Bridging the Literacy Gap: A Kāhui Ako Teacher’s Inquiry into Foundational Skills, Daily Practice, and Collaborative Support
Introduction
As a Community of Learning (Kāhui Ako) teacher within my school, I’ve been reflecting deeply on the literacy challenges many of our students face. Despite the best efforts of our educators, we continue to see a number of learners—particularly those in Tier 2—struggling to meet expected literacy benchmarks. These aren’t isolated issues. Across schools in our Kāhui Ako, a pattern is emerging.
Addressing this challenge isn’t something that can be done in isolation. Alongside my own teaching inquiry, I’ve also been working closely with our learning support teacher aides—training and supporting them to deliver structured literacy programmes and help accelerate student progress.
Expanded Section: What I'm Trialing
Currently, I’m working with a small group of Tier 2 learners across our Kāhui Ako, trialing the following approaches:
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Structured Literacy Blocks: Implementing daily 40 minute sessions focused solely on foundational skills, using a scope and sequence to ensure coverage and progression.
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Learning Support Collaboration: A key part of this work involves our learning support teacher aides. I’m actively training them in the principles and practices of structured literacy so they can deliver targeted support confidently and consistently. This not only increases the impact we can have with students but also builds the capacity and expertise of our support staff.
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Progress Monitoring: Using short, regular assessments to track growth in specific skill areas, such as phonological awareness or high-frequency word recognition.
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Reinforcement Activities: Providing take-home resources and in-class activities that link directly to what’s being taught—reinforcing learning across different contexts.
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Whānau Communication: Exploring ways to better involve whānau in supporting literacy at home, including simple literacy games, story sharing, and feedback loops.
By investing time in upskilling our teacher aides, I believe student outcomes will improve and will also boost the confidence and capability among our support team. Their consistency and relationship with students make them a vital part of this intervention model.
Conclusion
This journey is ongoing, and I’m excited by the early signs of progress—not just from the students, but also from the learning assistants who are growing in expertise and confidence. Building a culture of shared responsibility and capacity-building has been key.
As a Kāhui Ako, we have the opportunity to share our findings, collaborate across schools, and ensure that no student is left behind because of barriers they couldn’t control. Literacy is not just a subject—it’s the foundation for learning across the curriculum and for lifelong success.
I welcome dialogue with colleagues who are working on similar inquiries. Together, we can deepen our understanding of what works—and, more importantly, why it works—for our learners and for those who support them.
