What do you think about synthetic phonics?

Phonics are on all our minds at the moment with the Phonics Screening Check due to take place next month. The government have long maintained that synthetic phonics is the best way to teach children to read. But what do you think?

Do you think synthetic phonics is the best way to teach children to read?

  1. 0% said Yes, of course. This is the only method we should be using.
  2. 33% said Yes, but there’s no harm in adding other forms of learning too.
  3. 0% said I’m not sure. I don’t know enough about the method.
  4. 50% said No. I think it’s important to cover a range of methods, as one size doesn’t fit all.
  5. 17% said No way. We should teach children to enjoy reading, not destroy their interest by bombarding them with over-simplified theory.

Comments

Marie Charlton said on 13 May 2016

Children learn to read in very different ways and some children just absorb the clues and seemingly read spontaneously but a pre-requisite of all reading skills is motivation. Children who love language and stories are motivated and enthused and reading by whatever method is something that they want to do and they will master it by choice.