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Janet Downs: Minister is right to promote reading for pleasure – but then spoils it by repeating dodgy data

Schools Minister, Nick Gibb, wants to ignite a passion for reading in children. There’s no shortage of groups to help him including Booktrust, Volunteer Reading and Bookstart. It’s a pity his Government slashed the funding for Bookstart – perhaps Mr Gibb will get it reinstated. But what should have been an inspirational launch of his ideas has been dampened by the ... read more and comment →

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Janet Downs: If schools minister knows that phonics alone is not enough, why does he push the synthetic method so vehemently?

“Systematic synthetic phonics instruction had a positive and significant effect on disabled readers’ reading skills,” said a recent Department for Education (DfE) press release which quoted American research that such instruction improved the reading ability of readers with learning difficulties. The cited report, however, did not just consider “synthetic phonics” – teaching pupils to blend sounds to form recognisable words – ... read more and comment →

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Latest comment by Andrew Old: "Even for you this one's pretty extreme in its selectivity. You appear to have pulled out lots of unimportant qualifying statements as though they were enough to undermine synthetic phonics, then (in your comment) linked to a post that has ......"

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Janet Downs: What can carers do to help children become successful readers?

Fifteen-year-old pupils whose carers read books with them during their first year of primary school score higher in the Programme for International Students Assessment (PISA) tests which take place every three years. PISA tests do more than just test reading, maths and science. They asked teachers, pupils and parents questions to discover what factors affect how well children do. In 2009, ... read more and comment →

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Latest comment by Shirley Burnham: "That is superb of you. National Libraries Day is on 4th Feb, I expect you know : http://www.nationallibrariesday.org.uk/2012/01/press-release-love-your-libraries-on-february-4th/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+NationalLibrariesDay+%28National+Libraries+Day%29 And the Lobby for Libraries event in London on 13th March is likely to be most invigorating : http://www.thebookseller.com/news/library-supporters-unite-13th-march-rally.html#.TxAn8i5XvpM.email My best ......"

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Janet Downs: Schools Minister woos next generation of voters by telling them they’re not good enough

Nick Gibb really hasn’t got a grasp of statistics.   Just two weeks since he cleared a press release which contained a table saying that 77 minus 73 equalled 15, he now releases another one with dodgy stats. “England’s 15-year-olds’ reading is more than a year behind the best,” shrieks the headline.  DfE number-crunchers have studied the 2009 PISA results and found ... read more and comment →

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Latest comment by Janet Downs: "The full version of the study says: “Pupils in England scored an average of 495 points in the PISA 2009 reading assessment; 493 points in mathematics and 515 points in science. Although all scores were slightly higher than the average ......"

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Don Skooling: The story of the teaching of English over the last twenty years is one in which coherency and common sense have lost out to the monolithic pressures of assessment.

Having taught in comprehensive schools throughout South Yorkshire, I left teaching in 2002 to work for a local authority. I became an independent consultant in 2007. My experiences over the last ten years or so have sadly confirmed my headline to this story: an assessment-driven curriculum has distorted the teaching of English in secondary schools. How has it done this? ... read more and comment →

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Latest comment by JimC: "We're not talking about grade inflation we were talking about schools gaming the system. In many schools I know of specialist subject curriculum time has been slashed and to fill timetables some teachers now deliver an ICT course (100% coursework) ......"

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Francis Gilbert: Let’s support the summer reading challenge and get every child reading!

The Summer Reading Challenge is a really cool project which aims to get schools, libraries and parents working together so our children might actually do some reading they like this summer! For an English teacher like me, this is the Holy Grail: if one of my pupils actually enjoys reading, then everything else follows; happiness at school, success in the classroom, ... read more and comment →

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Latest comment by Francis Gilbert: "This is a very good point Penny. Maybe we need to set up a secondary reading challenge too!? I have trawled around and not found one. Anyone else got any suggestions?..."

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Fiona Lane: East Reading residents are having good educational provision snatched away from them in an undemocratic fashion.

East Reading is being removed from the Designated Area ( catchment areas) of an outstanding comprehensive, Maiden Erlegh, their nearest, local school, which is situated just across the border in Wokingham borough. They are to be forced to walk considerably farther to a school judged only "satisfactory" and which has a poor reputation locally. At the same time, ... read more and comment →

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Latest comment by Fiona Lane: "Highdown, JMA and Blessed Hugh Farringdon are all over-subscribed, as was Bulmershe this year, none of them being local schools for those who live in East Reading. I am not suggesting ending selection, just pointing out that East Reading ......"

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