Eng and elsewhere: Where do we witness 'Orwellian Double Guidance' for teachers and parents?

News articles, interviews, research, events and lots more - ready for your comments.
User avatar
Debbie_Hepplewhite
Posts: 2498
Joined: Sat May 23, 2015 4:42 pm

Eng and elsewhere: Where do we witness 'Orwellian Double Guidance' for teachers and parents?

Post by Debbie_Hepplewhite »

Unfortunately, it's looking like there is a lack of joined-up thinking and action even in England despite the incredible advances made to promote evidence-informed systematic synthetic phonics provision within a language and literature rich environment in England.

Since the pandemic and coronavirus lockdown in England, the government has provided advisory links to various programmes and intervention.

For foundational literacy ('English'), the 'DfE validated' systematic synthetic phonics programmes are flagged up here:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publicati ... es#english

But an extremely concerned person sent me information to show that for literacy special needs, that is for 'intervention', the government coronavirus links lead to suggestions from the Education Endowment Foundation with none of the high quality systematic synthetic phonics programmes included! The EEF has entitled their intervention list the 'Promising Projects List'.

Please note that the DfE validated systematic synthetic phonics programmes are not just initial teaching, or 'mainstream' programmes - they are also intervention programmes. Any parent with a child or children identified as having literacy special needs should be very concerned indeed as, more often than not, they need high quality systematic synthetic phonics provision as a priority.

I was provided with evidence to illustrate these worrying connections (or should I more aptly say 'disconnections'). I circulated this evidence so officials could be alerted to this (23rd June 2020) - see here:

https://iferi.org/wp-content/uploads/20 ... covery.pdf

The Department for Education in England, and Ofsted (the schools' inspectorate) have been informed about this very worrying state of affairs. Are they doing anything about it?

It's very clear that pioneers for evidence-informed reading instruction in America and Australia (and other countries) - often associated with dyslexia organisations - are fighting a corner for systematic synthetic phonics provision for both mainstream and intervention provision.

I'm coining the phrase 'Orwellian Double Guidance'.

This idea is coming from the notion of Orwell's 'Doublethink' and 'Doublespeak':

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doublespeak

Because what are teachers to understand for their professional understanding of reading instruction whether for mainstream provision or intervention? They keep being given official and authoritative mixed messages. This LEAVES TO CHANCE what teachers (and others) 'understand' and what they provide for children. It's contradictory, shameful and unaccountable.

The forum of the International Foundation for Effective Reading Instruction already has many examples in its various threads of contradictory guidance given to teachers. This is a universal problem. This is a current reading war.

There is no shared professional knowledge and understanding in any of our countries. And there should be. We have decades of research findings - and we have very promising and effective phonics programmes and provision in our countries.

Unfortunately, as anyone can see via our message forum, it is almost impossible to hold anyone in authority to account.

And even in England, where so many advances have been made in statutory guidance, it's still looking like a mess with no joined-up thinking - not even from the Department for Education.
User avatar
Debbie_Hepplewhite
Posts: 2498
Joined: Sat May 23, 2015 4:42 pm

Re: Eng and elsewhere: Where do we witness 'Orwellian Double Guidance' for teachers and parents?

Post by Debbie_Hepplewhite »

Remember the petition from brave and pioneering Anne Glennie in Scotland:

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=911
User avatar
Debbie_Hepplewhite
Posts: 2498
Joined: Sat May 23, 2015 4:42 pm

Re: Eng and elsewhere: Where do we witness 'Orwellian Double Guidance' for teachers and parents?

Post by Debbie_Hepplewhite »

Note the official programmes recommended in Wales - flagged up by brave and pioneering teacher, Rob Randel:

viewtopic.php?f=3&t=1356
User avatar
Debbie_Hepplewhite
Posts: 2498
Joined: Sat May 23, 2015 4:42 pm

Re: Eng and elsewhere: Where do we witness 'Orwellian Double Guidance' for teachers and parents?

