We were sad to learn of the death of Professor Diane McGuinness and send our condolences and warm wishes to her family and friends. We have so much to be grateful for in many ways, thanks to Diane’s work and her friendship. Diane was very supportive of the work of the...
An Educational Psychologist colleague has just shared what she puts in her reports when asked for diagnoses of dyslexia: “While there is not a finite/discrete diagnosable condition of dyslexia, the following descriptors are outlined by the BPS (British Psychological...
Dear First Minister, Congratulations to you and Welsh Labour on your successful Senedd election campaign and winning another five years in government. No doubt you are already considering who your next cabinet members will be, and with our new curriculum in...
Teaching children to read and write successfully is undoubtedly the most important part of their education. Failure to do so brings appalling problems for these children and society. Over the years educationalists tended to ignore the evidence presented by research...
Phonics Developments in England from 1998 to 2018 The first UK government attempt to give phonics a higher profile in England was in the National Literacy Strategy (NLS), introduced in 1998. Whole-word and whole-language approaches had dominated before that, and...
Examining the evidence on the effectiveness of synthetic phonics teaching: the Ehri et al (2001) and C.Torgerson et al (2006) meta-analysesRhona Johnston, Emeritus Professor of Psychology, University of Hull Introduction In a recent article, Castles et al...
Earlier this year I was asked what I thought of The Hornet Literacy Primer. I did not know about it then. Now I have looked at the materials and found out more. I have not examined data about how successful the programme has been with students, but I can give an...
I think our current emphasis on social mobility and the efficacy of systematic synthetic phonics (SSP) for disadvantaged children is right, but let’s not forget the situation I remember in the late 80s and early 90s when I was seeing middle class, articulate children...
Everyone interested in literacy wants children to enjoy reading, including teachers, parents, children’s authors and campaigning groups like the National Literacy Trust and the Reading Reform Foundation. At the same time, we all want children to read for...
For years, book bands have provided an easy reference point to help teachers choose reading books for children. While classifying books from pink to lime and beyond may appear useful, the grading is based simply on factors such as the length of words, sentences and...