RETIRING federal Labor MP Alannah MacTiernan says new-fangled schooling is no good, and she wants a return to more structured reading, writing and arithmetic.

At a public forum last Saturday she said the results of 30 years of progressive education were clear – Aussie kids were falling behind their international peers and parents who could afford it were leaving public schools in droves and paying thousands for private tutors to fill the gaps.

“We see that going back to highly structured ways of teaching, by teaching the sounds and language as a code and how to decode it is a more effective way,” Ms MacTiernan told the forum.

“Reading is like the basic tool kit for any other subjects. Kids who can read properly like being at school.”

Ms MacTiernan wants teaching courses to offer stronger guidance and not leave graduates to find their own way on Google.

“It is a scandal!” she told the Voice. “Why is it that so much research has been made about the effective way of teaching literacy, and universities still don’t teach students how to teach how to read?

“We had a very good turnout on Saturday. We had a lot of passionate and angry parents concerned about their kids being left behind.”

by MARTA PASCUAL JUANOLA