Phonics focus to drive literacy results

A re-elected Malinauskas Labor Government’s focus on lifting literacy and numeracy will see a second phonics check introduced for students in Year 2, in a bid to ensure the interventions put in place for students who don’t reach 28 words in Year 1 are successful in supporting students to improve their literacy.

It was a Labor Government under former Education Minister Susan Close that led the country in introducing the phonics check in South Australia.

The Malinauskas Labor Government has built on Labor’s record by being the first jurisdiction to introduce a numeracy check for Year 1’s – starting next year.

It is a Labor Government again leading the country with the commitment to a second phonics check in Year 2 – ensuring every child develops the fundamental literacy and numeracy they need.

This commitment comes as free sets of new readers – books that have been specially designed in collaboration with SPELD SA, a not-for-profit organisation that assists with children and adults with learning difficulties – have been funded by the Malinauskas Labor Government and are being distributed to 130 schools across the state to support reception and primary school students.

The readers support the way in which reading is now taught – systematic synthetic phonics, a type of explicit instruction – to drive improvements in phonics. It's another resource the Malinauskas Labor Government is giving schools to teach literacy.

In addition to the extensive existing efforts in early reading, the Education Department is also bolstering professional learning in literacy for early career teachers and free online literacy support and resources for parents to use.

The annual Year 1 phonics testing, which is undertaken to help teachers identify issues early in a child’s education, has recorded 66 per cent of children who can correctly decode 28 or more words out of 40. This is 23 per cent higher than those of 2018, the initial testing year, which shows the work we have been doing in this area is working but is four per cent lower than last year.

Students undertaking the phonics check in 2025 were amongst the most developmentally impacted by COVID-19 in the early years, which is likely to have had an impact on students who completed the check this year.

However, the median number of words correct by students has remained similar to 2024 – with 32 words correctly decoded – well above 28 words.

The check shows teachers how their students are progressing in phonics, which is the relationship between letters and sounds and is critical for learning to read. It provides valuable information to teachers so they can provide additional support to those students who need it.

As a result of the reduction, and in the wake of additional support being provided to those students who have identified as struggling, schools will re-screen those who were unable to decode 28 words or more in this year’s check again in 2026, when they are in Year 2.

This means personalised support will be put in place with students’ results tracked over a 12-month period.

And under a re-elected Malinauskas Labor Government, a second phonics check in Year 2 will be introduced permanently – putting another tool in the hands of our teachers to support their students with reading.

The teaching of systematic phonics and a Year 2 phonics check will be enshrined in policy to deliver on this commitment.

The 2025 phonics screening check was conducted in August, with 11,350 Year 1 students taking part. A higher percentage of Year 1 students participated in the phonics check in 2025, ensuring the most disadvantaged students are being checked and supported to improve.

Quotes

Attributable to Blair Boyer

We’re seeing more students than ever before in our phonics check, because every child deserves their progress to be understood and supported.

If we get the supports right at the beginning of a child’s education, we provide them with the tools to be successful as they make their way through school.

This screening allows us to find out who needs extra help and deliver support early. That’s where the real difference can be made, rather than trying to play catch up in the high school years.

That is why a re-elected Malinauskas Labor Government will introduce a second phonics check – putting another tool in the hands of teachers to support children to read.

The phonics check is one of our best tools for helping teachers ensure our students develop the literacy they need throughout their lives.

While we have seen great results in students’ phonics results since former Labor Education Minister Susan Close introduced the check in 2017, there is more to do and our government is relentless in giving South Australian children the literacy and numeracy skills they need.

The impacts of COVID-19 have been felt in education systems around the world, and that’s why we are putting more support into this year’s students to get them to where they need to be.