The majority of head teachers, teachers and parents disagree with the Government’s policy of prioritising synthetic phonics over other approaches to teaching children to read, according to a new survey.
Not only do they challenge the current literacy policy in England, but respondents to the independent survey expressed concerns about the ‘high stakes’ of the Phonics Screening Check that was originally introduced in 2012 as a ‘light’ touch’ assessment. It involves children at the end of Year 1 reading a list of 40 words aloud, half of which are nonsense. The survey publication coincides with the latest screening results (see box).
Many respondents felt that the phonics screening is undermining the way literacy is taught in schools and questioned the pressure the test puts on six-year-olds. One head teacher commented, ‘They are not ready emotionally to be sitting statutory tests, however informally you are able to dress them up.’
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