- Yes, I like you! (CHEERING) Hello, Kiwis. I'm Paddy Gower, and I have got issues. On this show, we investigate issues, big and small, that are important to all of us. In my team ` community investigator Karen O'Leary; our news desk, Eli Matthewson and Courtney Dawson. And joining us tonight, we've got news reporter Laura Tupou. This week ` tonight, why can't our kids read, like the rest of the world? Laura helps me investigate the literacy mess in our schools. And Karen goes undercover to help someone who really can't stand the music that they play in supermarkets. (LAUGHTER) Captions by Faith Hamblyn. Captions were made with the support of NZ On Air. www.able.co.nz Copyright Able 2023. (CHEERING, APPLAUSE) - Tonight, my issue is with reading. We are failing at it. In fact, we actually suck. Did you know that there are two completely different methods of reading being taught in our schools? One of them appears to be way worse than the other, and it is just a lottery as to which one you get taught. Now, we may have been doing this wrong for generations, so if you are struggling to read or if your children are struggling to read, then it might not be your fault or their fault. And if your kids are being taught wrong right now, you might not even realise it. How would you even know what the best way is? And so here is the guts of it ` our global ranking on literacy has plummeted over the last 20 years. In this study of 400,000 children in over 60 countries, we have fallen from 13th, back in 2001, to 27th out just last week, way behind England, the United States, Australia, the Slovak Republic and Latvia. Now, the effects of this are actually massive. We are getting more and more people who cannot read. They have told me that they feel ashamed and they feel stupid. It leads to truancy, mental-health problems, unemployment and even prison. The worst bit for me, though, is that it holds people back, and it holds us back as a country. I'm calling this our reading emergency. And this is an issue for all of us. (APPLAUSE, CHEERING) All right, Laura. I came to this topic. People all round New Zealand come up to me and tell me about issues that they have and that I should investigate. And I'll be honest ` a lot of mums would come up and talk to me and say that they were worried about their kids and worried about the way that we teach reading, and eventually their sheer passion led me to want to investigate this. What about you? - Well, my daughter's starting primary school next year, and I had talked to lots of parents, because I had assumed she would learn how to read and write when she goes to primary school. Turns out different schools teach reading in different ways. So what if your child is one of those kids who goes to school, but can't read? I went to rural Canterbury, and I met a mum and her son who were in that exact situation, and I really feel like their story will resonate with a lot of parents watching tonight. (ELECTRONIC MUSIC) - When we sent Harry off to school, I had complete trust in the system. We sent him to the school that he was zoned for, that his dad went to. And it's a lovely wee school, but it just became apparent to me that the way they were teaching wasn't reaching my child. - Harry's a pretty typical 7-year-old, but when it came to reading, Nicola noticed something was a bit off. - So, when Harry first started school, he was coming home with his reading books and this little bag. And we were sitting down in the afternoon, and he was just repeating back the words to me. - How did you first cotton on to the fact that he wasn't actually reading? - So, it was when he was able to repeat the words back to me by only looking at the picture. So I was pointing to the words with my fingers, in the book, and he wasn't following my finger at all; he wasn't looking at the words. He was just repeating them perfectly fine. - So what did you do next? - It was tricky, cos I had to trust my gut that something wasn't right. Cos you are encouraged to wait, because he's a boy, and he will... he'll pick it up eventually. - Harry's school was teaching him how to read using a balanced literacy approach, and about 40% of primary schools in New Zealand use this method. Nicola was worried this wasn't working for Harry, so she got him a tutor. - I... I will get the milk. - And even changed schools, to one that taught reading using a structured literacy approach. The two teaching methods are different, and their effectiveness is hotly debated. Key features of balanced literacy include encouraging kids to use the stories' context, and they're taught to look for cues like what the story is about, or even the pictures to figure out a word. With structured literacy, there's a strong focus on phonics. Kids are encouraged to sound words out, and they're taught how to decode words, by breaking them down into individual sounds. - Once he was being taught from a structured literacy approach, it was like his reading brain was turned on. - I must have a... r-est. - He didn't need the pictures any more, he didn't need to guess ` he could just read the words in isolation, which he could not do before. - Is it easier when you sound out the words? - Well, it's easy, but it takes up more time. - Nicola was fortunate to be able to turn things around for Harry. - I had to advocate for him and find a way for him to read myself. And it's not lost on me that not every parent has access to the resources to get a tutor, and that's really... it's wrong. - For many other children, their reading struggles follow them right through to high school. So, I would assume that all students who come to Mahurangi College can read and write ` is that the case? - No, that's far from the case. We probably have around 30% who