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Teachers ‘lack commitment’ to reading reforms
Tim Ross26 Jan 2009
Schools are failing to implement government reforms of the teaching of reading three years after they were announced, a review warned today.
In 2006, ministers ordered all primary schools to revert to the method of teaching reading known as “phonics”.
Former education secretary Ruth Kelly made it a legal requirement for teachers to use the method, in which children learn to blend individual letter sounds to form whole words.
But the Government's expert adviser Sir Jim Rose, who devised the policy, has warned Schools Secretary Ed Balls that phonics are still not in use in all classrooms across England.
“Though much good work is evident, in some schools weaknesses remain in securing children's knowledge and skills,” he said.
“Very few children are incapable of learning to read at all. Failure to learn to read is far more often to do with the nature of the teaching than the nature of the child. Centrally driven initiatives may make a good start but fail to spread and embed best practice because teachers' commitment to them wanes. It is crucial to make sure that the focus on securing high standards of reading is sustained.”
Teachers' unions say the Government's approach is “rigid” and dictates how professionals should do their job. But ministers insist phonics must be the primary method for teaching reading and writing at school.
In his letter to the minister, Sir Jim said post-graduate courses in education failed to allow enough time to concentrate on teaching reading.
Mr Balls announced another £9 million to help train primary school and nursery teachers how to use phonics.
Reader views (3)
Phonics is not the answer. Using phonics is only one skill in the process of learning to read. I could learn the sounds of French but not understand the meaning of what I was 'reading.' Perhaps the government should concentrate more on the skill of governing and stop interfering in areas where they have no knowledge or experience. They don't tell doctors how to diagnos and treat patients.
- Valerie, Frome, 26/01/2009 22:31
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perhaps the fault also lies with the quality of teacher training done- if trainee teachers and teachers concentrate on how to become counsellors, social workers and security officers first before becoming teachers with common sense to teach reading, writing and maths, what can we expect?
- Beljamine, uk, 26/01/2009 21:58
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Why do peopleattack teachers so much? With the sad lack of parenting skills in evidence at the moment, and the huge number of kids roaming the streets, smoking drugs, and getting themselves arrested, it seems that teachers are the only ones with firm limits and expectations of how children should behave in society.
- Keith Price, Luton, England, 26/01/2009 15:42
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