On Saturday the 1st June, SOLAR Lab Co-Directors Professor Pamela Snow and Professor Tanya Serry joined the Science of Teaching and Learning Australia (SOTLA)and Edith Cowan University’s Associate Professor Lorraine Hammond, to host a day with Emily Hanford. Presentations focused on “the why, the what and the how” of evidence-based reading instruction.
Emily Hanford is a senior correspondent and producer at APM Reports and host of Sold a Story, the groundbreaking educational podcast that has investigated how flawed ideas and theories about reading instruction became embedded in schools across the English-speaking world. Sold a Story was one of Time Magazine’s top podcasts of the year in 2023, winning a range of honors and awards. The series has been described as a catalyst for a renewed national interest in evidence-based reading instruction and instrumental in a range of policy shifts across America.
Over 350 educators, school leaders, allied health professionals, parents, and advocates attended the day at the Sofitel Hotel in Melbourne’s CBD, and the panel of speakers fielded many insightful, passionate and emotive questions and comments from the highly engaged audience. Attendees also heard from Professor Joanna Barbousas (Dean of the La Trobe University School of Education), Professor Theo Farrell (Vice-Chancellor and President of La Trobe University) and the Hon. Ben Carroll (Victorian Deputy Premier and Education Minister). All leaders emphasised their commitment to advancing the implementation of evidence-based reading instruction in schools.
