I digressed somewhat in the previous post because Nick Gibb's short video clip describing the profound influence of an inspirational teacher just reminded me of Ruth Walker's profound influence on me. Here is further youtube video footage of Nick Gibb (currently Minister of State for School Reform) ...

Here's an extremely short youtube clip of Nick Gibb - no wonder he has stuck his neck out over and again to support Systematic Synthetic Phonics in a basically anti-phonics teaching climate! He recognised that it was simply the right thing to do! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xRcm1O2mYS8&featu...

I've added this 2013 LDA article about the scenario in New Zealand and Reading Recovery's role in the prevailing weak literacy standards - ironically, the original 'home' of Marie Clay's Reading Recovery - well-intentioned there is no doubt - but a whole language intervention to address the damage o...

Yet another very important article in the excellent LDA bulletin: https://www.ldaustralia.org/BULLETIN_NOV13-RR.pdf Reading Recovery and the failure of the New Zealand national literacy strategy In this LDA bulletin article, we summarise arguments and evidence reported in the detailed paper (Tunmer,...

I've just been asked, very sensibly I must add, whether Reading Recovery is the 'same' Reading Recovery as Martin Kozloff reviews in his detailed piece. The point here is, we do not know, because trying to discover/verify any 'changes' that RR personnel claim have been made is like trying to get blo...

There have been a number of political 'champions' for introducing and promoting the need for Systematic Synthetic Phonics in England - and Nick Gibb, Minister of State for School Reform certainly stands out in this regard. Although this latest speech of Nick Gibb is not specifically about literacy, ...

A distraught teacher describes her experiences of a totally unacceptable state of affairs - so how much does this description match a lot, if not most, of the state of affairs in schools in New York City - and beyond? Teachers not trained, children taught in methods that will damage their reading re...

Of course the British Council plays a very big role in provision for teaching English as an additional language - and through BC channels, I discovered some years ago their ' British Council - Phonemic Chart - Teaching English '. Now, anyone who knows me or who is aware of my work, will know that I'...

I wasn't quite sure which 'forum' to post this article, but as it is referring to a global issue of the demand for English language learning, I decided on this 'Around the world' forum: There are far more people learning English as an additional language than English-speakers learning English - so h...

Maggie Downie writes about the promotion and funding of Reading Recovery in England at the same time as the independent national 'Rose Review' was taking place. This was 2005 - 2006. Teachers were clearly getting very mixed messages indeed as to 'what' approach to take for reading instruction - bear...