May 03, 2024
Stanford declares winner in phonics battle
The Government is mandating a phonics-based approach to learning to read for all state schools and kura.
Making the announcement at Manurewa East School yesterday, Education Minister Erica Stanford said just 56 per cent of Year 8 students are at the expected level for reading, and just 35 per cent for writing. The Government wants to make that 80 percent.
She says the structured literacy method of teaching children to read by using sounds and phonics is back to basics learning and goes hand-in-hand with the government’s requirement for schools to teach an hour every day of reading, writing and maths.
There will be $67 million in Budget 2024 to pay for books and resources for schools and professional development and training for teachers, as well as phonics checks to assess student progress.
Many schools including kura Māori are already using structured literacy, but some educationalists warn against a one size fits all approach to teaching.
“A highly explicitly, systematic way of teaching skills starting with using phonics to decode words. There are spelling skills as well as teaching other important components explicitly like vocabulary, comprehension and writing. We are seeing significant lifts in reading and writing in schools across the country that have implemented structured literacy,” Minister Stanford says.