The review, published on Monday, said children should be taught to read primarily with systematic synthetic phonics by the age of five. The final report, led by Jim Rose, confirmed the initial findings published last December.
However, it also acknowledges the controversy in the early years sector about the age that synthetic phonics should be introduced. There are also concerns among practitioners that there could be downward pressure to use synthetic phonics to teach reading to under-fives.
Last month a group of early years specialists launched a campaign against the plans (News, 2 February).
'It would be ridiculous for the review to suggest that phonics teaching should start at the stroke of midnight on every child's fifth birthday,'
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