Dr Jennifer Buckingham: Focus on Phonics - a report recommending use of an annual phonics check

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Debbie_Hepplewhite
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Re: Dr Jennifer Buckingham: Focus on Phonics - a report recommending use of an annual phonics check

Post by Debbie_Hepplewhite »

IFERI committee member, Molly de Lemos flagged up more resistance to a phonics check in Australia.

Molly noted:
‘Australian Government Primary Principals Association president Michael Fay said tests of young children’s early reading skills should not be used for “simplistic external accountability” purposes.’

See https://thewest.com.au/news/wa/phonics- ... b88439552z

I wonder what is ‘simplistic’ about ensuring that all children have a solid foundation for learning to read?
Here is the piece:
Phonics test opposed by Australian school principals

EXCLUSIVE, Bethany Hiatt, Education Editor

Sunday, 9 April 2017

Federal Education Minister Simon Birmingham said the test would not be used to compare schools.

Primary school principals are ramping up their opposition to a proposed phonics screening test for Year 1 students, because they have “grave concerns” it would lead to unfair school comparisons.

The Federal Government is planning a trial of a nationwide phonics assessment, similar to a model used in British schools, to check if six-year-old pupils are picking up early reading skills.

The assessment would be in addition to NAPLAN testing in Year 3 and oral language exams that WA students do in pre-primary.

Australian Government Primary Principals Association president Michael Fay said tests of young children’s early reading skills should not be used for “simplistic external accountability” purposes.

“We have grave concerns that if this Year 1 phonics check was to come in that schools would be labelled in a similar way (to NAPLAN comparisons),” he said. “We don’t think this is constructive.” In a position paper released ahead of a visit to Australia this week by British Schools Minister Nick Gibb to promote the benefits of phonics screening, principals said they would resist any move to extend the national testing regime.

“Principals view the proposal as an ill-informed reaction to recent reports on Australian schooling that does not address the real issues about improving student outcomes in literacy and numeracy,” the statement said.

It said all States already had school-entry assessment tools in place to identify students needing more support, so a nationwide phonics assessment would be an “unnecessary duplication”.

Federal Education Minister Simon Birmingham said though some data might be used to inform policymaking, the test would not be used to compare schools.

“We’re not suggesting that this is something that will lead to league tables, rankings, public scores being released for individual schools or anything that applies that type of pressure,” he said.“This is about providing the right tool for teachers for use in their classroom to help their children.”

Edith Cowan University senior education lecturer Lorraine Hammond said the phonics test could reduce teachers’ workloads by allowing the early identification of students at risk of reading failure.

She said it would help students decode words using their knowledge of letter-sound relationships, rather than guessing.
Lorraine Hammond is not wrong when she notes the check will reduce the teachers' workload. The introduction of the check will no doubt raise the levels of teachers' awareness about the notion of teaching effectiveness - and the more knowledgeable and better equipped the teachers are to teach the alphabetic code and phonics skills, the easier their job will become at ensuring all children are literate.

I can testify that the more literate all the children are, the more liberating this is for the rest of the curriculum wherever reading and writing is involved, the more the children will enjoy the wider curriculum and they will be more likely to enjoy reading and to read more widely - and so on. It can only be a win-win situation.
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Debbie_Hepplewhite
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Re: Dr Jennifer Buckingham: Focus on Phonics - a report recommending use of an annual phonics check

Post by Debbie_Hepplewhite »

More on the phonics check in The Sydney Morning Herald including comments by Professor Anne Castles:
Phonics tests: why some children struggle to read

Pallavi Singhal
http://www.smh.com.au/national/educatio ... vimkj.html
Professor Castles pointed to the technology used by the university's Centre of Excellence in Cognition and its Disorders and her research in the area over the past decade as evidence in favour of a phonics check, which forms part of a suite of education reforms that are being considered by the Turnbull government.

"When a child first comes to school, they have thousands of spoken words," Professor Castles said.

"What they have to learn is how to crack the code, how to match letters to the words they know.

"If you don't have phonics, learning to read is like learning the telephone book. You can only learn so many words."

Professor Castles said introducing phonics testing in schools would force teachers across the country to adopt the technique, improving the reading success of all schools.

"We'll see the effects of it quite quickly," she said.

Education research fellow at the Centre for Independent Studies, Jennifer Buckingham, who is a leading advocate of phonics, said the verdict on the reading technique was in and classrooms need to catch up.

