Ministers should review whether the phonics screening check for year 1 pupils is an “effective” intervention that helps children learn to read, researchers have said.
But a report from the Education Policy Institute (EPI) that suggested there was “no evidence” it led to improved outcomes has been criticised for its interpretation of changes to SATs results.
Introduced in 2012 by the coalition government, the check tests year 1 pupils’ reading. Those that don’t meet the expected standard take the test again in year 2.
The report looked at reading and writing attainment at the end of key stages 1 and 2, before and after the annual check was introduced.
It examined the effect for year 1 pupils, rather than the greater emphasis on phonics, and found a “general upward trend” in reading performance at key stage 1, with the proportion meeting the expected standard rising from 85 per cent in 2010, to 88 per cent in 2012.
But this increase “slowed and stalled”, with 90 per cent meeting the standard in 2013, rising to 91 per cent in 2015.
However, teacher and blogger Andrew Old, challenging the findings, said: “One might argue this is not a significant or reliable result, but it is ludicrously biased to describe it as the slowing and stalling of an existing trend.”
At key stage 2, results have “risen and then fallen”, the report found, with 71 per cent meeting the expected standard in reading in 2017, 75 per cent in 2018 and 73 per cent in 2019.
But researchers warned it was “particularly difficult to examine whether the check may have had an impact at key stage 2, because reformed assessments at this stage began in 2016”.
The report also found that children who met the expected standard in the phonics check were “more likely to go on to reach the ‘expected level’ in key stage 2 reading than those who ‘failed’”.
The report also looked at gaps between pupils of different characteristics. It found “no evidence” that any had closed, while gender gaps “appear to widen slightly”.
40% of teachers want check scrapped
The EPI also commissioned Teacher Tapp to ask its respondents about the phonics check.
Thirty-nine per cent said the check should be scrapped, while 24 per cent said it should be kept “but with significant changes”. Fourteen per cent said it should stay as it is.
Twenty-seven per cent of teachers said the check led to “neglect [of] other curriculum areas that are important”, while 15 per cent said it “encourages us to focus on teaching the most important things”.
When asked about the amount of lesson time spent on phonics in the fortnight leading up to the check, 30 to 60 minutes a day was the most common response.
The EPI has called on the Department for Education to “conduct a fresh, transparent, evidence-informed review of whether the phonics screening check is an effective national intervention that helps children learn to read”.
This review “should be undertaken by independent experts with a range of knowledge, including of children’s reading and literacy development, and of practices and pedagogies within primary schools”.
Such a review “might be undertaken alongside and inform, or form part of, the overarching curriculum and assessment review now being led by Professor Becky Francis for the department”.
Dr Tammy Campbell, the EPI’s director of early years, inequalities and wellbeing, said reading was “so important for learning, enjoyment, and access to ideas and imaginings”.
The curriculum and assessment review provided a “good opportunity to pause – and to reassess policy in this area”, she said.
A second report, also published this week, warned that children’s enjoyment of reading has dropped to the lowest point since records began in 2005.
Analysis of responses from more than 76,000 young people by the National Literacy Trust found 34.6 per cent said that they enjoyed reading in their free time, down 8.8 percentage points on last year. In 2016, the figure was two in three.
Reading frequency is similarly at a historic low, with only 20.5 per cent of eight to 18-year-olds saying they read daily in their free time.
The gender gap has also almost tripled, resulting from a greater drop in the proportion of boys reporting they enjoyed reading. Girls are now 12.3 percentage points more likely to report enjoying reading.
Jonathan Douglas, the trust’s chief executive, said “the futures of a generation are at risk”.
“To truly make reading for pleasure a national priority, we are urging the government to form a reading taskforce and action plan with multi-sector partners.”
The current phonics screening test is not inclusive. For example, children who are non-verbal are ‘disapplied’ even when they can demonstrate they can read using non-verbal strategies. By this, it shows that the screening test is more about their ability to speak not their ability to read.