Key findings from the final report of the Rose review into the teaching of reading, March 2006
2007
In May 2007, the TES reported that the Government had ditched its plans for a system of assessment for commercial phonics in favour of companies being asked to assess their own schemes on a DCSF website. There are 10 criteria against which companies must measure their schemes against. The change follows pressure from early years practitioners. The National Union of Teachers said that schools should not take the assessments at face value and should "be rigorous in analysis of their own needs and make decisions on what is useful to them". This could mean using more than one scheme.
2006
In late 2006, the Department for Education and Skills provided a set of
core criteria that defines the key features of an effective phonics
teaching programme. The core criteria built directly on the recommendations
from the independent review of early reading for 'high quality
phonic work'.
All the principles underpinning the recommendations from the
review are integral to the revised Primary Framework for literacy.
The core criteria are accompanied by explanatory notes which are
designed to help schools and early years settings in understanding
and applying the criteria. Schools and early years settings should,
with the support of their Local Authority, assess their phonics
teaching requirements and ensure that they have effective phonics
support programme in place. For more information, visit www.standards.dfes.gov.uk/phonics
"'The forthcoming Early Years Foundation Stage and the renewal
of the Primary National Strategy framework for teaching literacy
provide powerful opportunities to reinvigorate and build upon
these achievements and greatly reduce arbitrary boundaries between
the Foundation Stage and Key Stage 1, without compromising the
hard won, distinctive merits of the areas of learning and experience
in the early years."
"In so doing, the new Early Years Foundation Stage and
the renewed framework should make sure that best practice for
beginner readers provides them with a rich curriculum that fosters
all four interdependent strands of language: speaking, listening,
reading and writing. The indications are that far more attention
needs to be given, right from the start, to promoting speaking
and listening skills to make sure that children build a good stock
of words, learn to listen attentively and speak clearly and confidently.
Speaking and listening, together with reading and writing, are
prime communication skills that are central to children's intellectual,
social and emotional development. All these skills are drawn upon
and promoted by high quality, systematic phonic work. "
"Engaging young children in interesting and worthwhile pre-reading
activities paves the way for the great majority to make a good
start on systematic phonic work by the age of five. Indeed, for
some, an earlier start may be possible and desirable. This is
because it ill serves children to hold them back from starting
systematic phonic work that is matched to their developing abilities
and enables them to benefit from the wealth of opportunities afforded
by reading from an early age. All that said, the introduction
of phonic work should always be a matter for principled, professional
judgement based on structured observations and assessments of
children's capabilities."
The key recommendations in the Rose review build upon those proposed
in the interim report, published December 2005. The recommendations
are listed below for each area highlighted for examination by
the report:
Best practice in teaching of early reading and synthetic phonics
- The forthcoming Early Years Foundation Stage and the renewed
Primary National Strategy Framework for teaching literacy
should provide, as a priority, clear guidance on developing
children's speaking and listening skills.
- High-quality, systematic phonic work as defined by the review
should be taught discretely. The knowledge, skills and understanding
that constitute high-quality phonic work should be taught as
the prime approach in learning to decode (to read) and encode
(to write/spell) print.
- Phonics work should be set within a broad and rich language
curriculum that takes full account of developing the four
interdependent strands of language: speaking, listening, reading
and writing and enlarging children's stock of words.
- The Primary National Strategy should continue to exemplify
'quality first teaching', showing how robust assessment of
children's learning secures progression in phonic work and
how literacy is developed across the curriculum from the Foundation
Stage onwards.
Impact on the Early Years Foundation Stage and the National
Literacy Strategy's Framework for teaching
- For most children, high-quality, systematic phonic work should
start by the age of five, taking full account of professional
judgments of children's developing abilities and the need to
embed this work within a broad and rich curriculum. This should
be preceded by pre-reading activities that pave the way for
such work to start.
- Phonic work for young children should be multi-sensory in
order to capture their interest, sustain motivation, and reinforce
learning in imaginative and exciting ways.
- The searchlights model should be reconstructed to take full
account of word recognition and language comprehension as
distinct processes related one to the other.
- The Early Years Foundation Stage and the renewed literacy
framework must be compatible with each other and make sure
that expectations about continuity and progression in phonic
work are expressed explicitly in the new guidance.
Provision for children with significant literacy difficulties
and the relationship of such targeted intervention programmes
with synthetic phonics teaching
- It is not the purpose of intervention work to shore up weak
teaching at Wave 1.
- Settings and schools should establish 'quality first teaching'
to minimise the risk of children falling behind and thereby
secure the most cost effective use of resources. High quality
phonic work should therefore be a priority within Wave 1 teaching.
- Given that intervention work will be necessary, settings
and schools should make sure that additional support is compatible
with mainstream practice.
- Irrespective of whether intervention work is taught in regular
lessons or elsewhere, the gains made by children through such
work must be sustained and built upon when they return to
their mainstream class.
