DfE Phonics screening check and key stage 1 assessment provisional figures: NEU comments

“In prioritising synthetic phonics above other approaches to the teaching of reading, the government is doing teachers and children no service. 

“Schools are working hard to ensure high scores in the phonics test, but teachers have no faith that a relentless focus on one kind of reading method produces readers who can enjoy and engage with real books. 

“The government continues to confuse accuracy in decoding words with fluency in reading. They are not the same thing, and Nick Gibb's claim that synthetic phonics is putting children on track to be fluent readers has no basis in research. 

“Ministers celebrate minor shifts in test scores, without seeing that the confusion of testing a narrow set of skills with learning a rich and complex set of skills continues to create problems for our children”.