As Canberra debates the shape of the new Teaching and Learning Commission, one question keeps resurfacing: will this be the moment Australia finally tackles the root causes of our long-standing literacy gaps, or will we slip back into the same narrow arguments that have dominated classrooms for years?
Associate Professor Helen Adam, a leading literacy researcher, PETAA president, says the stakes couldn’t be higher. Her message is blunt but timely: better phonics teaching alone won’t shift outcomes if children still have no books at home, if school libraries are hollowed out, or if classroom practice fails to recognise the rich languages and cultural knowledge students bring through the door.
As governments promise “once-in-a-generation” reform, Associate Professor Adam argues this window won’t stay open forever, and warns that getting it wrong now means condemning another generation to the same avoidable gaps.
In her upcoming book, ‘Creating Equitable Literacy Learning Environments’, Associate Professor Adam draws on extensive international research across Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States to examine how a groundbreaking framework can guide schools in creating truly equitable learning environments.
The Model for Equitable Literacy Learning Environments (MELLE) framework combines solid teaching, plenty of chances for kids to read, and books that reflect students’ real lives and identities. Associate Professor Adam says that when these three pieces work together, students feel included and engaged, which makes it easier to lift achievement and close long-running gaps.
Families’ real struggles rarely factored in
When asked how the research behind Creating Equitable Literacy Learning Environments helps to explain why policy tweaks alone won’t shift long-standing gaps in reading outcomes, Associate Professor Adam said the real barriers to better reading outcomes sit well beyond classroom technique.
“Many families simply cannot afford books—when choosing between groceries and rent, purchasing children’s books is often out of reach,” Associate Professor Adam told The Educator. “If we want to build readers, the burden of poverty must be addressed with genuine cross-ministerial portfolio support for families.”
Meanwhile, diverse communities’ rich literacy practices – oral storytelling, multilingual homes, cultural knowledge transmission – are frequently dismissed in schools privileging Standard Australian English and middle-class practices, she pointed out.
“Research shows children excel when their linguistic resources are valued through culturally responsive teaching,” she said. “When home languages and ways of knowing are instead viewed as deficits, children face barriers regardless of instructional quality.”
Associate Professor Adam added that when achievement gaps persist despite these systemic barriers, teachers are blamed, and explicit instruction is “prescribed as the remedy – as if better phonics teaching could overcome poverty or compensate for children having no books at home”.
“Policy tweaks typically mandate ‘better’ instruction whilst ignoring these systemic inequities,” she said.
“Without addressing parental capacity to provide books, valuing diverse literacy practices, and ensuring schools compensate for – rather than compound – home disadvantage, we simply reinforce existing patterns where privilege predicts outcomes.”
Evidence helping principals shift the dial
When asked what this framework would actually look like in the day-to-day life of a principal, and how it could realistically help turn around Australia’s stubborn literacy results, Associate Professor Adam said it starts with widening the lens beyond classroom technique to what children can actually access at school and at home.
“On day one, a principal using MELLE wouldn’t just audit instruction—they’d ensure every child has books at home and school,” she said.
“This means guaranteeing library access and qualified librarians—not treating libraries as expendable when budgets tighten, and where possible using early childhood funds to enrol families in book gifting programmes like Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library, Dymock’s Children’s Charities or others, or running regular book appeals.”
Classroom audits would examine whether books represent diverse communities authentically, she added.
“Professional learning would focus on culturally responsive implementation of evidence-based instruction for diverse learners, building on children’s home languages and cultural knowledge. Teacher standards would equally value technical expertise and culturally responsive practice,” she said.
“This integration disrupts patterns where disadvantaged schools often get intervention programs whilst advantaged schools get more books and reading time.”
Associate Professor Adam said the MELLE framework provides principals “evidence-based justification” for demanding that alongside government mandated phonics instruction and testing, must sit mandated support for school libraries and book access for all families.
“You can’t become a reader without access to books.”
Literacy reform needs more than education alone
Associate Professor Adam warns that Australia risks returning to the same conversations about the same literacy gaps in another 15 years unless the paramount issue of equity is addressed within this time.
Looking ahead, she said it is important to watch whether the Commission addresses literacy and equity as an education-only issue or recognises it requires cross-portfolio action supporting families, but noted that there are some positive signals that offer hope.
“These include education departments partnering with community services to ensure book access for disadvantaged families; policies supporting programs like Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library as front-line family support; funding formulas ensuring under-resourced schools get library staffing and book budgets, not just intervention programs,” she said.
“Also watch the Commission’s guidance documents. If they overwhelmingly emphasise explicit instruction without equally addressing culturally responsive practice and access to diverse books, the window is closing.”
Associate Professor Adam said teacher standards should integrate responsive pedagogy throughout, not as separate competencies, adding that curriculum resources should provide flexible frameworks requiring adaptation, not standardised scripts.
The key concerning signal, she said, is that of a two-tier literacy system quietly hardening into place.
“If schools serving disadvantaged communities continue spending more time on isolated skills whilst advantaged schools provide books, choice, and reading time, and If policy rhetoric still centres only ‘explicit instruction,’ we’ve learned nothing and we’ve missed a once in a generation opportunity.”