iferi.org

Literacy: A moral right

by Debbie Hepplewhite

Nov 2017

In a challenging article, literacy expert Debbie Hepplewhite bemoans the conflicting and often strongly held views on how we should teach children to read – and calls for the moral rights of the child to be placed above the professional rights of the teacher

Do teachers share the same professional understanding of phonics provision and reading instruction? No.

This is what I note in every context nationally and internationally (through wider reading, first-hand observations in schools and of video footage, via forums, blogs, networks and the media). Does this matter? Yes, it certainly does.

Literacy Standards (Schools) (PE1668)

The Convener:
Under agenda item 2, we have one new petition for consideration. PE1668, by Anne Glennie, is on improving literacy standards in schools through research-informed reading instruction. Two written submissions in support of the petition, from Dr Marlynne Grant and Dr Sarah McGeown, are included with our papers.

I welcome Anne Glennie to the meeting along with Dr McGeown, who is a senior lecturer in development psychology from the University of Edinburgh, and Gordon Askew MBE from the International Foundation for Effective Reading Instruction. You may make a brief opening statement of up to five minutes, after which the committee will ask a few questions to help inform our consideration of the petition.

The Convener:
Thank you very much. That has been really interesting. My recollection is that, pre-2011, the Labour Party had a commission on literacy. It was headed up by Rhona Brankin and it talked about synthetic phonics, which was accepted by the Scottish Government at the time—I think that Mike Russell was the education minister. It is an issue that there has been a conversation on.

I sit on the Education and Skills Committee, which had an evidence session with a group of people who are in initial teacher education. They were concerned about the level of support they had in learning literacy and numeracy. That was very much a concern. It is an issue that people are alive to, and I think that members have found your presentation very interesting.

What should we do in terms of taking the petition forward?

Angus MacDonald:
Following your comment about the work that Rhona Brankin’s team did, convener, it is worth pointing out that, in 2010, Mike Russell, who was the Cabinet Secretary for Education and Lifelong Learning at the time, said:

“I agree that synthetic phonics has had considerable success.”—[Official Report, 7 January 2010; c 22562.]

If synthetic phonics was considered to have had considerable success way back in 2010, why has it not moved forward and become more commonplace?

The petitioners have made a very compelling case for synthetic phonics, particularly with regard to the evidence that children from disadvantaged backgrounds benefit from it. I think that we need to go back to the Scottish Government and ask what its current view is. We should also seek the opinion of the Educational Institute of Scotland and the GTC in Scotland.

The Convener:
The opinions of the EIS, the Scottish Secondary Teachers’ Association, the National Association of Schoolmasters Union of Women Teachers and other unions would also be useful.

Brian Whittle:
If we write to the Scottish Government, we will get a generic response, and the petitioner has indicated that she has already received a response from the cabinet secretary. If we are going to ask the question, perhaps we should ask it in reference to those comments from 2010.

Angus MacDonald:
Yes, and we could include in the letter the evidence that we have heard today about there being a particular benefit to children from disadvantaged backgrounds.

Michelle Ballantyne:
Could we also ask for the evidence against using and embedding synthetic phonics? There seems to be a suggestion that there is resistance from the cabinet secretary, and I would like to know what that is based on.

The Convener:
The argument seems to be about autonomy in curriculum for excellence. However, that is autonomy in the context of professional responsibility and understanding; it is not completely random in that it allows teachers to do whatever they like, and I do not think any teacher would argue that that is what autonomy means. It feels as though the cabinet secretary’s letter suggests that, but we can always explore that issue.

Michelle Ballantyne:
There is also the issue—it was briefly mentioned by the petitioners—that, if those who deliver teacher training do not know how to do synthetic phonics, they cannot teach it. Some resistance might come from that. I think that we should explore that with the cabinet secretary as well.

Gordon Askew:
Could I respectfully make a suggestion, convener? It might not be your way forward, but it might be for the future. Dissemination of good practice is more effective than imposing something on people. You might identify people who are already using synthetic phonics well and get them to share their practice with other schools, so that the practice is communicated from school to school rather than from the top down.

The Convener:
The issue is partly about confidence. I am struck by the fact that we now have a strategy for teaching children to learn reading that enhances the opportunities for those who are already advantaged because they have those skills—a mechanistic approach that affords the opportunity to learn from the other stuff. I find it compelling that we have strategies that are based on existing success, not on understanding the disadvantage that some young people face.

I do not know whether there are other educationalists in Scotland, particularly in the colleges and universities, who are providing initial teacher education and who have a view on the matter. That may be something else that we could explore.

Thank you very much for your attendance today. That was a very interesting evidence session, and it will be useful to explore why there are concerns about something that appears logical. I think that that is how we would want to take the petition forward.

Phonics revolution: Reading standards in England are best in a generation, new international test results show Please, please read with an open mind @JohnSwinney We need SSP in Scotland literacy rich environments in schools. #closethegap

TESS ARTICLE: DO I HAVE TO SPELL IT OUT? SYNTHETIC PHONICS WORKS

A Journey to the Dark Side:

from Phonics Phobic to Phonics Fanatic

Opposition calls for Scottish Survey of Literacy and Numeracy return

Many new primary teachers lack confidence in teaching 3Rs

Emma Seith
5th January 2018

Many primary NQTs in Scotland lack the skills to support reading development effectively

A large minority of new primary teachers in Scotland cannot say they are confident in their ability to teach key areas of the curriculum such as maths, reading and writing, new research suggests.

The Scottish government has found that many primary probationers lack confidence in teaching literacy and numeracy. Secondary probationers generally feel more confident in literacy in their subject, but have a similar lack of confidence in numeracy.

The area that probationer teachers are least confident in is data literacy – using data to improve practice or to track learner progress.

Developing resources is also “problematic” for probationer teachers, who find it hard to create “differentiated resources to meet the needs of all learners”, the study shows. And the teachers responsible for supporting probationers – referred to in the report as “probationer supporters” – highlighted probationers’ ability to teach reading and phonics as “an area of concern”.

The report said: “Probationer supporters felt that the probationer teachers lacked the knowledge and skills to be able to support children’s reading development effectively.”

Teachers warn learning through play can lead to pupil disruption

Andrew Denholm

MODERN teaching techniques where pupils are allowed to learn through play can lead to poor behaviour, a new report warns.

So called active learning - where pupils are also encouraged to work in groups or teach each other - have also been blamed for a lack of focus in secondary school when pupils sit exams.

The warning comes in a report by Ipsos MORI Scotland following a survey of teachers' attitudes towards behaviour in primary and secondary schools, commissioned by the Scottish Governmen

Scottish teenagers ‘lag behind’ in reading and choose easy books

By Chris Green