12/03/2025
Admin rant coming: (Courtesy of Dyslexia Support Victoria)
For decades, thousands of parents and children have been calling for change—only to be ignored, dismissed, and gaslit by school leaders, teachers, politicians, and even our own families. We’ve been made to feel isolated, but we were never truly alone.
It doesn’t take an army to make a difference—just a team willing to raise their voices. There have been countless documentaries exposing the reality of literacy struggles. Decision-makers cannot say they don’t know. The question is, will they listen?
We need to celebrate those who have found their voice, like Jamie Oliver, and are speaking out—but what about those who can’t? The families too exhausted from fighting, the parents who don’t have the confidence to push back, and the children who don’t even realise they’ve been set up to fail? Their struggles are just as real, and their silence doesn’t mean they don’t matter.
And let’s be honest—many parents and children in this group continue to be discriminated against. We see it in the way they’re blamed for their struggles, in the way their needs are overlooked, and in the way schools resist making the changes that could help them succeed. Instead of fixing the problem, the system keeps making excuses while families are left to pick up the pieces.
There is no shame in our stories. The real shame is in a system that continues to fail our children while shifting the blame onto parents. It’s time to move past the excuses and focus on what matters—ensuring every child receives the explicit literacy and numeracy instruction they need to thrive. The consequences of inaction are real. Poor literacy is linked to lifelong disadvantage, and the toll on mental health is undeniable.
A big part of the problem is that our universities are not training teachers to teach reading and maths properly. In some cases, the degrees they receive aren’t worth the paper they’re written on. These institutions have failed to provide teachers with a proper education, and in turn, those teachers are not equipped to provide our children with the education they need—an education that can be truly life-changing.
It’s time to stop pushing junk theories and failed approaches. Teachers, we need more of you to reject Balanced Literacy and Reading Recovery and demand training based on evidence, not ideology.
Our kids deserve better. The excuses stop here.
