Synthetic Phonics

Phonics in the Early Years of the UK Literacy Hour

Half the UK primary teachers implementing the literacy hour in schools are boycotting the phonics element of the strategy, according to the first evaluation of the strategy by Her Majesty's Inspectors of Schools.

The report into a two-year pilot scheme in 250 schools - and on the early days of the literacy hour, showed that children in some schools took only 8 weeks to learn the letter sounds, while in others it took up to three years.

A further evaluation of pupils in the pilot schools by the National Foundation for Educational Research found that children who started some way below the national average in their reading scores made 8 to 12 months more progress than would normally be expected.

Standards improved by more than the national average in approximately half of the project schools but a significant minority were not making adequate progress.

The then chief inspector Mr Woodhead said that the schools making the best progress were those where phonics had been taught in the most "systematic and structured way".

(Daily Telegraph, 8 December 1998)

With many thanks to the excellent Daily Telegraph.