Systematic Synthetic Phonics is internationally acknowledged as key to teaching early years children how to read.
There is extensive and robust research demonstrating its effectiveness, which is why it is the favoured approach of many education systems across the world.
The Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) Teaching and Learning Toolkit, which summarises education interventions on cost, evidence and impact, gives it five ‘padlocks’ – its highest rating.
It says SSP offers: “High impact for very low cost based on very extensive evidence.”
But despite all this, the Welsh Government has failed to make SSP the focus of its Curriculum for Wales guidance for the teaching of reading in the early years.
Instead, phonics is just one of several recommended approaches, which also includes vocabulary building and reading comprehension.
What’s more, phonics is only mentioned in its generic form, rather than specifically SSP. As research shows, there are many different types of phonics reading approaches, but not all have the efficacy and impact of SSP.
The most effective research-informed approach for early reading cannot be lucky dip, rather it should be front and centre.
We had hoped the education minister, Jeremy Miles, might rectify this last week when he announced in Plenary new support for the teaching of reading in early years.
There was much focus in his statement on the use of phonics and research-based teaching but unfortunately, he stopped short of changing the guidance.
He said the Government will now work with Estyn to create a ‘toolkit’ to support reading – the same Estyn that has in the past have promoted a ‘mixed method’ approach to teaching reading through its effective practice reports and thematic reports.
At Impact we believe there is nothing more important than ensuring ALL children read well before the end of primary school.
This is especially important in Wales where, as we know, literacy continues to be an issue.
Take the international PISA rankings. While Wales improved its score in reading in the 2018 tests compared to 2015, it is still below the OECD average and by far the lowest of the UK nations.
Is it a coincidence that the highest-ranked UK nation for reading – England – mandated phonics since 2010?
The ability to read is a fundamental right for every child in Wales. Therefore, our children deserve access to the highest quality teaching of reading. After all, reading will be the key to accessing the rest of Curriculum for Wales.
It’s simple: if it is not made explicit in the CfW guidance that SSP is the approach all schools should use when teaching reading, then not only will we fail to improve standards but we will also be failing our children.
We urge the minister to rethink this.