English in the News
Below is a selection of articles which are archived online and may be of interest to NATE members. If you know of others please let us know. Keep up to date with our Twitter feed, too.
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- Put down the phonics and bring back Janet and John - The Guardian, Monday December 5, 2005
...You say that the move to phonics was inspired "by its proven success in trials involving 300 children in Clackmannanshire. By the age of 11, those children taught using synthetic phonics were three years ahead of their peers in reading skills". Not quite. I have read this report.
[Three letters on phonics]Link broken or innaccurate? Please report here - Teachers' anger at Kelly U-turn over phonics - The Guardian, Friday December 2, 2005
Teachers' leaders reacted with anger yesterday to a government U-turn on the way young children are taught to read, after being told that all primary schools will have to prepare for the introduction of a prescriptive new literacy strategy from next September.Link broken or innaccurate? Please report here - Phonics: Strategy but no consensus - BBC, Friday December 2, 2005
If, as I am about to, you venture into the debate about reading methods, it is wise to don a crash helmet.Link broken or innaccurate? Please report here - Hello again, Janet and John - The Guardian, Friday December 2, 2005
The c-a-t is back on the m-a-t and traditionalists everywhere are triumphant. The old ways are the best, and sometimes, of course, they are right. But it might be a mistake to assume that the teaching of reading through synthetic phonics - the c-a-t approach - is the right answer for every child in every classroom.Link broken or innaccurate? Please report here - A lesson in failure - Daily Telegraph, Friday December 2, 2005
Critical failings in the education system were exposed yesterday by a report condemning the way reading is taught and by evidence that Ofsted can find no fault with the country's worst performing primary schools.Link broken or innaccurate? Please report here - Greatest classroom catastrophe in 50 years - Daily Telegraph, Friday December 2, 2005
The abandonment by teachers of the traditional method of teaching reading, known as phonics, precipitated the greatest educational catastrophe of the past 50 years.Link broken or innaccurate? Please report here - Educational bigotry that blighted too many lives - Daily Telegraph, Friday December 2, 2005
There is a depressing theme running through the Government's education policy, and it was sounded again yesterday by the Secretary of State. Ruth Kelly's admission of the need to return to traditional methods of teaching children to read is but her latest U-turn after a failed experiment.... Now, the overwhelming evidence of our under-achieving children simply proves that the old ways had lasted so long because they were the right ones.Link broken or innaccurate? Please report here - A defeat for 'trendy Wendy' teachers - The Times, Friday December 2, 2005
ARGUMENTS about the best way to teach children to read are among the most bitter and divisive in education, to the utter bewilderment of most parents.Link broken or innaccurate? Please report here - Synthetic phonics replaces unsound literacy strategy - The Times, Friday December 2, 2005
ALL 5-year-olds must be taught to read using a traditional “phonics” method from next September, Ruth Kelly said yesterday. The Education Secretary abandoned the central element of the Government’s literacy hour in schools after a damning official review concluded that it was failing children. Link broken or innaccurate? Please report here - More 11-year-olds reach basic standard at school - The Guardian, Friday December 2, 2005
The number of 11-year-olds reaching the expected standard in English and maths increased slightly this year, according to key stage 2 league tables published today - but leading headteachers branded the system pointless and called for it to be scrapped.Link broken or innaccurate? Please report here - Primary reading set for overhaul - BBC, Thursday December 1, 2005
The way children are taught to read in primary schools in England will be shaken up, Education Secretary Ruth Kelly has confirmed.Link broken or innaccurate? Please report here - U-turn on how to teach reading - Daily Telegraph, Thursday December 1, 2005
A return to traditional methods of teaching children to read will be announced today following a damning report into the Government's national literacy strategy. All infant and primary schools will need to tear up the Government's advice over the past seven years and prepare for a new framework.Link broken or innaccurate? Please report here - Goodbye Janet, Goodbye John - The Times, Thursday December 1, 2005
Children will be taught to read using traditional techniques from next year after the Government today turned the clock back on a four-decade experiment with modern methods.Link broken or innaccurate? Please report here - Coaching pupils for primary tests called into question - The Guardian, Monday November 28, 2005
The long-running debate about the extent to which primary schools' national test results genuinely reflect improved standards of reading, writing and maths has been fuelled by new research that suggests the practice of drilling 11-year-olds to pass the tests was "likely" to have boosted the final outcome.Link broken or innaccurate? Please report here - Coursework in last chance saloon - BBC, Friday November 25, 2005
So, at last, something is being done about coursework.Link broken or innaccurate? Please report here - Primary literacy levels disputed - BBC, Thursday November 24, 2005
Head teachers are sceptical about 11- year-olds' reading skills even if they reach the expected test levels in England, a government adviser says.Link broken or innaccurate? Please report here - Literary classics digitally remastered - The Independent, Thursday November 24, 2005
For a man who says his best teaching aid is a pair of eyebrows, primary school teacher Tim Rylands doesn't do so badly with computers.Link broken or innaccurate? Please report here - Exam board launches hunt for online cheats - The Guardian, Wednesday November 23, 2005
A leading examination board is launching a pilot project to scan pupils' GCSE and A-level coursework in an attempt to prevent plagiarism undermining the value of school qualifications.Link broken or innaccurate? Please report here - Moves to curb coursework cheating - BBC, Tuesday November 22, 2005
Parents and teachers are to get clearer guidance on helping pupils with their coursework, in a bid to curb cheating.Link broken or innaccurate? Please report here - Crackdown urged on web exam plagiarism - The Guardian, Tuesday November 22, 2005
Exam papers should be scanned by specialist computer software as part of a crackdown on internet plagiarism by A-level and GSCE pupils in their compulsory coursework, the government's watchdog will urge today.
Ruth Kelly's response to the QCA coursework report can be read hereLink broken or innaccurate? Please report here