SLANSW Professional Learning Summit - All the Literacies: Read, Discern, Discover

Gabrielle Mace (ProReadingSolutions)

Building Critical Literacy Through Authentic Inquiry

This workshop explores how inquiry-based learning frameworks, including Barbara Stripling’s Model of Inquiry and Guided Inquiry Design, can transform literacy instruction from passive task completion into purposeful reading, interpretation, and reasoning.

Participants will engage in a short inquiry experience using a set of conflicting sources to examine how students build, challenge, and revise their thinking when information is incomplete. The session will explore how school libraries can create the conditions for deeper reading, cognitive patience, and authentic inquiry across year levels.

Presenter Bio

Gabrielle Mace is an independent literacy consultant, former Head of Library, and founder of ProReading Solutions. She works with schools to strengthen literacy ecosystems through reading culture, inquiry, and evidence-informed practice.

Gabrielle is the creator of The Student Detective, a narrative-based inquiry pedagogy designed to engage students in purposeful reading, interpretation, and evidence-based reasoning. Her work builds on her long-running Just Read programme, her Literacy Ecosystem Framework, which helps schools evaluate literacy through four connected lenses: leadership, inquiry, community reach, and reader identity.

A global speaker and thought leader in literacy innovation, Gabrielle’s work aligns with leading inquiry and reading frameworks, including Barbara Stripling’s Model of Inquiry, Guided Inquiry Design, Self-Determination Theory, and the deep reading research of Maryanne Wolf. She is passionate about helping school libraries become visible drivers of whole-school literacy change.

Registrations open at https://www.slansw.net.au/events