Returning to the schools summit, and attendees have heard from three school leaders about the benefits of direct instruction.

Kitty Hancock, principal at St Mary’s Primary School in Myrtleford, described explicit direct instruction as a game changer for her school, which she admitted had student behaviour problems when she arrived as principal.

Hancock said instructional teaching was a major part of improvements to student behaviour and engagement – but apparently simple things, like facing desks forward to the teacher, had also worked wonders.

“The children are all very focused. They are engaging with the teachers, and that’s right across the school – it’s the same in foundation as in grade 6.”

Cranbourne Primary School principal Lachlan Yeates said like St Mary’s in Myrtleford, his school had problems with student behaviour before making the shift to direct instruction.

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“There was violence in the yard [both] towards teachers and students. And the learning had slipped away,” he said. “When we started, there was a sense of helplessness among teachers.”

Turning to other schools for advice on resources and approaches, the school introduced Read to Learn and Write to Learn programs and saw improvements within a term.

Yeates said in the past three years, the school has recorded improved NAPLAN performances and student attendance.

He said today’s announcement that government schools would teach the same type of reading lessons based on systematic synthetic phonics was sure to benefit both students and teachers. It is a significant change to the current system, which lets principals choose their own approach.

“The strength and weakness of the Victorian education system is the autonomy that each school has. But this announcement will help a lot of schools, so I really celebrate it.”

Yeates said he was surprised how much direct instruction benefited students with a trauma background and neurodivergent students.

Kathryn D’Elia, director of learning at Goulburn Valley Grammar, said the school’s direct instruction teaching approach was well-supported by the school community.

However, broadly speaking, D’Elia acknowledged it was hard to bring all teachers along the evidence-based teaching path.

“Teachers are emotionally invested in their jobs, and if they have been teaching for 30, 40 years, being told that there’s a better way can be very confronting. Some will want to do what they have always done.”