This seems to be a common attitude amongst teachers and it is deeply worrying. It reflects a total lack of knowledge and understanding about the research on reading instruction and the conclusions of the research and the importance of these conclusions, and the importance of national objective assessment.
When you consider how fundamentally important foundational literacy is to the life-chances of each and every learner, and that we have large-scale percentages of learners labelled as 'dyslexic' particularly in English-speaking countries, how can it be that such ideas about teacher-autonomy continue to take precedence over the body of research on reading instruction and the need for national snapshots of how children are faring in their schools?
Laura's original article was posted in December 2014, but there is still interest in this article and I have found it personally refreshing that a new poster, Jacqui MB, describes her experiences and understanding of the need for systematic synthetic phonics. Jacqui lays bear some of Michael Rosen's nonsense regarding reading!
Phonics is not the only way to teach children to read, argues LAURA VAUGHAN
https://languagedebates.wordpress.com/2 ... mment-1030According to Davis (2014: 5), the Government is ‘no longer telling teachers how to teach’ yet synthetic phonics is still being enforced in schools everywhere. Let teachers think for themselves. Who knows the children better than the teachers? Why should the government get to decide what is best for their education? Many parents have also left public comments on articles such as those on the BBC website expressing their concern. So here’s my question: If the teachers don’t agree with it, and the parents don’t agree with it, then isn’t it time for a change?
By the way, one of my posts in response to Laura's view appears twice - please disregard the duplicate posting and carry on to read further readers' comments!