News
Children's Laureate raises concerns over phonics
8 Jan 2013
Speaking at the launch of a series of short plays aimed at raising young children's reading skills, Julia Donaldson, author of popular children's story The Gruffalo, said:
What I've always thought is that children learn in various different ways.
Some children respond better to phonics, some to looking and seeing words and some learn by osmosis. Any good teacher knows you need a variety of ways of reading.
She says pupils learn in "various different ways" and a phonics-based reading test could leave some feeling they are "not quite up to scratch".
The Department for Education said the ability to decode words was essential. A spokesman said:
Ensuring all children master the ability to decode and sound out new words is essential if they are to become confident readers.
The Children’s Laureate said she was a supporter of phonics and there had been a time when she had wondered why the teaching method had not been used more but that now the pendulum had "swung too far the other way".
Read the full story at BBC Education.
