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Reading Ape Blog: 'So hands up, who hates phonics? Some very influential people'

Posted: Tue Jun 25, 2019 6:52 pm
by Debbie_Hepplewhite
The resistance to national phonics screening checks and the undermining of systematic synthetic phonics provision is mystifying - chilling. It always occurs to me that all these academic critics must have not visited any, or enough, classrooms where good phonics programmes are delivered well. It is inspiring to witness - and all children are empowered to be effective readers and writers with quality phonics provision.

Anyone who suggests the 'reading wars' are over is sadly mistaken - as described here:

https://www.thereadingape.com/single-po ... ial-people
So hands up, who hates phonics? Some very influential people...

April 17, 2019


Systematic phonics instruction has been described as the nearest thing to a silver bullet for the development of literacy. With all the economic and social ills associated with illiteracy (detailed here), it would be a brave person who would deny the weight of research in its favour. There remains considerable resistance to this form of instruction from the teaching profession (detailed here) but also a number of high-profile international academics. The prospect of a Phonics Screening Check in Australia has enraged them. Their views are analysed in this post.