|
In an interview with Sky News,
6.12PM, Dec 1, British Minister of Education, Ruth Kelly,
stated that, "We should have a systematic approach to
teaching Synthetic Phonics, that should be taught first and
foremost to all children, certainly by the age of five and
then, yes, other strategies should come in after that to help
and support those readers for whom a variety of methods is
appropriate".
However, British Synthetic
Phonics expert, Alan Davies, Chartered Educational
Psychologist and Associate Fellow of the British Psychological
Society, strongly disagrees and believes that she, and her
main adviser, Jim Rose, have been misguided.
Davies says, "It is
madness to believe that you should start the literacy process
by first doing only phonics. There is much that can be done
before children start school, as I said live on Sky News
[11.10 AM, Dec 1], 'The best thing they [parents] can do, if
they want to teach their child to be literate in English, is
to put a three-year-old child on their knee and turn over the
pages of a favourite book to anticipate the story and the
pictures'. It is wrong to believe that synthetic phonics is
the 'best route to becoming skilled readers', as stated in
Jim's report. In my view, Ruth Kelly and Jim Rose have both
been misguided and Ruth Kelly has probably made the biggest
faux pas, by a Minister of Education, in British Educational
history."
Davies believes that the
British Government got it 100% right when they wrote in 1998,
"All teachers know that pupils become successful readers
by learning to use a range of strategies to get at the meaning
of a text".
Davies is the pioneer of the
widely used Synthetic Phonics programme THRASS (Teaching
Handwriting Reading And Spelling Skills), which is used in
many schools in the UK, but more extensively in Australia and,
over the last two years, Southern Africa. The Botswana
Government aim to implement THRASS in all primary and
secondary schools and the THRASS two-day training course is a
compulsory module for trainee teachers at the University of
Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, and a growing number of other
universities in South Africa.
David Cameron, new leader of
the Conservative Party, the Government's opposition, is
meeting with Davies, at the House of Commons, to clarify the
differences between the 'Artificial Synthesis' approach to
Synthetic Phonics, as used in Clackmannanshire, Scotland, and
the 'Natural Synthesis' approach of THRASS.
Davies believes that the main
problem with the National Literacy Strategy has been the weak
and inaccurate training for the 'Phonics Searchlight' -
training for the 44 sounds and 120 key spelling-choices of
English. In support of his case, he has produced a video, with
the help of a 'Whistleblower NQT' (Newly Qualified Teacher)
and many course evaluations from other NQTs e.g. "I've
learnt more from the training in these two days, about
phonics, than the three years that I've been at
university" - viewable on www.thrass.co.uk/nm.htm
Further
information
UK:
Mike Meade, Media Director, THRASS UK 01829 741413 Mob: 07970
151 738 mikemeade@thrass.co.uk
INTERNATIONAL:
Chris Griffiths, International Development, THRASS UK +30 266
203 1207 chrisgriffiths@thrass.co.uk
###
Return to TOP
|
