More children passing phonics test

Department for Education (DfE) figures for 2014 show that 74 per cent of Year One pupils, 474,000 children, met the standard expected for their age, up from 69 per cent in 2013.

This is equivalent to 102,000 more children doing well, based on the 2014 cohort, says the DfE.

There was also a rise in the number of children who achieved full marks. This year 15 per cent of pupils scored 40 out of 40, compared to 11 per cent in 2013 and nine per cent in 2012.

However, while there was a spike in the number of children achieving the expected score of 32 per cent in both 2012 and 2013, this was not the case this year.

Similar to last year, more girls than boys met the expected standard. The gender gap also remained the same as 2013 at eight percentage points, with 70 per cent of boys achieving the level for their age as opposed to 78 per cent of girls.

The latest figures also show that the attainment gap for pupils on Free School Meals (FSM) has narrowed by one percentage point since last year. The data was compiled before the introduction of Universal Infant Free School Meals in September. In this year’s test, 61 per cent of FSM pupils achieved the expected standard, 16 percentage points lower than all other pupils.

Children take the phonics check at the end of the summer term in Year 1. It involves children sitting with a teacher they know and reading from a list of 40 words, 20 of which are 'nonsense words' to check that they are able to decode words.

School reform minister Nick Gibb said, ‘For too long thousands of young people, particularly from disadvantaged backgrounds, were allowed to slip through the net and fall behind in reading.

‘This government’s drive to tackle illiteracy is putting a stop to that, and these results show that more and more schools are using phonics well, in order to get their pupils reading properly.

Today’s figures provide irrefutable evidence that our plan for education is working for young people across Britain with 100,000 more 6-year olds now on track to become proficient readers as a result of our relentless emphasis on phonics. Had we not done so, those pupils would still be struggling today.’

However, teaching unions have criticised the Government's phonics test.

Russell Hobby, general secretary of the NAHT,  said, ‘The systematic use of phonics is clearly established in primary schools and is proving a highly effective strategy for teaching most children the early steps of reading. Let’s be clear though - it is teaching not testing that raises results. In fact, the Government's test has come with an unwelcome side effect - the widespread teaching of nonsense words. 

‘The gap between pupils from rich and poor families remains wide though. This gap will not close until we also focus on factors beyond technical skills - time spent reading at home and with parents, range of vocabulary and the amount of conversation children hear.

‘You can't easily decode words on a page if you can't discriminate the sounds in the first place, nor can you enjoy a story if you don't know what the words mean. We need to maintain a wider approach.

‘The new Read on Get On campaign, of which NAHT is a founder member, builds on the technical skills learnt in early education to instil a fundamental love of reading and marshals all the resources of society – schools, parents and communities – to deliver a highly ambitious target for literacy. NAHT believes that this is the model strategy for future gains.’

Christine Blower, general secretary of the National Union of Teachers, said, 'Teachers accept that phonics is one way to teach children to read but it is not the only one and does not suit all children. The amount of money being spent on solely on phonics materials is ridiculous particularly as the Year One Phonics Screening Check will tell teachers nothing  they do not already know about the reading skills of the children in their class.

'This test is unnecessary and inappropriate for many children with special educational needs (SEN) and English as an additional language (EAL). It is vital that the methods we employ when we introduce young children of five and six years old to reading should bring understanding, reward and pleasure to them. Drilling children to pass a reading test will achieve the exact opposite.'