we would classify as poor readers. They're the kids who kind of get through when they're at primary school, kind of get through when they're at intermediate, but the further they sort of move through the secondary system, the more that really starts to become an issue for them. - What kind of impact does that have on their wider learning? - Oh, a massive impact. Literacy is the master skill of school. And if kids struggle to read, then they struggle to learn. For some kids, it's disengagement and, sort of, behaviour issues; for other kids, they just sort of bluff their way through. It might be some coping strategies ` they might copy from their neighbour. How are we going, team? Having a nice day? Excellent. - Students at Mahurangi College who are behind where they should be get support to help them catch up. This group meets regularly. They can go through exercises at a slower pace, quite different to their other classes. - Can you recognise any of these words? - Enfolded ` you... fold something. - Well done. OK. Right. Next person. - Do you think your life would be easier if you were able to read lots of things at the moment? - Probably, because then you actually knew how to read, like, faster and, like, what all the words meant, then we could, like, not be at the back and, like, catch up. - Yeah. - So you're kind of always on the back foot, always a little bit behind? - Yeah. - How does it make you feel, when you see your other classmates able to read? - Really stupid. - Sometimes I just, like, skim through it quickly, but I don't get all the information, cos I just wanna be done. - Why do you wanna know how to read? - It makes life simple. I don't have to, like, ask my mum all the time, 'How do I spell this?' 'Can you read this for me?' - How do we avoid this in the future? - Look, we need some real clarity, and that needs to come from the top. So the ministry needs to make things easier for schools and for teachers to succeed. We seem to have this aversion to mandating things, and that needs to happen. The reading wars are over ` balanced literacy should not be happening in this country. The evidence is just so strong, it's essentially malpractice. (APPLAUSE, CHEERING) - Look, I mean, this is shocking. I mean, as an early childhood teacher for 21 years, I feel like every child in New Zealand Aotearoa should be able to learn how to read. - Yeah, I mean, the call from the principal there, malpractice ` that was a pretty big call. But what really broke my heart, um, was that girl talking about being unable to read, and she's at high school. - I know. I was actually really shocked. I mean, I obviously knew that I was coming into the school and chatting to some students who were struggling, but to know that they aren't able to keep up in every single one of their classes. They're at the start of their high-school journey, and it just really upsets me to think, you know, where are they gonna be at the end of it? - Yeah, we really do have a hell of a problem out there in our high schools, and I can tell you that it comes through really strongly. We've got a good look at what was happening last year, about 18,000 year 10 kids, that's 15-year-olds, tried out a new NCEA reading and writing test, and what came back was shocking ` one-third of them failed the reading test, and half of them failed the writing test, which is comprehension, really. Now, I've looked at the reading test; I even did some of it. I read four paragraphs from basketballer Steven Adams' book and answered some multi-choice questions about it. And I'm sad to say it's actually kind of easy and our 15-year-olds should not be failing this. They should have the reading skills to pass this, and we are failing them if they can't. - Oh, Paddy it's cool you got to do the test. Did you get any, uh, NCEA credits for doing it (?) (LAUGHTER) - OK, that's pretty funny, but I've got something a lot better than NCEA ` School Certificate. (LAUGHTER) - That's cute you got a certificate. (LAUGHTER) - I think everybody got one in my year. Now, Karen, you're here actually as our community investigator, you've got an education background, but, you know, you're here to investigate some big issues yourself. You've got a big issue to investigate tonight. - I've got a huge issue, Paddy. - How big? - Look, if this is big, right? My issue's about like that. Massive. (LAUGHTER) Huge. Huge. Yeah, what is this monster? What is this monster issue? - Well, I had an email in from a good friend of mine, Zoe, who's got a real issue with the music they play at the supermarkets, so... (LAUGHTER) - They're allowed to laugh. - Just like these guys, too. Yeah. - Yeah. - So, you know, basically, end of the day, I went down to Wellington and met up with Zoe. Well, Zoe, thank you so much for meeting me. First things first ` what is your issue? - My issue is that when you go into the grocery store,... - Mm-hm. - ...they always play depressing music, or it's sprinkled in there somehow. - # Goodbye, my lover. (LAUGHTER) # Goodbye, my friend. # - You're just kind of forced to listen to really sad, depressing, 'fall on the bathroom floor crying' sort of music. (LAUGHTER) - I don't really wanna be hearing that when I'm buying... cheese. - Why do you think supermarkets play said music? - Well, I have a little conspiracy, little theory. - They're really in right now. What is it? - Well, sad music kind of, you know, puts you in a sad mood. So you think, 'Oh, I'll get myself a little pick-me-up, 'get a little bit of chocolate, a little bit of wine,' and they make more sales. - It's all about that. - Yeah. - So they do that, then they get that. - Yeah. - How can I help? I mean, what change would you like to see? - Get them to stop somehow. I don't know how you do