Professor Pamela Snow writes yet another pertinent blog posting on the topic of the reality of teacher knowledge, literacy provision in schools and levels of literacy:
In their piece on The Conversation this morning, Queensland education academics Drs Stewart Riddle and Eileen Honan referenced a previous article of mine on The Conversation (co-authored with Alison Clarke) as a source of “misinformation” about how the teaching of literacy is approached in Australian schools.
I was mildly bemused to see that today’s piece opens with an effort to persuade the reader that there’s nothing controversial about early reading instruction. Ironically, this position is refuted in the NSW Department of Education document to which they link:
For decades now, phonics has been the subject of great public debate. It seems everyone has an opinion on it, so much so that a host of myths and half truths have arisen.
While experts argue about how much emphasis should be placed on phonics instruction in classrooms, just about all agree the teaching of phonics and phonemic awareness is critical to children learning to read.
Anyway, we’ll put that inconsistency aside.
Professor Pamela Snow has kindly agreed to join IFERI's Advisory Group and you can read about her work here:
The battle in the international Reading Wars has shifted once again. "Whole Language" has been retired by the bad guys. "Literacy" is now the heavy-lifter. The Australian article cited by Professor Snow is one indicator of the shift. Another indicator is that the US-based International Reading Association has changed its name to the International Literacy Association.
The "Literacy" banner retains all the old elements--reading for meaning, reading instruction at all ages, balance, variety of "methods," and so on. "Phonics" is within the large Literacy tent, but very subordinate to other considerations, and only as an early consideration.
It's a smart move politically, but its as phony as phlogiston. "Literacy Instruction" doesn't exist as such any more than "democracy instruction," "numeracy instruction" or any other honorific instruction exists. If "Literacy Instruction" indeed has any legitimacy, show us the instruction and show us the results. That's not in the cards.
The battle-line in the War remains in England with the results of the [Alphabetic Code] Phonics Screening Check at issue. Meanwhile, the bad guys hold the high ground and continue to prevail internationally.
