Instead of building on what children already know and can do (such animportant Foundation Stage principle), are we now to treat children asempty vessels with a daily top-up of phonics, regardless of their ageand stage of development?
How have phonics come to assume such importance when English is not aphonetically reliable language? I am confident that any reader walkingpast five roads would not be able to decode and spell all the road namesusing phonics alone. We might also have problems with common words suchas plough, enough, hiccough, through, thorough and ought.
As early years specialists, we seem to be trusted to manage the otherareas of learning. The interference in communication, language andliteracy comes from people who know nothing about child development.
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