Teaching children to read
The number of 11-year-olds in England who fail reading tests is "unacceptably high" and an "immediate review" of teaching methods is needed, MPs say.
According to government figures, 17 per cent do not reach the required standard.
The Commons education select committee says methods such as "synthetic phonics" - breaking words down into sounds - need to be looked at more.
Party Response: Conservatives
Shadow education secretary Tim Collins said: "This report is further evidence that Labour’s present literacy strategy, despite some limited success, is still letting down an alarming proportion of children.
"The next Conservative government will put synthetic phonics at the heart of our literacy strategy. We recognise, as ministers stubbornly refuse to, that synthetic phonics work best only if applied first, fast and exclusively. We are determined to make sure that every child who is capable of learning does so before leaving primary school and we will not allow failed sixties theories or twenty-first century political correctness to stop us."
Party Response: Liberal Democrats
Phil Willis, Lib Dem education spokesman, said: "We welcome the considered findings of the report, but reject the idea that there is a one size fits all solution to reading.
"In addition to phonics as the basis of reading programmes, we need to free teachers from the tyranny of testing and targets and allow them to practise the methods that are best for their pupils.
"What teachers are crying out for are smaller class sizes so that they are able to spend more one-to-one time with each child."
Stakeholder Response: Institute of Education
Julia Douëtil, national co-ordinator of the Reading Recovery National Network for the Institute of Education, said: "It is wonderful to hear the government accept that some children need something different if they are to overcome reading problems, just as some people see clearly and some need spectacles. The next step is to accept that this ‘something extra’ (such as Reading Recovery, the literacy equivalent of spectacles) costs a little extra, and schools need help paying for it.
"However, Mr Twigg’s comment on the Today programme that we must accept that some children are not capable of making the grade is a backwards step, and risks undoing the most important achievement of the literacy strategy.
"Reading Recovery has demonstrated that it can reduce the number of children failing to achieve appropriate levels of literacy by between half and three-quarters, but hundreds of schools face cutting their RR programme this year, because the tiny amount of money they received for special educational needs has been wiped out by conflicting pressures on school budgets.
"In the face of these financial pressures, intensive teaching for the least able children falls off the agenda."
Stakeholder Response: National Union of Teachers
Steve Sinnott, general secretary of the National Union of Teachers, said: "I welcome the select committee’s report. It is a thoughtful and helpful contribution to the debate on teaching reading.
"Unfortunately the teaching of reading has been politicised over the years with various camps arguing for their particular solutions in teaching reading. Wisely the select committee has resisted pressures to opt for one form of teaching reading over all others.
"The key messages of the report are clear. It is a matter of concern that teachers feel constrained to teach to the test. There should be intensive support for reading for all children that need it. New developments in teaching reading should always be based on evidence.
"I hope that the general election campaign is not bedevilled by political parties taking crude positions supporting one type of reading tuition to the detriment of others.
"The teaching of reading must not be a political football. The select committee report should provide the basis for a reasoned and rational debate involving the teaching profession after the general election."
Stakeholder Response: Association of Teachers and Lecturers
Nansi Ellis, primary education adviser for the ATL, commented: "Children do not all learn to read in the same way at the same time. ATL believes that the last thing that teachers, or children, need is more prescription from the centre. There is not one 'best' way to teach children to read.
"Instead, we must be constantly looking to add to the range of effective practices and matching those to the needs of the children. This is vital if we are to ensure that children gain both the ability to read and the desire to go on reading."
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