Waiting for teachers to 'choose change' is a luxury children cannot afford - especially when teachers are badly misled
Posted: Fri May 12, 2017 10:45 am
As IFERI followers know, Australia is in the throes of investigating the possibility of introducing an official (obligatory) phonics check - the equivalent to the statutory Year One Phonics Screening Check in England.
Rather predictably (sadly - and, arguably, wrongly), there is resistance to this suggestion in Australia - just as we have experienced in England.
One protestor to the check is circulating the idea that teachers should be allowed to "choose change" rather than have it imposed on them. I'm afraid that in this case I cannot agree.
In response to this suggestion, I wrote the following for one of my networks which I think is worth sharing more widely as I feel very, very strongly about this issue:
There is so very much to lose by waiting for teachers to 'choose change' when some, perhaps many, will never choose change.
Rather predictably (sadly - and, arguably, wrongly), there is resistance to this suggestion in Australia - just as we have experienced in England.
One protestor to the check is circulating the idea that teachers should be allowed to "choose change" rather than have it imposed on them. I'm afraid that in this case I cannot agree.
In response to this suggestion, I wrote the following for one of my networks which I think is worth sharing more widely as I feel very, very strongly about this issue:
It is children's education and welfare at stake here, but also their teachers' (whether they realise it or not) and the parents/carers of the children.It’s all very well waxing lyrical about teachers wanting to ‘choose change’ – but in this field it’s taking a very long time for them to want to do so.
Further, teachers don’t know what they don’t know.
They are also continuously being misinformed and/or misguided as we know only too well – including via the latest video footage we’ve discussed.
The phonics check is the tip of the iceberg of really knowing what children can do at a certain stage (that is, not that challenging, nor comprehensive) but it is invaluable to raise teachers’ awareness that they just might be tinkering around the edges with their phonics provision and not doing a great service to all the children in their care.
I think I may have mentioned before about a phonics-friendly Reception teacher who uses the official Year One Phonics Check every year after the Year One children have completed it. She routinely finds that 66% of her children reach or exceed the benchmark – one full year before they need to do the check as a national assessment.
And, what indulgence that children’s foundational literacy can go on being weakly taught or not taught, simply because of the suggestion that the teachers need to want to 'choose change'.
If I was teaching now, and I thought or realized that various professional people and organisations were leading me against improving my own professional knowledge and expertise – I’d be doing my utmost to do something about that and to hold them to account.
Ah yes, I did that some time ago when the National Literacy Strategy was rolled out along with its ‘Searchlights’ – and who can believe that teachers and others are STILL having to raise awareness about these issues – in my case this is 19 years later. For others, many probably in the ..... network, I believe you can add a few decades on to that record!!!!!!!
Yet the clock ticks for each and every child.
The status quo suggests that the majority of children being deemed ‘dyslexic’ because they’re struggling with phonics/foundational literacy or failing to reach the benchmark in the Year One phonics check are being dreadfully failed by the teaching profession.
How can I say this? Because 1,138 schools in England achieved 95% to 100% of their children reaching or exceeding the benchmark. Some schools are achieving 100% year on year (St George’s for example). This number of schools is growing year on year. Join the dots.
This does not equate to the indulgent luxury and privilege of teachers ‘choosing change’.
Bah humbug.
There is so very much to lose by waiting for teachers to 'choose change' when some, perhaps many, will never choose change.