackson

Research Papers or Reports

Wyatt-Smith, C., & Jackson, C., Boorah, V., Whalley, K. (2018). Australian Writing Survey: How is writing taught in NSW classrooms?  A report prepared for New South Wales Education Studies Authority. Brisbane, QLD. ISBN: 978-1-922097-59-0. Retrieved from

Research in the Media

• 3AW Radio: Teachers admit feeling ill equipped to teach grammar and spelling

Subscriber access only:

• Teachers ill equipped to teach keyboarding skills amid NAPLAN concerns

Jordan Baker, The Sydney Morning Herald, 20/09/2020

• Writing wrongs: ‘Our society is about to it a literacy crisis’

Jordan Baker, The Sydney Morning Herald, 19/09/2020

• Half of NSW teachers say they were poorly trained to teach writing

Jordan Baker, The Sydney Morning Herald, 16/09/2020

• Students struggle as review finds writing skills neglected in NSW high schools

Jordan Baker, The Sydney Morning Herald, 15/09/2020

• Are teachers prepared to teach writing?

Mark Rosanes, The Educator K/12, 22/09/2020