In England's context, Minister Nick Gibb has worked hard for many years to make evidence-informed reading instruction 'cross party' and to promote the provision of Systematic Synthetic Phonics in England.
Here is an NUT (National Union of Teachers) post giving a flavour of a major teaching union's undermining of Nick Gibb's work and, therefore, the undermining of the provision of Systematic Synthetic Phonics - this is a travesty (and note the unprofessional sarcasm which I have highlighted in red):
https://www.teachers.org.uk/education-p ... ic-phonicsSynthetic phonics – show us the evidence!
15 March 2018
Policymaking in a vitally important field of English education has been captured by the views of one man: the schools minister, Nick Gibb. Few in the field would see this as news. But its implications do need considering.
Anyone in any doubt should consider what went on at an event last month, held at the Department for Education (DfE), where the Government sought to offer details on a range of recently-announced initiatives in the sphere of English teaching for children aged up to seven.
The gathering, on 27 February, saw the DfE setting out “procurement opportunities” for attendees who ranged from representatives of literacy charities to private firms. They were given details of a new Centre of Excellence for Literacy Teaching (CELT) and a network of 35 associated English “hubs” – which together have been valued at a reported £26 million – plus smaller contracts for “phonics roadshows” and “phonics partnerships”.
How does this relate to Mr Gibb? Well, as you might have guessed, given his widely-known pre-occupation with phonics teaching, the focus of all of the above initiatives was very much on the f-sorry ph-word.