How Seven Steps aligns with AERO’s Writing Instruction Model

In June 2025, the Australian Education Research Organisation (AERO) released its Writing Instruction Model as part of the School Writing Instruction Framework (SWIF). With the education sector placing so much focus on reading results, this release brings some much needed attention to improving how writing is taught across Australia.

Seven Steps to Writing Success has long championed the principles outlined in AERO’s Writing Instruction Model, meaning schools using the program are already closely aligned with AERO’s recommendations. Schools new to Seven Steps will find a ready-made pathway to bring the model to life through proven strategies that make writing practical, engaging and effective in the classroom.

Here’s how Seven Steps aligns with AERO’s recommendations:

AERO’s model highlights the importance of building students’ content knowledge and language skills as the foundation for effective writing in any subject area. This involves explicitly teaching facts, concepts, genres and text features.

The Seven Steps approach supports this by immersing students in texts as a starting point for writing. This ensures students are exposed to the content knowledge and language devices they need to bring their ideas to life.

AERO emphasises that genre knowledge is critical, with students needing to understand the structure, purpose and audience expectations of each text type.

The Seven Steps approach explicitly teaches this by exploring these elements in narrative, persuasive and informative texts. Students learn about the structure and features of different types of text and how these vary based on purpose and audience. Deconstructing and analysing different texts using the writing graph demystifies genre structures, making them more accessible and achievable for students.

AERO highlights the importance of explicit instruction, where teachers model writing, guide students through joint construction, and gradually release responsibility using the ‘I do, we do, you do’ approach.

Seven Steps aligns closely with this by embedding modelling and demonstration into every step. Teachers first show what effective writing looks like, then scaffold student attempts through joint activities, before students practise the techniques independently, building confidence and mastery over time.

AERO stresses the need for students to write frequently, progressing from sentences to paragraphs and eventually to extended texts, with scaffolds gradually removed along the way.

The Seven Steps approach supports this by encouraging students to learn, practice and master each Step in isolation before tackling a complete text. Taking small, manageable Steps reduces the cognitive load for students, making writing fun and achievable for all ability levels. Repetition meanwhile builds students’ muscle memory, preparing students to confidently apply their skills in longer pieces of writing.

AERO emphasises that assessment and feedback should be ongoing, not reserved for the end of the writing process. Both formative and summative assessments play a role in guiding learning, while timely feedback drives student improvement.

Seven Steps supports this by encouraging teachers to share and celebrate student writing, provide explicit feedback targeted at specific authorial techniques, and give students time to revise and improve their work. These focused checkpoints align seamlessly with AERO’s formative assessment principles, ensuring feedback is practical, constructive and immediately actionable.

Both AERO’s Writing Instruction Model and the Seven Steps approach view writing as a process, not just a product. They share a commitment to explicit teaching, structured support and meaningful feedback – all with the goal of helping students grow into confident, capable writers.

Seven Steps brings this vision to life in the classroom. With practical strategies, engaging activities and a clear step-by-step framework, teachers can align seamlessly with AERO’s recommendations while making writing exciting and achievable for every learner.

Ultimately, Seven Steps empowers educators to do more than just teach writing – it helps them nurture a positive writing culture where students write with purpose, creativity and confidence. Backed by research and proven by classroom practice, it provides schools with a ready-made pathway to stronger writing outcomes and a lasting love of writing.