Observations on the phonics check

I went into ‘Lovely Primary School’ yesterday. It is an oasis of cheerful learning in a desert of poverty. Lovely School is in one of the most deprived areas in London, yet I have never heard any of the teachers use that as an excuse. Quite the opposite, they have high aspirations for their pupils, talking to even the youngest pupils about when they go to university.

At Lovely School they teach systematic phonics really well. I’ve seen them teach it and OFSTED agrees with me. They also have a rich culture of language and books. Children not making expected progress are offered support and extra teaching by experienced and well trained staff.  In fact they do everything that is expected of them and more, in terms of teaching children to read. Yet a large percentage of children in Year 1 will apparently be failing this week.

Lovely School estimate around 50% of their pupils will fail the phonics test. They see the test for what it is- a very crude and blunt instrument that tells them nothing they don’t know already and does not in any way measure progress or achievement. The 50% failure rate will not show how far some children have come in a short time, nor that some have only arrived at the school this term. It will not show the sheer effort and determination of some children to have a go at reading challenging words, nor the time their teachers have spent supporting them, both academically and emotionally.

The test will not show John’s achievements. He was a very young class member, who cried throughout Reception as he’s never left his mother before. He also refused to speak until recently. This term, however, John is not only speaking but showing that he knows many digraphs and trigraphs and is starting to read. The test will not show that he is very immature and how rapid his progress has been this term as he finally copes with the pressures of school life. It will merely show that he has failed. The test takes no account of age which at five is of huge significance. Some children will have had a year longer of living than others, yet they are all expected to reach the same level at the same time. Would we expect them to be the same height too?

The test will not show Susie’s achievements. She arrived at the beginning of the academic year, having never been to school before and speaking little English. Until recently she too was a reluctant speaker but has suddenly understood, not only how to communicate in a new language but how to read and write as well. She got 19 out of the required 40 words, which for her is showing enormous progress. The teacher does not want to tell her parents she has failed, as no-one sees this as a failure, such effort and determination to be successful is not a failure.

The test will not show Thomas’s achievements. A few weeks ago the staff were wondering whether to even enter him for the test as he appeared to have learning difficulties and was not remembering any phonemes. Thomas had one to one teaching with a Teaching Assistant, which catered to his needs through using very active learning and ICT. Yesterday he was able to blend and segment and recognised many digraphs as well as single letters. He will still appear to fail; the test does not allow for children to develop later.

The test will not show Obe’s achievements. He arrived from Africa ,having never been to school before, at the beginning of this term. He is recognising most letters that he has covered in five weeks. He is able to blend and segment, though he had difficulty sounding out the nonsense words as they sounded incorrect to him and he kept trying to make them sound right. He had not covered alternative spellings of common digraphs as he has not been in school long enough, but he is clearly bright and capable and trying incredibly hard. He will still be a failure in terms of this test.

The test will also not show Rachel’s achievements. She is on the autistic spectrum but has picked up the ‘code’ of phonics. She does not read for meaning but can easily do the phonics test. She did however hit herself on the head with the book after every word she read. She passed the test with flying colours but may never be a true reader. The test will also not show how Princess looked at the practise word ‘sum’ and thought they had got it wrong as it is spelt ‘some’! It won’t show that David read the whole lot right but struggled with the pseudo words as it was a retrograde step for him to be reading nonsense.

Learning phonics is a really useful tool, but it is not a magic potion that will cure all the ills in education. What will make a difference will be teachers like the ones at Lovely School. That is so long as they remain in the profession, before getting fed up of the dictatorial nature of central government. Good teaching by good teachers makes the difference; decoding nonsense words does not.