The Debate about Phonics

Today I am sharing my reflections on the value of reading for our children, tomorrow citizens and policy makers, as the debate on raising standards in reading by implementing the teaching of phonics from an early age is still very much on the agenda in English primary education.

I always feel uncomfortable when politicians (and everybody who woos them in order to share a bit of their power)  invariably ride the tiger of failing educational standards. I am not saying that making sure that education keeps up with the challenges of modern society it is not one of the most important duties of each government across history, but I am ,alas, sceptical of directives imposed ‘top down’ on schools, as I always was when in service.  This time, what is plaguing teachers in KS1 is what the government calls The Year 1 Phonics Screening Check. Allow me to quote from the DFES website:[i]

‘Teaching phonics in schools has the potential to help all children, particularly those from disadvantaged backgrounds, become confident readers.’ 

 The DES is also adamant that :

‘Evidence from around the world shows that a systematic approach to the teaching of phonics gives children the best start in their reading. We recommend that some schools might like to consider their approach to teaching phonics, and make sure they are setting suitable high expectations for pupils’ progress in Year 1’. 

 Allow me now to quote from : ‘Mother Tongue’ by Bill Bryson, 1990 (Penguin Books, 1991 ; ISBN 0-140-24305-X),  which I consider an interesting and easily readable analysis of the English language suitable for everybody interested in the topic and not necessarily up to academic reading.

Bryson lists the following sounds in different words:

/c/ in bloc/ race/church

/s/ in house/houses/mission

or ‘g’ in garage and gauge

And even more importantly for our discussion here:

‘ why we put a /r’ when we say  colonel that is not there? (page 113). 

Now, let’s have a look at the phonic screening teachers are expected to use. I downloaded a copy of the test and I summarize it here for you.[ii] The words in the test cover 40 spelling patterns of English words against 200 different ways identified by Bryson to spell the 40 sounds of the English language. There are ‘pseudo words’ as the DFE calls them that refers to a drawing of an imaginary creature because the children need to be able to read sounds out of context but also need to refer them to something concrete:

‘The pseudo-words provide the purest assessment of phonic decoding because they will be new

to all children, and so there will be no unintended bias based on visual memory of words

or vocabulary knowledge. The pseudo-words will be presented with a picture prompt (a

picture of an imaginary creature) and children will be asked to name the type of creature.

This approach makes it clear to children that they are reading a pseudo-word, which they

should not expect to be able to match to their existing vocabulary.’[iii]

I am confused and left with a feeling of déjà vu.... I must refer to my studies in linguistics before I delve more into the debate whether we can correctly define the English language phonetic. Also, the full analysis of the screening test goes beyond the scope of this blog.

Nonetheless, I would like to receive your comments as speakers of English (even more importantly if English is not your first language) about the effectiveness of approaching the teaching and learning of English using a phonetic strategy, given the origin of the language and of its written representation of sounds.    

I would also encourage parents to speak with their child’s teacher and ask proof of what the school is doing: please ask to see the test after they marked it and to explain the reasoning behind it. I fear that yet more undue stress is going to be put on already worried  parents and children, who are continuously haunted by the possibility that they may be ‘falling behind’ or be ‘failed’ by incompetent teachers and ‘’bad ‘ schools: please use your best judgement, for the sake your children and the future of our society.

Thank You

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[i] http://www.education.gov.uk

[ii] Please have a firsthand look for yourself  visiting http://www.education.gov.uk/schools/teachingandlearning/assessment/keystage1/a00200415/phonics

[iii] http://media.education.gov.uk/assets/files/pdf/a/phonics_assessment_framework_web_ready_final.pdf

 ( page8)

Here I am, New Year’s Day , reading  away and listening to a selection of my favourite  classical music, while  a thought is slowly but persistently creeping into my mind....now and then knocking, initially hesitantly but now more and more perceptibly, at the door of my consciousness...

Until I cannot avoid its request and I give up, switch the music to a Beethoven’s violin concert and I let the flow of my pen (well, keyboard) make appear in black and white what I do not want to think about and admit: that yet another child has fallen victim of the narrowness of adults’ perception of what education is about, with total disregard to what education should be about.

On Wednesday last week, I was informed that one of the students who attended my after school centre (www.thechildrensclub.co.uk ) for about 3 years until October 2012, has being progressively showing signs of having gone off studying. The parents are blaming the child whom they categorically defined as ‘not interested in learning’ and basically as a thorn in the side of their well established, self constructed conviction that THEY know what their child should be doing in school and in life.

Now here a word of forewarning: I am not in the least hinting that those parents are less than totally committed to their child’s well being and happiness. They are a happy professional couple who travel for leisure and speak foreign languages. You would define them as well acquainted with the world of work and what it takes to make in business.

The child in question had worked hard at establishing herself as an independent learner; was beginning  to sort out the seeds  from  the weeds in formal education as it is dished out in our current English state school system; was growing  in self –assurance and was just about to explore fiction writing as a dream and a career ( yes, at the age of 10 she was planning to send her novels to a well known  children’s writer) when disaster stuck: her mother decided that it was now time to get ready for the secondary transfer entry exam to one of the most highly regarded secondary school in Surrey. Since then, the daughter has been subjected to 6 hours + a week preparation for what we call, in school jargon, the 11+ tests.

I was no part of that decision and the girl stopped attending my school as my advice was not heeded or needed any more. I was taken aback by this sudden change but I put it down to the high pressure parents are nowadays under when considering a school to send their children to and I kept in very good terms with the family. I am therefore not writing this out of anger at losing a client: if my intention was to get rich with teaching, I would not be spending my time writing blogs for pleasure.

I cannot help thinking how many of our children have been and will be victims of a similar situation and I am asking myself why the English education system tolerates and actually fosters the thriving of this abomination. Why is this type of testing and selection allowed in some secondary state schools? I am not talking about selective private schools but state schools. Not a word of lie: check on the schools websites in your area and see what the information about secondary transfers tells you, as a prospective parent. Are there entry test? How do you prepare your son or daughter for them? How transparent are the selection criteria? Are you allowed to request the original or a copy of your child’s test paper (probably not)? How about past papers to practise (you will be hard at finding that)?

 And then ask yourself what these tests are in aid of:  but first and foremost, look at your child not as a ‘small adult’ but as a child in a specific stage of his or her development and make sure you do not wear the lenses of what the media or the government or your neighbour with a ‘so-successful- daughter-who-now-goes-to-that-very-good-school’ bamboozles you with.

Thank you

“Our care of the child should be governed, not by the desire to make him learn things, but by the endeavour always to keep burning within him that light which is called intelligence.”

-Maria Montessori

www.thechildrensclub.co.uk