A five-minute reading check for first-graders that includes made-up words like “beff” and “shup” has dramatically improved early literacy rates in the UK and is set to be adopted in Australia.
The Federal Education Minister Simon Birmingham has endorsed new research which suggests the UK’s Year 1 phonics screening check should be rolled out across Australian classrooms, after pledging to promote a back-to-basics approach to education in the May budget.
The test would provide data on student literacy levels as well as on how effectively teachers are teaching phonics, according to the report’s author, Dr Jennifer Buckingham from the Centre for Independent Studies.
The federal government is threatening to make state education funding contingent on state governments implementing measures like the phonics check, after the current funding deal runs out at the end of next year.
But the Teachers Federation said the screening test was “anti-teacher”, because it was based on not trusting teachers to do their jobs properly… Read More>>
Source: The Sydney Morning Herald
