Literacy (primary level)

HomeSchool resourcesLiteracy (primary level)
type here...
School
Thought leadership
Early childhood

Literacy (primary level)

HomeSchool resourcesLiteracy (primary level)

Topic summary

Literacy is an essential life skill, not only for accessing education but for participation in society more broadly.

The purpose of literacy is to share meaning between an author and a reader – to understand what others have written, and to share your own ideas with others. Literacy depends upon a wide range of language and cognitive skills. Most children begin to learn to read and write following many years of experience understanding and speaking spoken English. While spoken language usually develops spontaneously given sufficient exposure to speech, literacy normally depends upon explicit instruction. 

Children who struggle to read and write will find it difficult to access all areas of the curriculum. Adults with low literacy not only have limited employment opportunities but also worse health outcomes. It is crucial that we support learners to attain good literacy skills.

Literacy is one of the areas of education in which there is a good deal of high-quality research. For example, evidence over the last twenty years has clearly demonstrated that providing systematic, explicit teaching in phonics (which can include either analytic or synthetic phonics) is more effective than whole language or embedded phonics approaches. There is also extensive evidence that learners show better reading comprehension when they have relevant background knowledge about a topic. However, some care is needed when making research-informed decisions on how to teach. While there is ample research on what to teach, there is relatively little research on how to teach.

It is important to pay attention to non-cognitive factors such as motivation and reading self-concept in literacy teaching. Literacy is an area of learning in which motivation is particularly important, because evidence shows that learners who read for pleasure outside of school can substantially improve their vocabulary and reading skills. The role of background knowledge, both in terms of a broad base of general knowledge as well as more specific domain knowledge, is also critical in literacy teaching. 

  • How have you designed your literacy programme and what evidence have you drawn on it inform its design?
  • How do you embed literacy across the curriculum?
  • How do you support students who exhibit less well-developed literacy? 

Research reviews

Literacy: Why it matters

The importance of literacy is promoting a wide range of outcomes in education and beyond

How to plan for whole-school literacy

Priorities and guidelines for developing a school-wide literacy policy.

Theories of early literacy development

An overview of the key theories that describe how children develop the language and cognitive skills that underpin the process of reading and writing

Literacy and assessment

Understanding what to measure and how and why to measure it when evaluating students’ learning in early reading and writing

The pedagogy of reading

An overview of the key principles in teaching early reading

Turning boys of all ages into life-long readers

Research-based strategies for encouraging boys to read for enjoyment.

Effective writing instruction in the junior primary years

An introduction to the essential components of early writing instruction

Effective writing instruction in Years 3-8

How to build on early writing instruction in the middle and upper primary years

Teaching spelling in primary and intermediate schools

Key principles and strategies for teaching spelling across all levels of primary school.

Effective vocabulary instruction

The importance of vocabulary knowledge and how to teach it in literacy programmes and across the curriculum.

Webinars

Independent and shared reading: Great books for primary schools

NEXT UP
LIVE EVENT: 7.30PM THURSDAY APRIL 3, 2025
Dr Christine Braid of Massey University will talk about a range of books that students of all ages can read independently, as well as great books for teachers to read aloud

Supporting ESOL students at school

Michelle McKinlay shares her insights into supporting ESOL (English for speakers of other languages) students in English medium classrooms.

Using Comparative Judgement to improve writing

Daisy Christodoulou discusses how comparative judgement can help schools improve students’ writing.

Improving the coherence of literacy learning from ECE to Year 13

Teachers from Pupuke kāhui ako discuss their work to improve the continuity and coherence of literacy learning from early childhood education to Year 13.

Improving writing instruction across primary and secondary school

Teacher Jeanette Breen discusses what is most important for students to learn in their writing journey from Primary to Secondary

Writing in a digital age

Professor Emerita Naomi Baron from American University returned to talk about the research into digital technologies and writing, and to share insights from her newest book

Supporting oral language in primary schools

Emma Nahna joined us for a follow-up webinar to explore in more detail strategies teachers can employ to support oral language development across the primary school years

Reading in the digital age

Professor Emerita Naomi Baron of American University discussed the extensive research from the past decade that has explored the nature and impact of reading digitally

Oral language foundations for literacy

Speech language therapist and literacy consultant Emma Nahna talks about the fundamental importance of oral language as part a broad, rich literacy programme
Load more

Infographics

Snapshots

How to support ESOL students in the classroom

Key insights from a webinar with Michelle McKinlay from the University of Auckland.

Writing in a digital age

Key insights from the webinar with Professor Emerita Naomi Baron of American University on the impact of digital tools on how we write.

Improving literacy across a Community of Learning

Key insights from the webinar with the leaders of the Pupuke Kahui Āko.

An introduction to the Comparative Judgement approach to marking writing

An innovative but highly reliable approach to marking writing.

What teachers need to know about digital reading

The key insights from our webinar with Professor Naomi Baron on the research into reading print versus digital texts.

Why oral language is foundational for literacy

Powerful practices for building oral language capability from our webinar with speech language therapist Emma Nahna

School-wide approaches to building oral language confidence and capability

Teachers from Burnside Primary share the findings of their multi-year focus on supporting and improving oral language in the early primary years

Teaching writing at primary school

A summary of some of the key insight's from Helen Wall's highly informative webinar on teaching writing

Burnside Primary School Bright Spots Report

A written report discussing the work being done at Burnside Primary School with a focus to develop students’ confidence and competence to communicate through a school-wide initiative to improve the teaching of oral language.

Why is literacy important?