that, but... - OK, leave it with me. - OK. - I'm on the job. Surely Zoe can't have been the only person to have noticed this, so I'm headed to a local unnamed supermarket to find out. Did you notice any of the music that was playing while you were in there shopping? - I did. - No. - I don't really listen to the music, to be honest. - Yes. - What was it? - Just awful. - If you could choose a song to have on on the supermarket, what song would you choose? - BOTH: # Do you believe in life after love? # - # What's love got to do,... BOTH: # ...got to do with it? - # X gon' give it to ya. Fuck waiting for you to get it on your own. # X gon' delivered to ya. # - Background music in supermarkets isn't something you notice, until you do. But are they really using music to squeeze more money from us? I'm going undercover. - (APPLAUSE) - Whoa. OK. Big issues. Yeah. Yeah. - Big, or big issue. - We're talking massive. - Yeah, but, you know, does the music they play actually affect us in supermarkets? Really? - This is what I had to find out. So obviously, I had to conduct my very own scientific experiment. (LAUGHTER) - Experiment. OK. We look forward to Karen's scientific supermarket experiment coming up. And what are the two main ways that we are teaching reading in New Zealand, and which one really works? (APPLAUSE) Welcome back, Kiwis. All right. Coming up ` I'm going to fill you in on how we ended up all the way back at 27th in the world for reading. And Karen is going undercover at a supermarket. We are tackling a few big issues here in New Zealand right now, but it's good to know we are not alone in this, are we, Eli? - No, we're not, Paddy. And that's why Courtney and I are here to show you how the world has issues. (CHEERING, APPLAUSE) First up, it's Canada that's got issues. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is facing criticism after this photo in South Korea sparked debate. This is actually a pose you do in Korea; if you're tall, it's polite to do it. It's called manner legs. And if you think Canada spreads its legs for Korea, wait till you see how ACT spreads its legs for National later this year. - (LAUGHTER) - It's great news for Trudeau, though ` he's been invited to play goal defence for the Korean indoor netball squad. - (LAUGHTER) - Tough news for Tokelau ` it's been plunged into lockdown after recording its first ever community case of Covid-19. It was one of only two remaining countries to have never had a case. The only other country to never have a reported case is China (!) (LAUGHTER) - If Tokelau is only finding out about Covid now, then they're gonna be really sad in three years, when they find out that the Queen has died. You know what? It's been a busy couple of years for Covid; I think that it deserves a tropical getaway (!) - (LAUGHTER) - Yeah, I can't wait to see Covid with a tan. Now, Spain ` Spain is having some major issues with orcas. Killer whales have been reported attacking and sinking boats on the Iberian coast. And the leading theory is that they're doing it for revenge. A spokesperson for the Interislander has commented, saying, 'We haven't had killer whales attack us, but a dolphin once gave us the finger.' - (LAUGHTER) - Apparently, a female orca named White Gladys had a traumatic incident with a boat and is thought to have taught the other orcas the violent behaviour. White Gladys. You know her ` she takes that midday train to Georgia. You get it? Cos Midnight Train to Georgia's us by Gladys Knight. Did you get that one, Courtney? - Yep. Yep, that's really nice. Good job, White Eli. (LAUGHTER) - I'm actually with White Gladys on this one ` I taught my son to kick my ex's car, and if he teaches more people, then I'm happy. And finally, to Egypt, for some nice news now. And researchers have uncovered new evidence from ancient Mesopotamia of human beings kissing for pleasure a thousand years earlier than we thought that they did. Apparently, the Egyptian who first kissed for pleasure reported getting a bit of a pyramid in his pants. - Ooh! Those Mesopotamians are probably kicking themselves for not clearing their history. (LAUGHTER) - Turns out we've been kissing for 4500 years, which makes it even sadder that Paddy hasn't had one yet. But, hey, tonight could be the night, Paddy. - Yeah. Yeah. I've got kiss-ues. (LAUGHTER) - That is tonight's The World Has Issues. (APPLAUSE, CHEERING) - Right, now, we're getting back to our issue with how our kids are being taught to read. And it's time to get the backstory. (APPLAUSE, CHEERING) So, kids like Harry, who we met right at the start of this, have been caught up in these reading wars. They date back to the 1970s, with Kiwi Dame Marie Clay, who became a kind of Sir Edmund Hillary of reading. She set up reading recovery, one-on-one support, and this spread around the world. Now, Dame Marie's programme was really popular, and the underlying method also became popular for teaching reading to entire classes and schools. There's lots of complexity out there, but this camp has become known as balanced literacy. Now, balanced literacy uses a variety of approaches to teach young children how to read. But critics say that in practice, it leaves out the most important methods and too often teaches kids to rely on cues to get a word, like the context. What word would make sense here, in this example ` if you're trying to get truck, what could be big, and what could be red? Kids also get clues from the pictures. The worst criticism is that this means children are too often ending up guessing. Now, over time, the science has really come to question balanced literacy. Critics say lucky kids might learn just fine like this, but many kids don't. And that's where the other camp, structured literacy, comes in. This