Schools tune in to phonics success

Published on 03/04/2006 01:14

THE teaching method credited with eradicating children's illiteracy in one area of Scotland has been adopted by almost every local authority in the country.

The majority of schools now use some form of synthetic phonics, which has been praised by Jack McConnell, the First Minister and a former teacher, after Scots researchers discovered it enabled pupils to surge years ahead of their contemporaries.

Last week, it was reported that in West Dunbartonshire, where the system is used by most schools, previously high levels of pupil illiteracy had all but been wiped out.

Now it has emerged that at least 27 of Scotland's 32 local authorities have introduced the system, in which children are taught the sounds of individual letters then shown how to blend them to form words. A pilot project based on the groundbreaking teaching method took place in Clackmannanshire and showed that by primary seven, pupils were more than three years ahead of their peers in reading and almost two years ahead in spelling.

Ruth Kelly, the education secretary at Westminster, announced last week that all primary schools in England were to introduce the phonics method.

The Scottish Executive has refused to follow suit, insisting it is up to individual local authorities and schools to decide on the best teaching method for them.

However, increasing numbers of schools are now adopting the system after becoming convinced of its benefits.

The schools in 11 council areas use synthetic phonics exclusively, with another seven local authorities using it in combination with other methods. A further six councils say synthetic phonics is used in most of their schools, with three others saying some of their schools use it.

Two councils, Orkney and Shetland, did not provide an answer; Angus said it did not hold the information centrally, and only two - East Renfrewshire and Perth and Kinross - said they did not use the system at all.

Ann McLanachan, headteacher at Longniddry Primary School in East Lothian, said her school had been using it for seven years with great success.

"It is a method which can work quickly and which I think is best for about 95 per cent of children," she said.

"Synthetic phonics means taking a word like 'cat' and instead of breaking it down into individual letters such as 'c' then 'a' then 't', we teach children to say 'c' then 'ca' then 'cat'. It is also a great help when they start writing.

"By the October break of their first term, children have a handful of sounds and are not frightened to have a shot. It makes a big difference to their confidence. Once they have a few sounds and a couple of vowels they are off."

A spokesman for East Renfrewshire Council said: "We have never used synthetic phonics because our own teaching in primary schools using two or three methods has been highly successful as is shown by us being among the top-performing schools in Scotland."