Post by Debbie_Hepplewhite »

Professor Jennifer Buckingham and others in Australia are extraordinary pioneers for evidence-informed reading instruction. The level of ignorance and Orwellian Double Guidance for teachers via their teacher-training institutions is chilling - this debate in Australia is literally infamous:

viewtopic.php?f=3&t=1044
User avatar
Debbie_Hepplewhite
Posts: 2498
Joined: Sat May 23, 2015 4:42 pm

Re: Eng and elsewhere: Where do we witness 'Orwellian Double Guidance' for teachers and parents?

Post by Debbie_Hepplewhite »

People of various roles and responsibilities have gone to extraordinary lengths to challenge the efficacy of the Reading Recovery intervention programme throughout the world, but still it is institutionalised and embedded even in England's context despite extraordinary advances in official guidance for teachers which IS research-informed.

Yes - Reading Recovery is alive and kicking in England - no official is apparently tackling this - so it is on the watch of the Department for Education, and Ofsted, 'in plain sight'. This is without doubt 'Orwellian Double Guidance'.
The Education Endowment Foundation promotes Reading Recovery and programmes which are clones of Reading Recovery. Kevan Collins (now 'Sir' Kevan Collins) has a Reading Recovery background. He headed up the EEF as CEO for many years. He also presided over England's 1998 National Literacy Strategy - and says he is responsible for the NLS 'searchlights' multi-cueing reading strategies which were replaced by the Simple View of Reading thanks to Sir Jim Rose's independent review of 2006.

Remember this thread:

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=861
User avatar
Debbie_Hepplewhite
Posts: 2498
Joined: Sat May 23, 2015 4:42 pm

Re: Eng and elsewhere: Where do we witness 'Orwellian Double Guidance' for teachers and parents?

Post by Debbie_Hepplewhite »

Journalist Emily Hanford is providing an extraordinary service alerting the American nation about the reading wars and there is plenty of evidence of 'Orwellian Double Guidance' in America:

viewtopic.php?f=3&t=1102
User avatar
Debbie_Hepplewhite
Posts: 2498
Joined: Sat May 23, 2015 4:42 pm

Re: Eng and elsewhere: Where do we witness 'Orwellian Double Guidance' for teachers and parents?

Post by Debbie_Hepplewhite »

IFERI committee member, Susan Godsland, outlines the phonics debate in this outstanding page of information on her site:
Ideology and Reading

Many education academics remain vehemently opposed to the direct and discrete teaching of phonics. Even today they campaign to overturn the 2006 Rose Report's recommendations (Wyse/Styles.Editorial), and every course of action taken by every colour of government following the Rose Report, each designed to increase the take-up of teaching high quality phonics as the only route to decoding words ''within a broad and language-rich curriculum'' (Rose Report 2006 p16)

The Whole Language Backlash:


http://www.dyslexics.org.uk/ideology.htm
User avatar
Debbie_Hepplewhite
Posts: 2498
Joined: Sat May 23, 2015 4:42 pm

Re: Eng and elsewhere: Where do we witness 'Orwellian Double Guidance' for teachers and parents?

Post by Debbie_Hepplewhite »

James Murphy comments about the research on Reading Recovery via Twitter:

https://twitter.com/HoratioSpeaks/statu ... 7116173312
User avatar
Debbie_Hepplewhite
Posts: 2498
Joined: Sat May 23, 2015 4:42 pm

Re: Eng and elsewhere: Where do we witness 'Orwellian Double Guidance' for teachers and parents?

Post by Debbie_Hepplewhite »

I'm cross referencing this thread with another featuring dyslexia, use of public funding and accountability:

viewtopic.php?f=3&t=1378&p=2860#p2860
User avatar
Debbie_Hepplewhite
Posts: 2498
Joined: Sat May 23, 2015 4:42 pm

Re: Eng and elsewhere: Where do we witness 'Orwellian Double Guidance' for teachers and parents?

Post by Debbie_Hepplewhite »

I've now written about the unsatisfactory contradictions in Government guidance in England here via 'The Naked Emperor' blog:
The Education Endowment Foundation is actively undermining the Government in England and here is an evidence trail to show this

https://debbiehepplewhite.com/the-educa ... show-this/
Post Reply