has a real emphasis on phonics, or sounds. To get this word ` you have to learn t-r-u-c-k; truck. Supporters say this is better, as it teaches kids to decode a word, giving them the skills to read any word. Now, here's the problem ` we, as a country, have not got an official position on which side we are on. You see, in 1989, there was Tomorrow's Schools, which gave every school independence, without any explicit directive. It is a school-zone lottery for teaching reading out there. So, how many schools still teach the scientifically challenged balanced literacy? Well, the Ministry of Education does not even know ` we have asked them ` but those running the programmes have told us that 40% are still teaching it ` that's 307 schools. Change, though, seems to be coming. Experts are developing a common practice model for teaching reading and writing, and elements of structured literacy are part of it. But exactly when that will come in and how far they will go, who knows? And out in the classroom, these reading wars are still raging. Laura Tupou has been out investigating both sides. (TINKLY MUSIC) - We know lots and lots of schools use the balanced literacy approach, and we were really keen to talk to one of the teachers or principals, who back that ` none of them wanted to be the face of it. They did, however, put us in touch with Dr Rebecca Jesson. (TINKLY MUSIC CONTINUES) She's the expert in reading recovery. - We go through here. - Is this reading recovery room? - This is it here. So this is where the children and the teacher would sit. And then the other teachers would be on the other side and watching the lesson and critiquing. - Remember reading recovery and balanced literacy have similar foundations ` at the heart of both is a focus on the context of the story. - It's the joy of wanting to open it and the joy of wanting to get to the end of it, to find out what happens. This is not supposed to be a chore; this is supposed to be the best thing you do in your life is learn to read, cos this opens up the world to you. - So, how would you teach 'monsters' best? - You're gonna love this story. Go on. - (LAUGHS) Go on, then. - Like everyone in education, Rebecca is worried about our falling reading results. - Is that a failure of the balanced literacy approach, then? - So, when you say is it a failure, well, I suppose by definition, if we're not top of the world, we're failing. - But she thinks the balanced approach still has plenty to offer. - But, you know, children do need to learn their phonics, and they need to learn to comprehend what they're reading, and these things shouldn't be mutually exclusive. - Does the balanced approach have an aspect of it that is about guessing? - I would say no. We're not intentionally teaching children to guess, but if children are guessing, we need to intervene; we need to help them work it out without guessing. Absolutely. - Do you agree that more children learn how to read successfully using a structured literacy approach? - I don't think there's evidence for that yet. - But many reading experts argue there is plenty of evidence, like Brigid McNeill, who runs the literacy programme at the University of Canterbury. - You show our next generation of teachers how to get our kids reading ` what does that look like? - Well, we follow a structured literacy approach. We know that's the best way to be able to teach young children how to read. So that's what we're teaching our student teachers here to do. - Brigid's one of the researchers who developed the Better Start approach. It's based on the structured literacy method. It's received some government funding, and schools that have made the switch are seeing signs of success. - We've just seen amazing accelerated growth in young children's early reading and spelling and also in their language skills. You know, science doesn't stay still, right? So we know more now than we did then. We know different things about the most effective way to teach reading, so this is why this change has to happen. - James Chapman has been advocating for this change for decades. He's the professor emeritus of educational psychology at Massey. - I am supposed to be retired, but I can't give up on what needs to be done. - He's researched children's reading rates for more than 30 years and has long been critical of reading recovery and balanced literacy. - There's a role there for the ministry to step in, cos the goal here is to remove the chance element of children learning to read ` that's not based on where they live; that's not based on their being in the upper North Island, the lower South Island ` anywhere, but is based on teaching competence. - If you're living in an area where your local school teach a balanced literacy approach, what can you do? - Don't accept when a teacher says, 'Your child will grow out of it ` it'll be OK; it'll come right in a few years' time.' That's not good enough. That is absolutely the wrong advice. (APPLAUSE) - Confusing. - The waters are muddied at all different levels. You can have teachers within a school teaching a different approach to the classroom next to you. The government doesn't even keep track of who's teaching what ` it is just really confusing. - Yeah, super-confusing. And coming up ` we are going to show you a solution to this literacy mess. And I am going to ask the minister exactly when she is going to sort it out. And Karen goes undercover to find out how the music in supermarkets affects our shopping. (APPLAUSE) (APPLAUSE, CHEERING) Welcome back, Kiwis. Now, coming up, we are going to see what happens when a school makes that move from balance to structured literacy, and Karen's great supermarket music experiment. - Now, Paddy, Courtney and I have been using our