on

IN October, an evaluation of England’s flagship phonics programme Ruth Miskin’s Read Write Inc was published by the Education Endowment Fund (EEF), a charity dedicated to breaking the link between family income and educational achievement.

The six-year study, costing £1 million, had difficulties making statistically significant conclusions about the programme’s effectiveness. Nevertheless, it did produce some troubling findings.

Pupils taught the programme only made one month of extra progress compared to those not using Read Write Inc. Even more concerning was that children in an additional intervention group made less progress than those not having further support.

A second evaluation by the EEF looking to give a clearer picture of the programme’s effectiveness has not yet been published. The EEF’s first report has contributed to the growing feeling that the dominance of systematic synthetic phonics (SSP) in our early years and primary settings is unjustified.

Graphemes, phonemes and blending SSP sees children ‘segment’ words into graphemes (letters and groups of letters), which then correspond to a phoneme (a sound). These are then ‘blended’ together when children read. Schools typically use programmes, such as Jolly Phonics and Read Write Inc, to teach SSP. These programmes provide schemes of learning and lesson plans, as well as books and resources matched to the phonetic ability of children. These lessons are taught separately from other literacy activities, sometimes in ability groups.

Research commissioned by the NEU in 2017 found that ability grouping starts early –sometimes even in nursery. Teaching reading in this way makes big demands on limited school resources, including the staffing for groups and funding for programmes. The EEF’s report highlights that Read Write Inc, for example, costs £18,960 for one school over three years.

Given this investment, it comes as no surprise that phonics forms a large part of early reading. In research published earlier last year (bit.ly/3WgGuzn), UCL professors Dominic Wyse and Alice Bradbury found that most teachers they surveyed felt teaching of SSP came “first and foremost” in their teaching of reading.

Phonics the ‘building blocks’ for reading Jon Biddle, English co-ordinator at Moorlands Primary Academy and a National Council member of the United Kingdom Literacy Association (UKLA), believes the prevalence of phonics is misguided.

“Phonics does have an important role to play in learning to read. A child who can decode letters and sounds accurately and fluently has the building blocks in place to become a proficient reader,” he says.

“However, the message about the purpose of reading can often get lost or misunderstood. Reading without comprehension isn’t really reading. Reading without thinking about the text or making predictions isn’t really reading.” continued on page 31