Exploring the importance of literacy at school and in life beyond school.
“Thanks for the opportunity. This was without doubt amongst the best professional development I have done in many years.”
Course participant
Assessment & Intentional Teaching
“I've just started and it's incredible! Best professional learning course I have participated in in a long time. I've just completed Part 2 – so inspiring!”
Course participant
Visual Arts in ECE
"I loved how the course was laid out. It was easy to leave and pick up where I had left off. The site was easy to navigate and I liked the videos that backed up the reading."
Course participant
Assessment & Intentional Teaching
“Continue with your excellent work. I get feedback that student teachers love it too.”
Educator
Martinborough
“I have found all your webinars to be of incredible value to myself and my team. Thank you.”
Centre Leader
Auckland
“You guys are doing a FABULOUS job - keep up the great work. And thank-you for offering free webinars; readings etc - in this current climate it is so hard to find money for extra things and PD is usually the first thing that gets a budget cut. Having access to your webinars means that there is no excuse for my teachers not keep professionally ahead of the game. My team and I certainly appreciate it.”
Early childhood teacher
Wellington
“I LOVE your work. It is super useful as an AST in a large COL, The Education Hub is a springboard for my own self-driven PD and a good resource for the spectrum of needs in our Kahui Ako. Thank you for the epic work you do!”
Advanced Skills Teacher
New Zealand
“Appreciate the diverse range of resources on offer!”
Intermediate school teacher
New Zealand
“The Education Hub is a gem and I recommend it to all schools I work with.”
Education consultant
New Zealand
“The resources and support provided by The Education Hub are greatly appreciated. As an HOD in a small school, in a small department usually made up of beginning teachers, it often falls on my shoulders alone to try and be up to date with ensuring our programmes are founded on sound pedagogical practices in terms of teaching in general and our particular curriculum area ... so I'm like a sponge when it comes to what you provide.”
Head of Department
“The Hub articles have been really useful and provided conversations for staff meetings and provocations for teachers. Thank you - great work and food for thought.”
School leader
Dunedin
“Articles are always well considered and written. I enjoy the content; it’s a superb resources for teachers”
Teacher (primary)
Tauranga
"I love this site!! I love everything you do for us educators, professional leaders and whanau. I loved this site during my studies last year when I upgraded to a Degree. Love it – thank you!"
New entrant teacher
Wellington
“I really value the Education Hub as a non-partisan (and non-reactionary) force for building consensus around what works and what matters in (New Zealand) education. There's nothing like it, and without it we'd be at the mercy of the more vociferous at both ends of the spectrum (progressive vs conservative).”
Deputy Principal
Christchurch
“Keep up the great mahi, I would struggle to have conversations with teachers about current pedagogy without you!”
Professional development provider
Auckland
“Having discovered The Education Hub this year, it has been timely as I navigate the teaching of structured literacy. The content has been so relevant and reliable, I come away wanting more.”
Primary teacher
Nelson
“The information I have gained from the webinars I have watched this year has been so enlightening and it has fueled my desire to further my own knowledge. We are lucky to have such a great resource.”
Preschool teacher
Palmerston North
“Thank you for providing high quality professional learning that is easily accessible.”
High school teacher
Napier
“I really appreciate the quality and range of the webinars you provide. I love that I can access them later if I don't get to watch them at the time.”
Teacher
Bay of Plenty
"Thank you! This course has renewed my passion for writing meaningful learning stories that are backed up with intentional teaching and show progression of learning and development."
Course participant
Assessment & Intentional Teaching
“Thank you to those of you who are working hard to keep this resource relevant and accessible for all of us in the education sector. More specifically, I appreciate the balanced approach taken by your team to specific topic”
School leader
Manukau
"I liked the mix of different aspects that kept things interesting, I enjoyed sharing my new learning with my colleagues and I loved learning new practical aspects of story writing."
Course participant
Assessment & Intentional Teaching
“Thank you so much for the valuable service you provide. We are so lucky to have access to this quality of resources.”
Graduate teacher
Blenheim
"I loved how the course was laid out. It was easy to leave and pick up where I had left off. The site was easy to navigate and I liked the videos that backed up the reading."
Course participant
Assessment & Intentional Teaching

Get unlimited access to all our webinars

Buy a webinar subscription for yourself, your school or centre and enjoy savings of up to 25%

The Education Hub webinars provide high-quality research-based content for teachers. A webinar subscription costs just NZ$60+GST per person (with discounts of up to 25% available for groups) and provides access to all our live webinars for 12 months, plus all the recordings in our archive.
Find out more

12-MONTH WEBINAR SUBSCRIPTION

NZ$ 60 per person +GST
  • All live webinars for 12 months
  • Access to our library of over 100 webinars
  • Personalised certificates
  • Group savings of up to 25%
Buy now

About The Education Hub

The Education Hub’s mission is to bridge the gap between research and practice in education. We want to empower educators to find, use and share research to improve their teaching practice, and then share their innovations. We are building the online and offline infrastructure to support this to improve opportunities and outcomes for students.

New Zealand registered charity number: CC54471

Find out more

We’ll keep you updated

Follow us on social media

Like what we do? Please support us

Donate now to show your appreciation

© The Education Hub 2025 All rights reserved | Site design: KOPARA

Close popup
Message from The Education Hub Choose how you stay up to date

Early childhood education
School

Your details:

Already have an account? Login here

* Required fields

By clicking submit, you are agreeing to our Privacy Policy and Terms of Service.

We value your privacy and are committed to protecting your personal information. The data you provide on this form will be used to keep you informed about our latest news, updates, and promotional offers. Rest assured, your information will be handled in strict accordance with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Your data will be stored securely, and you have the right to access, correct, or delete your information at any time. For more details, please review our Privacy Policy or Terms of Service.