reading skills on the break to, kind of, read the room a little bit. - OK. This'll be interesting. - Yeah, they said that they're loving it, but they, sort of, want to, like, pick the energy up a little bit, you know, maybe, like` - Yeah. I can do that. - ...just, you know, have some, like, lighter things. - Yeah, well, that's good, because it's now time for No Issues. (CHEERING, APPLAUSE) And tonight I have no issues with the North Canterbury Hunting Competition. This fantastic event starts in exactly one month's time. There are 28 days to go. Now, a warning to any cat lovers out there ` I need you to hear me out here ` this competition had a plan to let hunters aged under 14 go out and shoot some feral cats, with the funds raised going to Rotherham Primary School to get a new pool. And they got absolutely hammered for being cat killers and were forced to cancel that. It actually went global, and even Ricky Gervais got in on the pile on. Well, I say get out of it, Gervais; you know nothing about our country and even less about our cats, because I actually support the hunting of feral cats ` yes, feral cats ` because there are approximately 2.5 million feral cats in New Zealand; yes, up to 2.5 million, by some estimates. And they are not strays; these are wild cats from the day that they are born, and they get big, extremely big, up to 7kg, and they kill our kiwi and our kakapo and these beautiful native skinks. They are critically endangered, thanks to feral cats. Short-tailed bats, I am on your side, because here is what one cat did to 107 of you. Feral cats are dangerous pests, but they are not even included in Predator Free 2050, and that is nuts. Kids and children hunt, and they hunt safely under supervision. This is a reality; it is a way of life for many families. And if they are going to go out and hunt other pests, surely they can hunt feral bat-killing cats too. - (LAUGHTER) - I need to be clear here. I am not against moggies or any house cats. I understand that your cat Twinkles, or Misty, is special, but feral cats are not special. (LAUGHTER) They need to die. And that's why I have no issues whatsoever with the North Canterbury Hunting Competition, and I hope that Rotherham's school gets its pool. (APPLAUSE) - Well, look, obviously I'm definitely more of a dog person. I'm very glad we've got two lovely dogs in the audience and no feral cats. - ALL: Aw. - They're safe. - Yeah. - They're safe from me. (LAUGHTER) All right, Karen, what's next in this amazing supermarket experiment-cum-investigation? - Well, so basically, obviously, I needed to conduct this experiment. So I went undercover. - Undercover? - Yeah, I went undercover at Countdown. - And how did you do that? - Well, I mean, I drove into the undercover car park,... (LAUGHTER) ...and then I just, you know, I just went up the escalator and went into the shop. (LAUGHTER) Is the power of music strong enough to affect our shopping habits? Luckily for me, there are scientists have done loads of research on the subject. Holger Roschk has looked at over 30 years of research on music use in retail, which isn't how I'd spend 30 years, but hey, each to their own. - What you find first, that on average, across the studies, music had a positive impact on, uh, pleasure and purchase intention. - My best friend, Zoe, she finds that when she goes to the supermarket, often they'll play a really sad, kind of a slow-tempo song. Why do you think a supermarket would do that? - So, you want to have music that fits your customer. And when you're a general supermarket, then you, kind of, go for, you know, mainstream music, to fit most of the people. - What say I wanted to make someone buy mince ` if I had them just hearing the word 'mince' on repeat over and over and over again, do you think that would work? (LAUGHTER) - Um,... that's a good question. - It is a good question, which means it's time for my first ever scientific experiment. So, I've got three shoppers. One of them's gonna be listening to happy music, one of them to sad music, and one of them's going to have the word 'mince' on repeat. Let's see how it affects their shopping. I just want you to go in there and shop for a family event. - OK. - OK? There's no wrong answers. You just buy whatever you want. But please keep these headphones on, so you don't get distracted. OK? So go for gold. Enjoy your shopping. Have a lovely time. Thank you. OK, bye. - All right. Good luck. - Thank you. - I think you're gonna be great. - OK. Enjoy. - Thank you. - Mince. Mince. - Thanks. See you soon. - Mince. Mince. (LAUGHTER) - # I'm so excited. # And I just can't hide it. # - # Hello, darkness, my old friend. # I've come to talk with you again. # - Mince. Mince. Mince. Mince. - (LAUGHTER) - Mince. - RICKY MARTIN: # Upside, inside out. # Living la vida loca. She'll push and pull you down. # - # All by myself. # (LAUGHTER) - Mince. Mince. Mince. - # Clap along if you feel like a room without a roof. # - Wow. - OK. Hello. - How did you feel when you were shopping? How were you feeling? - Very comfortable. - Relaxed. - Relaxed? - Yeah. - Oh, that was painful. (KENNY LOGGINS' 'FOOTLOOSE') (REM'S 'EVERYBODY HURTS') - Mince. Mince. - Zoe, Zoe, you're not gonna believe this. The music that gets played in the supermarkets really does affect you. I even did my own experiment to prove it. And it is time now to confront the powerful, shadowy figures that are pulling our strings, while we're pushing our trolleys. - Oh. Good luck. (LAUGHTER) (APPLAUSE, CHEERING) - Karen, I have to know ` did she buy mince? - No. (LAUGHTER) - It turns out she's actually vegan. (LAUGHTER) - I didn't know that. (LAUGHTER) - And what next in this investigation? - Well, like I said, I've gotta go to the top. I've gotta get