The background

How best to teach children to read has been a problem area for many educational psychologists, academics and teachers for years. And it is likely to remain so. And that makes it even more important that parents become more involved in making informed choices about how their children are taught.

They are the single most important indicator of how well a child will do at school. If a parent shows even 10 minutes of interest in what their child is doing a day and reads one story or pays real attention and gives praise where it's due it can make a massive difference to the way their child responds in school.

By arming themselves with the facts parents will be in a better position to help their children and also to support their child's school as it tries to meet twin demands of improving standards and meeting the individual needs of each child in its care.

The facts

Over the past decade millions of pounds of investment and dozens of new school and teaching initiatives have been tried to improve the UK's children's ability to read and write.

There have been improvements but most of those happened within the first two years of the introduction of the Literacy Hour in schools in 1997/98. Then standards in reading jumped from 79% of children attaining satisfactory results in assessments aged 7 in 1995 to 84% by 2006 and at Year 6 from 67% to 84% of pupils reading to the required level for their age.

But that's where the improvements stalled and for the last seven years 20% of our children are being left behind unable to learn at primary school because they can't read well enough to follow the lessons and unable to learn at secondary school because they can't read the books they need to study.

According to research published over the past six years this situation can lead to children ending up as outsiders who begin to see themselves as failures so they cut themselves off further from school, behaviour starts to slide and they end up leaving with no results worth talking about.

The majority of children in the UK do learn to read and write and they do it well. But the gap between them and those who have problems learning is becoming wider and despite the new initiatives and the millions of pounds hundreds and thousands of children are being consigned to the scrap heap.

Every year over 118,000 youngsters leave their primary schools unable to read or write to the minimum standards required of their age group. This failure can cost a child its future and it costs the country billions in lost revenue, welfare benefits and criminal justice funds.

Failing to grasp the basics of reading and writing in primary schools is linked to low educational achievement and a lack of opportunity in later life. Whilst learning to read, particularly if you live in an area of high deprivation and low expectations can improve your chances of a job and a decent life.

The irony is that it the 20% who fail to make the government targets every year can learn to read if they are taught properly in the first place. And if everyone is being taught properly and some children still don't get it, then they and their problems can be identified earlier.

At the publication of their influential report Tackling Low Educational Achievement which highlighted the particular problems faced by working class families, Professor Robert Cassen commented that the government has the power to help those children.

"But there appears to be a gap between the knowing and the doing", said Professor Cassen. "Most schools are doing well, others are not and this should not be happening."

So what can I do?

If every one of over eight million schoolchildren in England's 17,350 primary schools then they will be able to get a better education and will have more opportunities for work.

Learning to read will also mean that the children can help break a cycle of deprivation and disadvantage that has dogged the UK for decades.

And according to the Leitch Review of skills it will help the economy.

To make sure your child is being taught using systematic Synthetic Phonics in a similar way to Monteagle School and in West Dunbartonshire, Scotland, there are a number of things parents can do…

• Find out more about Letters and Sounds, the government's new synthetic phonics package rolled out for Reception and Year One primary pupils this year. Every family in the country is entitled to a free information pack with DVD. Get yours by contacting the Department of Children Families and Schools on 0870 000 2288.



• Ask your school what synthetic phonics teaching programme they are using and maybe arrange to sit in on a demonstration or arrange one yourself.



• There may be people at your school who do not support teaching through synthetic phonics. Insist that the government line is that synthetic phonics is used and that is what you want for your child.



• Ask about the possibility of buying in an approved commercial synthetic phonics programme that will train teachers and also provide the practical tools such as flashcards, charts and graded reading books.



• Quietly insist that you want your child is taught to sound out letters and words and blend them rather than point and guess based on clues from books.



• If you are not up to approaching the teacher write your comments on your child's Reading Record Book.



• If your child is falling behind already and needs extra help, find out about the intervention programmes used by the school. Do they use synthetic phonics? Do they encourage guessing?



• If you have difficulties with contacting your school or feel your wishes are being ignored seek advice from the Reading Reform Foundation's message board and contact your local council or Local Education Authority.

Authors: Debbie Hepplewhite & Mary Carson

Reading with Synthetic Phonics | Back to School | Reading – How to Make it Fun | Why You Should Bother | What To Do if Your Child Has Reading Difficulties | Parents Rights and Responsibilities

Top