Achieving with Literacy and Numeracy

Literacy and numeracy (new window) 96k skills are vital to ensuring your child has the best chance to succeed in their schooling and life.

To be literate¹ is to confidently and appropriately read, write, speak and listen in a range of contexts. This may include cultural knowledge, such as knowing the meaning of phrases like a task being "a piece of cake".

To be numerate is to confidently and effectively use mathematics to meet the everyday demands of life.

Literacy tips

There are a number of ways you can help your child to develop their literacy skills. These include:

reading to your child as often as you can
having your child read to you
discussing favourite authors together and explaining why you like them
talking about the things you read for different purposes such as newspapers, magazines and books
encouraging your child to write letters to family members and friends
encouraging your child to keep a diary or journal
getting your child to write a play and perform it for you with their relatives and friends.

Numeracy tips

There are a number of ways you can help your child to develop their numeracy skills. These include:

identifying and talking about the mathematics you use in daily situations such as cooking, reading maps and playing sport
organising, categorising and counting collections of things like toys, books, clothing and shoes
observing and using timetables, calendars and clocks found in lots of different places for a variety of different purposes such as planning television watching times or study periods, holiday planning and catching public transport
discussing the use of numbers, patterns and shapes in your daily life
cutting out items from junk mail with their prices attached for back-to-school items such as lunch boxes and pencils and letting your child add up the cost of the selected items
asking your child to weigh fruit and vegetable items and seeing if they can estimate the cost when you go to the supermarket
exploring situations like shopping and budgets which involve money.

Related information

National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy practice test material (new window)
Maths homework: How can parents help?
Reading: Helpful hints to use at home

¹ In Standard Australian English (SAE)

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