This issue is at the heart of my work - changing the perception and understanding about the role of phonics - which we need for lifelong literacy.
So if you are in the secondary sector - or worry about the quality and quantity of phonics provision for your child or pupils, this posting and my responses to it may be of interest:
http://inspiringtchers.wordpress.com/20 ... acy-innit/
Literacy, innit?
Posted on October 26, 2012 by judeenright
After some years as a secondary teacher and middle leader I started to take an intense interest in primary literacy eight years ago.
Those were the heady days of the Primary Literacy Strategy and I noticed a lot of pressure on nursery children to meet “Early Learning goals” that required them to read and write from a young age. Colouring-in seemed to be the main pedagogical approach. And whether this involved paint, pens, collage or paper, my focus group of one had such a focus for so long on the letter “D” that at times he seemed to being brainwashed by a cult. The day all the children came out of nursery with him wearing a cone shaped hat with a “D” on was probably the low point. (Or was it the day when every child brought in a “mobile” they’d been asked to make for Science week and half the class had made huge brick sized phones?)