to talk to the person that's organising the music that they're playing at Countdown, and I'm gonna do that. - The top of Countdown? - Gonna go right to the top. - Mr or Mrs Countdown. We'll find out what happens when Karen gets to the top, and Laura finds out there's a simple solution to our reading and writing problems, so why aren't we using it? (APPLAUSE) (CHEERING) All right. Welcome back, everybody. Now, we are about to meet the school that made the switch, teaching reading according to the science. And Karen confronts Countdown. But right now, it's time for our news desk, Eli and Courtney, to catch us up on the news of the week. Let's see how New Zealand has issues. (APPLAUSE) - Thank you, Paddy. Well, it's been a huge week for big nerds, because the new budget was announced. They always give it a fun nickname, so what did they call it this time? - The government sold this as a bread-and-butter budget. - BOTH: Bread and butter. - Bread and butter. - Bread and butter. - Bread-and-butter budget. - Ooh, la-di-da. Someone can afford butter. - (LAUGHTER) - I'm more of a margarine budget kind of gal. - Me too. And fun fact ` do you know, if you say bread-and-butter budget three times really fast, you still won't care about the budget. - The government's budget was actually called bread and butter, because pretty soon, they'll be toast. - ALL: Ooh! - But the huge announcement was that the Glenbrook steel mill was being given $140 million to go electric. - Ooh. - That's right. The steel mill is going electric. And to make that electricity, we just have to burn a little bit of coal. - (LAUGHTER) - It was a huge day for James Shaw. We even got to see him make a new facial expression. - You're not often looking this happy ` are you? stoked? - I'm not often looking happy at all, am I? - (LAUGHTER) - Finally, a man being told to smile more. (LAUGHTER) - That's not true. You know, James Shaw actually looks happy all the time. Like, here he is at a theme park. Here he is at a rave, and here he is at Chloe Swarbrick's birthday last year. (LAUGHTER) - More bad weather has hit the country, and our newscasters are once again in the elements. - Isabelle, kia ora. Are a lot of people affected? - (LAUGHTER) - Uh-oh. Look, I know it's hard to keep balance, but I still think all reporters should wear stilettos. And that's what I'm wearing under here. It wasn't all bad news, though. These locals ended up dealing with the excess rain in their own way. - Oh, we played tackle rugby, and then we did manus. And then, here we're doing skim boarding now. - Tackle rugby, manus and skim boarding ` also known as the Dargaville Olympics. - Who needs to go to the Gold Coast, when you can just have a climate disaster? They were having so much fun, they actually asked James Shaw to turn the steel mill back to coal. And speaking of hot rocks, back to you, Paddy. (APPLAUSE) - Right now it's time to get back to our big issue, how our kids are learning to read. Laura. - Mm. I've spoken to a lot of schools who have made that switch from balanced literacy to structured, but I wanted to see for myself, so I went to Linwood Avenue School in Christchurch, and it was actually quite moving, what I saw. - ALL: Ou. - As in? - ALL: Ouch. - Good. - ALL: Ooh. - As in? - ALL: As in loose. - Good job. Well done. - These year two students at Linwood Avenue School have only ever learned how to read using structured literacy. Why do you like reading? - Because it's interesting. And your brain makes... your brain, um, smarter. - READS: It was time to explore the garden. - So, at the beginning of our structured literacy journey, the children that we've just seen were reading this book. So, you can see that it's very simple. The same children are now reading this text, which you can see, there's obviously a lot more, in terms of them having to problem solve words, and they've got themselves through in a year's time. - So in one year, they've gone from reading 'I am Pip' to reading all of this? - Yes. Correct. What we're doing now is making sure there are no tricks, there's no guesswork involved, because they've been taught everything they need to know to figure out all those words on that page. - But for the older kids here, they started school when the teachers were still using balanced literacy. OK, Jo, tell us what the situation was with literacy at your school before 2020. - We had a lot of declining literacy rates. We had children saying, 'Oh, I'm dumb ` I can't do this. 'this is too hard.' And as a result, we saw a lot of children being angry with themselves because they couldn't do it. And the teachers were getting really frustrated because they weren't making a difference for those kids. - And then what changed? - We had to do something differently, and we knew that there were lots of schools who were trialling structured literacy. It really excited us, because we could see that this was based on some really in-depth research. - ALL: Who invented basketball? - So we decided that it was something that we needed, to make a difference for our children. - ALL: G.... - Look at the endings. Pause. Look at the endings. We've gotta read right through that word, with all of those sounds that we know. - ALL: EN-ER-GET. - You've gotta look at the word, darling. - ALL: Energetic. - Good job. - And what changed for your children since then? - It's been mind-blowing for some of those kids. We've had kids who have been totally disengaged for literacy for a number of years, and all of a sudden, they want to read, they want to write, they want to go to the library, and they want to, um, think about what the future looks like for them in education. It's a really exciting time. - These 9- and 10-year-olds learnt to read under balanced literacy. They're