A teacher shared that during our recent “Begin” training.
And it stayed with me.
Because improving children’s literacy is not only about helping children learn.
It is also about helping adults learn new ways of teaching.
When the training began, many teachers were hesitant to respond or ask questions.
For some, structured phonics instruction was completely new.
But by the end of the fourth day, the conversations had changed.
Teachers were leading mock classes.
Questioning old methods.
Testing new ideas.
Discussing how children actually learn to read.
Not only that, pre-and post-training assessments showed average scores increasing from 59% to 84%.
But the bigger shift was confidence.
That matters because one of the clearest lessons from the first year of Begin was this:
Teacher preparedness directly influences classroom outcomes.
As we reviewed children’s year-end assessments, we saw encouraging improvements in phonics, reading, and sentence-level learning. We also realised that sustained literacy recovery requires deeper instructional support for teachers.
That insight is shaping the next phase of Begin.
The teachers who completed Seed will return in September for Sapling, the second phase of their learning journey.
For those who teach, train, mentor, or lead others:
What is one thing you once believed was effective, but later realised needed to change?
