Andrew Old: '3 ways phonics denialists will try to fool you'

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Debbie_Hepplewhite
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Andrew Old: '3 ways phonics denialists will try to fool you'

Post by Debbie_Hepplewhite »

Andrew Old has written a number of excellent blog posts drawing attention to the issue of 'phonics denialism' via his Scenes of The Battleground' blog:
3 ways phonics denialists will try to fool you

November 25, 2017

I don’t teach reading. The only reason I take an interest in the phonics “debate” is that it’s the one area of teaching where the evidence seems overwhelming. Study after study, review after review (or rather the ones that look at a significant body of empirical evidence) conclude that the closer a method of teaching reading is to Systematic Synthetic Phonics (SSP), the better it is. This is not just the best established empirical result in education, it’s probably the best established result in the entire social sciences. As such, the teaching profession’s willingness to listen to the evidence about this, also indicates our status as evidence-informed, rational professionals.

Unfortunately, like climate change, evolution or vaccination, the conclusions reached are challenging to some ideologies. This means there are those who wish to deny the evidence, usually by confusing people, misleading them or outright lying to them. I wrote about phonics denialism a few years ago.
https://teachingbattleground.wordpress. ... -fool-you/

This link above leads to Andrew's other posts written over a number of years as the debate has unfolded in England (but all relevant internationally).
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Debbie_Hepplewhite
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Re: Andrew Old: '3 ways phonics denialists will try to fool you'

Post by Debbie_Hepplewhite »

The event which prompted Andrew Old to write his latest post was the TES piece featuring the book published by phonics detractor, Professor Andrew Davis, see here:
Phonics 'fundamentalism' is based on flawed science, says education expert

Jonathan Owen

22nd November 2017
https://www.tes.com/news/school-news/br ... expert?amp

The media giving Professor Andrew Davis national coverage in the past led to a great deal of professional consternation - including my response to the coverage - here is the history of this dated from January 2014 (now over 20,000 views):

https://phonicsinternational.com/forum/ ... .php?t=556
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Debbie_Hepplewhite
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Re: Andrew Old: '3 ways phonics denialists will try to fool you'

Post by Debbie_Hepplewhite »

Here is one of my articles in which I refer to the issue of 'teachers' professional choices'. Prof Andrew Davis argues for the right of teachers to make professional choices in the methods they use for reading instruction - but I argue the situation is more complex than that and children's right for evidence-informed reading instruction should take precedence over the notion of professional choices:

http://www.iferi.org/iferi_forum/viewto ... ?f=2&t=914
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Debbie_Hepplewhite
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Re: Andrew Old: '3 ways phonics denialists will try to fool you'

Post by Debbie_Hepplewhite »

Andrew's addendum to which I've added a comment:
Addendum: A 4th Way phonics denialists will try to fool you
https://teachingbattleground.wordpress. ... ment-25798
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Debbie_Hepplewhite
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Re: Andrew Old: '3 ways phonics denialists will try to fool you'

Post by Debbie_Hepplewhite »

Following the 2016 PIRLS results and the subsequent flurry of denial and scepticism about the findings for England, Andrew Old comments with his usual forensic evidence to back up his commentary:

http://www.iferi.org/iferi_forum/viewto ... 1767#p1767
Don’t let phonics denialists move the goal posts after PIRLS 2016
This is another 'must read'!
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