now in a special structured literacy booster group with their teacher Ms Hale. After a year, they've nearly caught up. - And do you like reading books? - ALL: Yeah. - Why do you like reading books? - Because it's much easier now. - And why is it easier now? - When we got to Mrs Hale, it changed our reading, writing and maths. Cos we could read the maths questions. - And spelling. - Yeah. - It helped us with our writing very much and helped us get our reading levels up higher. And then soon we might be leaving. - Might be leaving? Where are you going? - Leaving my group. - (LAUGHTER) - This one girl who was a year five and was told that she had an IQ of 65, which is incredibly low. And within the three terms of her being in that programme, she's nearly caught up to where she should be, and that's incredible for her. For someone who has they've said she will always struggle in life, and she's not going to struggle any longer. I get quite emotional about it, because it is, um, incredible for these kids, that we can change their lives. (APPLAUSE) - Their children's faces light up when they were able to read books and understand what they were reading. I'm just, like, why can't every kid learn how to read in this country? I wanna know from the minister, why doesn't every school teach, um, children how to read in this way? - Yeah, I'm catching up with the Minister of Education, Jan Tinetti. I'm gonna take that very question to her shortly. But first, in terms of getting some accountability for what's going on out there, how's your hunt in the supermarkets going on behalf of Zoe? - Well, I'll tell you what, Paddy ` I found out who's actually in charge of the playlist at Countdown. And along with being very, very funny, he's actually their lawyer, so a lawyer has spoken to me. - (LAUGHTER) - And so I spoke to him. All the research shows us that shops can use music to change our shopping habits. That slow, sad song will keep us in store for longer. We know they're doing this manipulation, but can I change this to help my best friend, Zoe? I don't know if I can, but I'm gonna try. It's time I got to the bottom of this by heading to the top. Up this escalator first. I think you're supposed to come with ` come with me. Yeah. Cos otherwise then... James. Kelly. It's actually Karen. - Karen. Sorry. - This is the only badge they had. - Yeah. - I don't know if you've noticed the music that your stores play throughout the country. And I've been told that, for some reason, you, as a lawyer, is responsible for the playlists that we're listening to. Why is that? - I'm not just a lawyer; I like music. - Who's your favourite band? - Does it have to be a band? - No, it can be a singer. - Bruce Springsteen. - What's your favourite Bruce Springsteen song? - Born To Run. - How does that one go, again? - # At night, we drive to the # mansions of glory in a suicide machine. # (LAUGHTER) - So, then the fact that you're playing music that, typically, in terms of as a genre, people would classify as more downbeat, slower, a little bit sadder ` you're basically saying that's not true? - I don't see it like that. - Do you hear it like that? Cos it's music. - I don't hear it or see it like that. I have a different perspective on it. - What would your perspective be? - You know, part of my job is to educate our customers, and with all the, sort of, new MySpace, sort of, stuff like that, um, kids aren't hearing the sort of music that I like or that I've heard. So, you know, that's what it's about. - So you're wanting to brainwash young people to like the same music as you do? - Expose them to that music. Soft rock, that sort of stuff. - As a lawyer, I wouldn't suggest that you should expose yourself to children ever. (LAUGHTER) - I'm exposing the children to the music. - You are, in fact, playing music specifically aimed at making us spend longer in your shops. Is it ethical for you to do this? - Welll, it's not the way we want someone to spend longer in our shops ` it's that we want people in our shops to be happy, and if they're happy, they'll spend longer. - And spend more? - Spend longer, more time. - I've gotta get to the bottom of this issue for Zoe, my best friend. - Yeah. - According to her, she's not getting exposed to amazing music ` she's hearing music that makes her feel sad. So what do you say to that? - It's the last thing we want for our customers to be sad. Everyone's sad from time to time, but we don't want them to be sad in our stores. - ADELE: # I heard # that you're settled down, that you... # - Adele? - We might. We may have some Adele ` I don't know. I didn't pick Adele. - Apparently Zoe's listened to Adele's break-up song about 5000 times. - Well, we could take that off the playlist. - I feel like we could do something together, just to make Zoe's Day and to maybe make a change for the better. - So, if Zoe wants to come and talk to us about a better playlist or a different playlist, absolutely. - What you are saying now, on camera, is that if Zoe and myself can create a playlist that we feel is upbeat, Countdown are gonna put it on? - Absolutely. - Absolutely? - Guaranteed. - OK. Wow. Our first result. So what next? What are they gonna do? - Well, basically, Countdown have agreed to include Zoe's songs on their playlists across the country. And they're also gonna be making sure that they're checking in on customer satisfaction and seeing how enjoyable the experience is. - All right. I call that our first result. Yeah! Yeah. - (CHEERING) - Now, coming up, in terms of results, it's me and the Minister of Education. I'll ask her if her government is planning to give our kids the education they deserve. (APPLAUSE, CHEERING) Welcome back. Now, I went to Parliament to advocate for our kids and our parents to get some change on how we are teaching our kids to read. I asked the Minister of Education about this utter mess, when it comes to teaching reading in this country. (TINKLY MUSIC) Minister, you have spent your whole life working in education, really, haven't you? - Yes, I have. I was 27 years as a teacher. 