Bancroft-Rosalie is a Phonics Based reading school, as opposed to a Whole Language/Guided Reading school.
I am attaching a news article from Australia (Sydney Daily Telegraph) reporting on Reading instruction in Australia.
STUDENT teachers will be forced to
learn the phonics method of teaching children how to read as the state
government moves to override university programs.
In a move set to trigger a showdown between the government and the
State’s universities, the Board of Studies and Educational Standards NSW
has declared it will strip institutions of accreditation unless
teaching courses return to the more traditional literacy learning
method.
Phonics involves children being taught to read by sounding out letters in words.
The
system was sidelined in the 1980s by a more whole-language, word
recognition approach, which continues to be taught as part of Bachelor
of Education courses.
However, State Education Minister Adrian Piccoli said paying lip service to the method was no longer good enough.
“Some
unis are just paying lip service while others are doing it thoroughly,”
he said. “It will become a requirement they teach phonics and we are
going to enforce it.
“It is a must do, not a might do.”
The edict follows an audit
of universities that found many Bachelor of Education programs adopted a
holistic, word recognition-based approach in teaching children how to
read.
The approach has been described by some education
bureaucrats as a legacy from the 1970s with teaching students from that
era taking the more free-spirited approach into the classroom.
However,
the majority of State schools require teachers to have students sound
out words as one of the key methods used in the classroom.
The
move by the State Government to force universities to place a greater
emphasis on the teaching of phonics follows the results of a recent
school survey which found thousands of primary school students recorded
stunning improvements in literacy after using a cutting-edge
phonics-based program.
BOSTES president Tom Alegounarias said the phonics approach to teaching reading had been demonstrated to work effectively.
However, he acknowledged the strong opposition to the approach among some academics and teachers.
“The fact is it works and it is the approach adopted in our schools,” Mr Alegounarias said.
“Should the universities ignore it, they will face losing their accreditation.
“The accreditation allow students to go from university to teaching positions in our schools.”
Learning
support teacher Jill Ryman said she had been successfully teaching
children from Kindergarten to Year 6 how to read via a phonics-based
approach for the past 20 years.
Ms Ryman, who teaches at William
Clarke College in Kellyville, said she had been handed children in Year 5
who had come from other schools where other methods had been taught
with serious reading difficulties.
She said allowing children to sound out words dramatically improved their reading abilities.
“The
people against it think the children miss out but we include books
where they can sound out words and those with more difficult words which
we read and talk about,” Ms Ryman said.
“The children are restricted to Dick and Jane-type boring books.
“We
screen all our kindy kids and pull out those who aren’t quite there.
The key to learning to read is to intervene early and that’s what we
do.”
The Board will meet with the universities to discuss its decision to determine the way forward.
