NASUWT: Research shows teachers concern over phonics
A survey of over 2,000 teachers on how children are taught to read raises serious concerns over the Coalition Government’s plans to require teachers to teach reading using systematic synthetic phonics, a system of teaching children to read by blending letter sounds.
The Coalition Government’s plans also include a compulsory reading test for all six year olds.
Less than half of the teachers surveyed (47 per cent) agreed with the idea of the test, but almost seven out of ten teachers (67 per cent) opposed plans purely to test phonic decoding skills if a test were introduced. Almost the same proportion (62 per cent) are opposed to the tests containing non-words.
The survey for the NASUWT, the largest teachers’ union, reignites the controversial debate on the Coalition Government’s proposal that synthetic phonics is the only method to be used to teach pupils to read.
The Coalition Government’s plans to impose the use of systematic synthetic phonics is based on an assertion that this is the ‘most effective way of teaching young children to read’. Yet the evidence relied on to make this assertion is still widely contested and far from authoritative.
Teachers do not underestimate the value of synthetic phonics, with 58 per cent agreeing that the method has a key role to play in teaching and learning.
However, those surveyed who favoured synthetic phonics also felt strongly that children need to benefit from being taught by a range of methods:
. 81 per cent would still want to use word recognition;
. 89 per cent asserted that they needed to use a combination of cues such as context, initial letter sounds and/or illustrations to make meaning from text; and
. 87 per cent would want children to access books containing some words that children cannot yet decode using phonic cues.
Seventy-six per cent of respondents expressed their concern that the results of the test would be used in judgements of teacher performance.
Chris Keates, NASUWT General Secretary, said:
“The Coalition Government has made a virtue of asserting on a regular basis that it wants to trust and empower teachers.
“However, requiring teachers to use only synthetic phonics to teach children to read demonstrates that the reality is quite the opposite.
“Such imposition is entirely incompatible with an approach that seeks to respect and enhance teacher professionalism.
“What the Coalition is proposing for teachers is the equivalent of telling surgeons they can use only a scalpel to perform an operation.
“They wouldn’t dream of interfering in this way with a surgeon’s practice.
“Why should teachers’ professionalism and judgement merit less respect?
“Parents should be alarmed that the Coalition’s dogged insistence on systematic synthetic phonics will mean that their children will be starved of access to books.
“A deeply worrying outcome of the survey is the 76 per cent of teachers who fear that the results of the tests will be abused and used by schools as a punitive tool against teachers rather than to support professional practice.
“The results of this survey should give the Coalition Government serious pause for thought about their plans to roll out across the country the use of systematic synthetic phonics.
“Teachers clearly have deep reservations about all aspects of the Coalition’s plans and their professional views must be considered.”
ENDS
Notes to editors
1. The survey was of 2,265 NASUWT members who teach in primary schools.
2. The NASUWT has used the survey to respond in detail to the Coalition Government’s consultation on the issue of systematic synthetic phonics.
3. For a copy of the NASUWT’s full response to the Department for Education’s consultation on synthetic phonics, please contact the NASUWT press office.
Press Office: 0207 420 9680/81
(Monday – Friday 8.30-17.30)
Out of hours: 07966 195010 / 07966 198894
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