This is a well-written article well worth reading.
Notably, it alludes to the 'unions' unfounded (in my opinion) attitude towards phonics teaching and the proposed national age 6 phonics screening test.
Ironically, the article mentions some of Michael Rosen's material which actually consists of non-words - and yet there is an outcry by people such as the teachers' unions, Rosen himself (under the umbrella of the UKLA), some early years advisors and some academics about the age 6 test and its inclusion of some non-words.
Signifcantly, such people do not seem to have made a similar outcry (that I'm aware of) about the national testing of six and seven year olds at the end of key stage one in higher order aspects of literacy such as writing in specific genres and holding full conversations about opinions on literature, and written comprehension exercises.
So, how is it that a simple and quick word-reading test is causing so much concern?
Poor old phonics! How can it be that the very basis of our writing system (the alphabetic code) and the decoding and encoding skills required for reading and spelling has caused so much concern and emotion for so many people for so long?
It defies belief!
Extraordinary!
