What is the focus of the literacy progression?

Literacy development influences student success in many areas of learning at school. The progression can be used to support students to successfully engage with the literacy demands of the Foundation to Year 10 Australian Curriculum.

The National Literacy Learning Progression describes the observable indicators of increasing sophistication in the use of Standard Australian English language. By providing a comprehensive view of literacy learning and how it develops over time, the progression gives teachers a conceptual tool that can assist them to develop targeted teaching and learning programs for students who are working above or below year-level expectations. The literacy progression is inclusive of the modes of listening, speaking, reading, viewing, writing and producing texts.

In the Australian Curriculum, a text is defined as a means for communication. Text forms and conventions enable effective communication with a variety of audiences for a range of purposes. Texts can be written, spoken or multimodal and in print or digital/online forms. Multimodal texts combine language in a range of communication forms, such as print text, visual images, soundtrack and spoken word as  found in film or computer presentation media.

The Australian Core Skills Framework has been used to guide decisions on the scope of the progressions. The progression is designed to assist students in reaching a level of proficiency in literacy to at least Level 3 of the Core Skills Framework.

The progression does not advise schools on how to teach, plan, program, assess or report.