Early Learning Teaching Pilot

The REEaCh Centre, in partnership with the Centre for Program Evaluation, have been engaged by the Australian Government’s Department of Education to deliver the Early Learning Teaching Pilot, an initiative under the Commonwealth Closing the Gap Implementation Plan. The pilot involves the design and implementation, informed by consultation, of an Australian-first new early learning and teaching model in three sites. The pilot is focused on strengthening early literacy and numeracy outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children as they get ready for school. The sites were selected in consultation with local communities and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander stakeholders in early 2022. The pilot is being informed by consultation and delivered in partnership with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander education experts and communities in the selected sites, to ensure implementation is culturally safe and tailored to community needs.

The pilot will develop a contemporary Australian research evidence base and generate new data and insights to better understand the impact of explicit instructional approaches in early childhood settings. Specifically, the pilot will help the Australian Government better understand how effective explicit instruction is for younger cohorts, given a trial of explicit instruction has never been conducted in Australia for children under the age of five. The pilot will be evidence informed and draw on international evidence and local expertise regarding the benefits of different instructional models. It will be designed to complement the existing Australian early learning frameworks, to assist the Department to understand the impact of explicit instruction delivered within a broader play-based approach.