17 May 2016

Professor Gail Gillon, early child literacy

From Nine To Noon, 9:26 am on 17 May 2016

One in three children is not meeting the National Standard for reading in their first year at school, according to the Education Ministry. One in four is not meeting the standard for writing. Professor Gail Gillon from the University of Canterbury is part of a multi-disciplinary research project called A Better Start, which has been granted $34m to focus on the literacy, obesity and mental health of children in low-income communities. Professor Gillon leads the literacy part of the research and says it's all about finding a different way to reach and teach children who are at risk of literacy problems in the crucial first year of school.