‘Scrap phonics tests for young’

Controversial phonics tests for primary school children should be scrapped due to the stress they cause to youngsters, according to the findings of a major new survey involving a Yorkshire university.

CONTROVERSIAL PHONICS tests for primary school children should be scrapped due to the stress they cause to youngsters, according to the findings of a major new survey involving a Yorkshire university.

The phonics check, introduced in 2012, is taken by all five and sixyear-old children at the end of Year One.

It consists of 40 words – 20 real words and 20 pseudo words – and is marked by the child’s own teacher.

The new independent inquiry – The Phonics Screening Check 2012-2017 – has been co-edited by Professor Jonathan Glazzard, of Leeds Beckett University’s Carnegie School of Education, and Margaret Clark, a visiting professor at Birmingham’s Newman University. The research sought the views of headteachers, teachers and parents.

Prof Glazzard said: “This research demonstrates that the majority of teachers, headteachers and parents would like the phonics check to be discontinued. Our research found that it makes children stressed and anxious and reinforces a sense of failure.

“The vast majority of those surveyed agreed that the teaching of pseudo words is inappropriate.”

According to the survey, which involved 180 heads, 1,108 teachers and 157 parents, the check is making children cry and confusing good young readers.

More than four in five heads who took part in the survey said the test should no longer be statutory for all pupils in Year One.

Just six per cent of teachers thought the phonics check provided them with new information on children.

One teacher said: “We teach to the test. It’s depressing and goes against everything most teachers want to deliver.

“Reading should be for pleasure, for learning and for life. Subjecting five-year olds to ‘failure’ at reading is just crazy.”

A teacher commented on the survey form: “Children who are competent readers are becoming anxious and tearful over pseudo words.”

Another explained: “Children are stressed. Some cry. It also results in an overuse of phonics when reading.”

In the research, 82 per cent of parents said they had been asked to practise recognising pseudo words such as “reb”, “wup” and “meft”, which are included to ensure that pupils are using phonic knowledge rather than memorisation to read.

Most of the teachers surveyed thought that the pseudo words should not be included in the test, with 63 per cent reporting that they had seen children affected by the test.

Teachers said that the words, even with alien pictures to highlight their pseudo status, still confused children.

The report said: “Headteachers showed a level of disquiet about the use of pseudo/non/alien words in the phonics check.

“Twenty-seven of them commented on the focus that is now put on the teaching of alien/pseudo/ non-words in Year One to the detriment of other reading strategies.”

More than 60 per cent of the teachers surveyed said the test had affected the way they teach.

Last year, 81 per cent of Year One pupils passed the test. Children who fail must retake the test the following year.

The report calls for the Government to seriously consider discontinuing the phonics check or making it voluntary.

In addition, the survey has recommended that the inclusion of pseudo words should be rethought. The Yorkshire Post contacted the Department for Education for comment.