20 of those years were as a principal. I went straight from school to College of Education to train, so I could say that I was in school from the time I was 5 years old. - Wow. Yeah. Do you agree that it's a little crazy that we're teaching two types of reading, depending what school you turn up to out there? - I think now that we're starting to see more and more evidence that's based towards the best sort of teaching methods, that it is starting to become questionable, that we do have two different approaches out there. - That's a worry, when you hear the Minister of Education say, 'I think 'our system of teaching reading in this country is questionable.' - I think it's probably a concern. But at the same time, isn't that a good thing, because we can do something about it at the same time? - The evidence is now clear globally that structured literacy is a better approach. Do you agree with that? - The evidence tells me that. What I will say, though, is that we need to be very careful that we're not just bringing in models from overseas. And that's what I like about the Better Start Literacy Approach is that it's been developed over 10 years in University of Canterbury for New Zealand young people. - Yeah, so Better Start Literacy, which is structured literacy. You like it? - I love it. And I love what we're seeing. I love the results that we're seeing with it. And it works really well in all schools that I've seen it at. That's what I love about it ` I love the excitement that the kids have when they're feeling that success. - If you finished up here and you went back to a classroom or you were a principal again, you know, what would you want your school to do? Or what would you do in your classroom? What would you teach? - There would be no doubt in my mind that in those first couple of years, we would have the Better Start Literacy Approach would be absolutely operational. I've seen the changes it makes ` that's what I would want for my young people. - You would teach structured literacy? - Absolutely, I would be. - But does that worry you that a parent with a child does not know, when they put them into a school, whether they're gonna get the one you love or the one that is challenged by science? - So, yes, that's why we're getting that message out there more and more and more ` we need to bring the profession with us. Change is hard, and change is very, very tough and challenging, particularly in the education sector. - It's pretty clear what you're saying to me is that you want our education system to switch to one type of teaching literacy, and you want it to be structured. - In those early years, that's really important, that we do bring that structure in and that we're realising that some of what we've known for a long time does need to change. - Early learners, people first learning to read, your strong belief is that we need to, as a country, switch to a structured literacy approach. - Yes, because that's what the evidence tells us. - And that's what you want teachers to do. - That's what the evidence tells us, so that's what I'm very supportive of. - Are you prepared to use the laws available to you, though, to issue a ministerial directive to teach structured literacy, if it comes down to it? - Well, that's what they're there for. That's what they're there for. So if it came down to it, but my first and foremost, I want to make certain that the sector's with us, and engaging with the sector is really important. - But you're working through a directive? - Working through whether that's necessary. As I've said to you, I need to ensure that we're bringing the sector with us. I've been in the sector when directives have been made in the past that haven't gone down so well. And we've had a lot of people that have worked very much against those directives, and it just hasn't worked. (APPLAUSE) - What do you reckon? - Wow, Paddy! This might sound really cheesy, but I'm actually really stoked, and I'm so happy for all those kids who might now have a chance to learn how to read. I just really hope that all those teachers are really supported in making that change. - And what do you reckon, Karen? Did I match you? - I think, the way I see it, Paddy, at the moment, it's probably one-nil. One being to me, I think, would you agree? They agree, for sure. (LAUGHTER) So basically all I can say is if you do have an issue, then I've got an issue with that and I wanna solve it for you, so get in touch with us. - And tonight, my issue was with reading and why we suck at it. I call it our reading emergency. And what we just saw there from the minister was actually huge. She was just so explicit, Jan Tinetti, and effectively announced that we need to completely change the way that we are teaching reading. She even hinted that she will force schools to do it if she has to. It means no more reading wars and no more school-zone lottery. This will be one of the biggest changes to come in our classrooms in generations. It's actually massive. Now, Jan Tinetti needs to back this up. It's going to be hard for many schools and teachers, and they must be given the support that they need, because for me, it goes like this ` we are 27th, in the world, at reading. We should be number one. There is no reason why we shouldn't be. I'm Paddy Gower. Those were my issues. I'm gonna miss youse. See ya next week. Captions by Faith Hamblyn. Captions were made with the support of NZ On Air.