- Leading edge interventions should continue to be exemplified
in guidance showing how the best provision and practice are
matched to the different types of special educational needs.
Leadership and management in schools
- Headteachers and managers of settings should make sure that
phonic work is given appropriate priority in the teaching
of beginner readers and this is reflected in decisions about
training and professional development for their staff.
- Settings and schools should make sure that at least one
member of staff is fully able to lead on literacy, especially
phonic work.
- Those in leadership and management positions should make
sure that the normal monitoring arrangements assure the quality
and consistency of phonic work and that staff receive constructive
feedback about their practice.
- Headteachers and governors should ensure that high quality
teaching of reading in Key Stage 1 informs realistic and ambitious
target-setting for English at Key Stage 2.
For a summary of the Rose review visit www.standards.dfes.gov.uk/rosereview/finalreport/
The full report is available to download at www.standards.dfes.gov.uk/rosereview/report
In February 2006, the TES reported that primary teachers across England were to be trained in using synthetic
phonics to help children to read from September 2006. Teacher training is also to be changed to place more emphasis
on synthetic phonics. Other changes would put more emphasis on speaking and listening,
and on cross-curricular approaches to teaching English for all
primary pupils.
For a summary of the interim findings from the Rose review visit
www.standards.dfes.gov.uk/rosereview/interim.
For the National Literacy Trust's response to the Rose review
interim report, submitted in February 2006, see NLT
opinion and policy statements.
2005
Pilot schemes to examine the practical questions of building on
the phonics teaching and further catch-up classes for children with
severe literacy problems were introduced in selected primary
schools from September 2005. 200 primary schools and linked early years settings trialled options
based on the Primary National Strategy's Playing with Sounds programme.
The Department for Education and Skills also pledged £5
million to 2007 to the Every Child a Reader project.
In June 2005, the then Education Secretary, Ruth Kelly, told the chairman of
the review body, Jim Rose, a former director of school inspections
for Ofsted, to concentrate on looking at the role of synthetic
phonics in improving reading standards. Research
carried out in schools in Clackmannanshire in Scotland, showed the reading age of 11-year-olds using just synthetic phonics
had leapt ahead of those using a variety of methods by as much
as seven months in a year.
An independent review of the role of synthetic phonics in teaching reading in primary schools and of support for children facing the greatest reading difficulties will be introduced, led by Jim Rose, to build on the success of the Government's National Literacy Framework. The row at the time was not over phonics vs. real books or whole world
teaching, but which type of phonics reading was best.
2003
In March 2003, the Department for Education and Skills held a seminar
to look at how the National Literacy Strategy could improve the
teaching of phonics. Six professionals were invited to give presentations
and present papers at the seminar. The National Literacy Strategy
also prepared its own paper, Teaching phonics in the National
Literacy Strategy, with the aim of "opening a new phase
of dialogue on the teaching of phonics in the National Literacy
Strategy."
The paper expressed the Strategy's belief that the design of the
NLS is "broadly correct and that the issues of improvement
are more to do with its implementation than its design." It
uses evidence taken from successful schools that have implemented
the Strategy well and achieved high standards in support of this
claim.
While it does not claim that an alternative design would not have
achieved similar success, it states that, on the basis of existing
evidence of successful practice, "if all teachers worked effectively
with the NLS phonics programme as it is designed, there would be
very significant further improvements in attainment."
Campaigners who wanted the literacy strategy to place greater emphasis
on phonics for the youngest children suffered a setback.
Professor David Hopkins, director of the standards and effectiveness
unit for the Department for Education and Skills, told the summit
of reading experts that he saw no grounds for radical changes
to the strategy.
At the seminar, members of the Reading Reform Foundation, which
was highly critical of the strategy, clashed with other teachers
and researchers. The foundation wanted the basic phonic code to
be taught to first-term reception children before any other reading
methods are introduced. The literacy strategy calls for early
phonics teaching, but wants methods, such as looking at books
or using context to decipher words, to be used where appropriate. After listening to the debate, Professor Hopkins said guidance
on teaching phonics might be fine tuned, but that he saw no grounds
for radical change.
Dr Greg Brooks, of Sheffield University, said research showed
the importance of phonics. But the jury was still out on exactly
what approach to phonics teaching was best. Read Professor Greg Brooks report to the DfES, giving his analysis of the issues and recommendations.
Why all teachers of English should be trained to use the THRASS 'Periodic Table of Phonics' . The paper presented to the Phonics Summit by Alan Davies.
2002
In 2002, the Government in England started a push for more phonics in infant
classes. A solid literacy grounding at infant
level was seen as vital in the drive to raise standards.
Ofsted found teaching of phonics to be good in only one in four
schools in 2000/1.
1999
In 1999, an intensive phonics course was developed by the National
Literacy Strategy in the hope of significantly accelerating the
rate at which young children learnt to read. It was introduced
by state primaries in England by the summer of 2000. Local education authorities got extra finance to allow
them to pay literacy consultants to train teachers in its use.
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