sharp intake of breath….
Following on from Jax blogging about the plans the Conservatives ahve to introduce reading tests at 6 (or was it 7?) is this in the Independent
So, are the Tories asking too much of our pupils and teachers?
Yes…
* Between five and 10 per cent of children won’t be able to read by the end of Year One. The new test will make them feel failures.
* Teachers need time to master the new method.
* His plan is political gamesmanship, positioning the Conservatives as dynamic and Labour as slow to change.
No…
* Phonics is the most effective way of teaching children to read quickly, so a test will ensure it is happening in the classroom.
* Teachers are dragging their feet in introducing the phonics reforms. These proposals will force them to get a move on.
* It will prepare young children for life at secondary school.
Obviously I have little to say about the "yes" points… (except perhaps that they almost seem to have been offered as Aunt Sallys)
As to the No points….
Glossing over the fact that the intention is to test a full year earlier than the current Literacy element of SATs is tested, thus giving children less time to "get it" before stamping them as thick…..
Phonics may well be a good way to learn to read for most children. For some it may be the ONLY way to learn to read, for some it JUST WON’T WORK! As for teaching them to read qucikly, what’s the rush exactly? What does it prove if they can decode the vast majority of the English Language if they don’t have any clues as to how to extract the meaning from any of it? I can "read" Italian reletively fluently (it uses a system of phonics very similar to Spanish, and being a Latin language is actually phonically regular), I’ve no idea what I’ve just read though!
A test of a child will ensure that the teacher is doing his or her job? No pressure then hey? Non on the kids to "do well for Mrs Teacher" or to "be ill" on the day of the test (as a boy on our street was invited to be on SATs week as the poor lad is really struggling with reading and the teacher felt it would be better not to put him under the additional pressure of performing) Non on the teacher to prematurely implement a system they may be totally new to and would prefer to actually get a grip on before fouling it up totally for the kids.
And of course, we NEED to test the kids to ensure teacher compliance. Not that we don’t beleive that if a teacher records that the whole day was spent in the manner recorded in their endless paperwork then that is what actually happened? We need to test the kids to see the teachers are being good girls and boys and doing what they are told.
Forcing the kids to take a test will force the teachers to "get a move on" and introduce these old, er, I mean new, ideas. Oh gee, that would make me feel SO valued if I was a teacher (NOT!!)
And the icing on the whole cake…. it will help our 6 and 7 year olds to be ready for secondary school. Because of course, they need to do this a good 3 or 4 years before they get there don’t they? I mean, really, if they haven’t sorted out who are the successes and who are the failures by the time they finish Year 1 then how on earth will they know their place when they get to Big School?
You know, this is almost angry enough to be banished to the ranty blog….. but it’s relevent so it can stay!