"Why is there this persistent disconnect between extremely valuable research and classroom practice?" she said.
There is mention in the piece about Nick Gibb speaking at an event in Australia:
Mr Gibb is in Australia to compare education systems and joined NSW Department of Education secretary, Mark Scott, and Education Minister Rob Stokes at a public event on Tuesday night to discuss policy.


Please note: Anne Castles just wanted to clarify: "I should clarify that the "brain-imaging technology" referred to here is a humble eye-tracker..."

Here is a link to this event including video footage - see the second message on this page:

http://www.iferi.org/iferi_forum/viewto ... 3&start=20
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Debbie_Hepplewhite
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Re: Dr Jennifer Buckingham: Focus on Phonics - a report recommending use of an annual phonics check

Post by Debbie_Hepplewhite »

ABC News is quick off the mark following the CIS event featuring Nick Gibb's visit to Australia:

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-04-11/c ... ad/8435562
Australia urged to use phonics in reading strategy as British schools minister tours country

By the National Reporting Team's Natasha Robinson and Rebecca Ermitage

British schools minister Nick Gibb is urging Australia to embrace phonics as part of a national strategy to help children read.

He's here to meet educators, teachers and politicians as the Turnbull Government moves to introduce literacy screening in Year 1 across the country.

Mr Gibb has toured a specialist literacy laboratory at Macquarie University in Sydney ahead of a meeting with federal Education Minister Simon Birmingham in Adelaide later this week.

Seven years ago, the UK Government embraced the explicit method of instruction known as phonics at a national level amid concerning national statistics.

Mr Gibb was the minister responsible.

"We were worried that one in three primary school students were still struggling with reading, the basic building blocks of an education," Mr Gibb said.

"We wanted to make sure that schools were using systematic synthetic phonics in the way they taught children to read, because all the evidence from around the world showed that was the most effective way of teaching children to read.

"So we introduced this very simple check: children reading to their own teacher 40 simple words to make sure they were on track for Year 1 readers."

The idea is being considered by Mr Birmingham, who has appointed an expert advisory panel to give advice.
Do read the full piece - it's not long.
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Debbie_Hepplewhite
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Re: Dr Jennifer Buckingham: Focus on Phonics - a report recommending use of an annual phonics check

Post by Debbie_Hepplewhite »

Letter to Senator Simon Birmingham in support of trialling a UK-style phonics check in Australia signed by representatives of the Developmental Disorders of Language and Literacy Network (DDOLL):

https://www.ldaustralia.org/client/docu ... 202016.pdf
Senator the Honourable Simon Birmingham 107 Sir Donald Bradman Drive
Hilton SA 5033
Minister@education.gov.au

December 13, 2016

Dear Senator Birmingham,

We the undersigned, being members of the (Australian) Developmental Disorders of Language and Literacy (DDOLL) Network, are writing to endorse the views of Professors Snow, Castles, Wheldall, and Coltheart in their recent piece on The Conversation arguing the case in support of a trial of a UK-style Phonics Check in Australia.

The importance of early, evidence-based practice and intervention with respect to early reading success and academic achievement more widely has again been highlighted, with the release in December of the latest PISA data, showing that once again, Australia has slipped backwards on international rankings. This sits alongside further “flat-lining” on 2016 NAPLAN results, as released today.

We hope the Federal Government will see fit to use this ongoing decline as a trigger to re- engage with the 2005 National Inquiry into the Teaching of Literacy recommendations, so that the systematic teaching of synthetic phonics is mandated in teacher pre-service education and properly supported as the starting point in reading instruction in early year’s classrooms across Australia. In conjunction with this, we seek Federal government support for a formal trial of a Year 1 Phonics Check, in line with recent practice in the UK. We fully support the recommendations contained within this report, as well as the views expressed by Professors Snow, Castles, Wheldall, and Coltheart above.
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Debbie_Hepplewhite
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Re: Dr Jennifer Buckingham: Focus on Phonics - a report recommending use of an annual phonics check

Post by Debbie_Hepplewhite »

I received this important update on developments regarding the battle in Australia for the national implementation of a phonics check:
Quick update - 12th September, 2018:

Today the Phonics Check petition with over 4,600 signatures (212 pages) and 55 pages of comments from parents, teachers, speech pathologists, academics and supporters was sent to Federal Education Minister Hon Dan Tehan MP requesting this be tabled at the COAG meeting on Friday 14 September; urging all State and Territory Ministers to follow the evidence and say YES to the Phonics Check.

Parents across the country have also accessed our template email and written to their respective ministers in support of the Phonics Check.

We will continue to push until every state and territory takes this first step in optimising literacy outcomes for all students.
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