No laughing matter

I can’t understand why we would look to a playwright and satirist for advice on the best approach to teaching literacy. Dave Armstrong (May 7) acknowledges that he’s no expert and appeals to his sample size of one great niece to advocate for a whole language approach to teaching reading.

He also argues that England switched to structured phonics in 2006 as evidence that it doesn’t work. It’s true that England introduced this in 2006 and UK 15-year olds are now among the best readers in the world (ranking 13th out of the 81 economies taking part in the 2022 OECD Programme for International Student Assessment).

It takes time for the benefits to flow through. I have a strong preference for looking to scientists for information about what works and, on this point, the science is settled: structured literacy works. Sorry, but this is no laughing matter.

Dr Craig Jones, Ngaio

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