Refugee students may come to schools with fragmented educational histories and other exile-related stressors, but many also settle fast, enjoy school and live rather ordinary childhoods. These more positive stories are not told because they get overridden by well-meaning but counterproductive stories of victimhood. This article presents a…

This case study centres on projects instigated by the University of Wollongong's Batemans Bay campus which engaged other community entities in collaboration to produce a cultural and educational resource in book form. These projects occurred between 2017 and 2019 with more planned for the future. While this work is not a how-to guide, the analysis…

Foundation Year children are often excited about learning to read. Some 5- to 6-year-olds with well-developed literacy skills begin to read chapter books. Like older children and adults, they cannot read the whole book in one sitting. The learning experience described in the article provides an example of how the properties of materials…

Regular recreational reading offers benefits across a range of literacy outcomes, as well as supporting learning in other subject areas, offering cognitive benefits, and potentially fostering empathy. Therefore, increasing frequency of engagement in recreational reading can play an important role in addressing inequity in literacy outcomes once…

This study aimed to investigate if a universal 24-week oral language and emergent literacy programme delivered to students in the first year of schooling positively impacts reading performance 2 years post intervention. Eighty-nine participants were second grade students from three primary schools in low socio-economic status areas. Using a…

Silent reading and book discussion about books read for pleasure can increase reading frequency and support the strengthening of student engagement in the beneficial practice of recreational reading. However, little is known about children's attitudes toward and experiences of these pedagogical activities. Qualitative findings from 47 children…

The benefits of regular recreational reading for literacy development have been widely acknowledged, and as such, encouraging children to be life-long readers is an educational imperative. Teachers who are models of keen recreational reading can play an important role in fostering a keen love of reading in children, so that they regularly engage…

In late 2015, Scholastic, in conjunction with YouGov, conducted a survey to explore family attitudes and behaviours in Australia around reading books for fun. The key findings of this research, based on a nationally representative sample of 1,748 parents and children, including 358 parents of children aged 0-5; 695 parents of children aged 6-17;…

Early school years are an important period to lay out the foundation for learning a second language. In addition to mastering the basic language skills and keeping the learning process fun, promoting a lifelong learning habit should also be emphasised. Motivating elementary school students to learn English and avoiding misconceptions associated…