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<h1 id="gmail-story-headline">New Zealand teachers defy policy with push for phonics</h1><div id="gmail-story-primary-asset" class="gmail-media-image"><div class="gmail-story-image gmail-secondary-asset gmail-landscape"><figure><a href="https://cdn.newsapi.com.au/image/v1/1663242868732071eda73333dfd36e3a" class="enlarge gmail-zoomable gmail-zoom-on"><img alt="researchers from New Zealand’s Massey University found that 90 per cent of more than 660 primary school teachers reported employing phonics-style methods in their literacy instruction. Picture: iStock" src="https://cdn.newsapi.com.au/image/v1/1663242868732071eda73333dfd36e3a?width=650" width="650" height="365"></a><figcaption class="gmail-story-caption">researchers
 from New Zealand’s Massey University found that 90 per cent of more 
than 660 primary school teachers reported employing phonics-style 
methods in their literacy instruction. Picture: iStock</figcaption></figure></div></div><ul id="gmail-story-info" class="gmail-has-author gmail-has-comments"><li class="gmail-source">The Australian</li><li class="gmail-timestamp"><time datetime="2018-05-16T14:00:00.000Z" class="gmail-date-and-time">12:00AM May 17, 2018</time></li><li class="gmail-tools gmail-save-story"><a href="https://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/education/new-zealand-teachers-defy-policy-with-push-for-phonics/news-story/32eb6217eb2fec1545cd66738044e3de#" class="gmail-tools-add-shortlist">Save</a></li><li class="gmail-tools gmail-share"><div id="gmail-share-tools"><ul id="gmail-share-tools-list"><li class="gmail-share-item-facebook gmail-first"><a title="Facebook" href="https://facebook.com/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theaustralian.com.au%2Fnational-affairs%2Feducation%2Fnew-zealand-teachers-defy-policy-with-push-for-phonics%2Fnews-story%2F32eb6217eb2fec1545cd66738044e3de&t=Kiwi%20push%20for%20phonics" target="_blank" class="gmail-share-facebook">Share on Facebook</a></li><li class="gmail-share-item-twitter"><a title="Twitter" href="https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theaustralian.com.au%2Fnational-affairs%2Feducation%2Fnew-zealand-teachers-defy-policy-with-push-for-phonics%2Fnews-story%2F32eb6217eb2fec1545cd66738044e3de&text=Kiwi%20push%20for%20phonics" target="_blank" class="gmail-share-twitter">Share on Twitter</a></li><li class="gmail-share-item-email"><a title="Email" href="mailto:?subject=Kiwi%20push%20for%20phonics&body=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theaustralian.com.au%2Fnational-affairs%2Feducation%2Fnew-zealand-teachers-defy-policy-with-push-for-phonics%2Fnews-story%2F32eb6217eb2fec1545cd66738044e3de" class="gmail-share-email">Share on email</a></li><li class="gmail-share-item-more gmail-more"><a title="Share more..." href="https://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/education/new-zealand-teachers-defy-policy-with-push-for-phonics/news-story/32eb6217eb2fec1545cd66738044e3de#share-tools" class="gmail-share-more">Share more...</a></li></ul></div></li><li class="gmail-tools gmail-comments"><a href="https://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/education/new-zealand-teachers-defy-policy-with-push-for-phonics/news-story/32eb6217eb2fec1545cd66738044e3de#comments" id="gmail-scroll-comments"><span class="gmail-livefyre-commentcount">10</span></a></li><li class="gmail-byline gmail-full"><div id="gmail-authors" class="gmail-has-author"><div class="gmail-module gmail-author-module gmail-no-bio"><div class="gmail-module-header"><h2 class="gmail-heading"><a href="https://www.theaustralian.com.au/author/Rebecca+Urban" rel="author">Rebecca Urban</a></h2></div><div class="gmail-module-content"><div class="gmail-dinkus"><a href="https://www.theaustralian.com.au/author/Rebecca+Urban" rel="author"><img src="https://media.theaustralian.com.au/authors/images/bio/rebecca_urban.png"></a></div><div class="gmail-title">NATIONAL EDUCATION CORRESPONDENT</div><div class="gmail-location">Melbourne</div></div><div class="gmail-module-footer"><div class="gmail-twitter"><a href="http://twitter.com/RurbsOz" rel="me" target="_blank">@RurbsOz</a></div></div></div>
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</div></li></ul><div id="gmail-story-description"><p class="gmail-selectionShareable">Teachers
 in New Zealand are defying longstanding education policy on literacy 
and using phonics programs to teach children how to read, with a vast 
majority of converts reporting more confident and capable readers as a 
­result.</p></div><p class="gmail-selectionShareable">In a first of its kind study, to be published today in the <i>Australian Journal of Learning Difficulties</i>,
 researchers from New Zealand’s Massey University found that 90 per cent
 of more than 660 primary school teachers reported employing 
phonics-style methods in their literacy instruction.</p><p class="gmail-selectionShareable">And
 of the teachers surveyed, 84 per cent reported considerable benefits, 
such as improved reading ability, increased confidence in reading and 
writing, and a boost to literacy achievement across the classroom as a 
whole.</p><p class="gmail-selectionShareable">The study, which was funded in 
part by the New Zealand Ministry of Education, could have ­implications 
for education policy in Australia, which, like New Zealand, has seen 
reading proficiency among primary-aged students fall over recent years.</p><p class="gmail-selectionShareable">The
 federal government is currently pushing the states and territories to 
introduce a mandatory test of phonics skills for Year 1 students in a 
bid to arrest the ­decline. Education Minister Simon Birmingham is 
expected to use upcoming funding negotiations to press his case for the 
tests.</p><p class="gmail-selectionShareable">Massey University professor 
James Chapman, who led the study, said anecdotal evidence had suggested 
that, despite New Zealand education policy favouring a whole-language 
approach to literacy instruction, teachers were increasingly resorting 
to using varying degrees of phonics. And while the study confirmed this,
 finding that 68 per cent had embedded it in all literacy lessons, a 
related survey also found teachers had a mixed understanding of the 
literacy-related language structures required for effective teaching, 
meaning for many their ability to teach phonics effectively was 
constrained.</p><p class="gmail-selectionShareable">More than 50 different 
commercial phonics programs were found to be in use across the public 
schools surveyed; many of them lacking sound research to support them.</p><p class="gmail-selectionShareable">“Teachers
 know they should be using phonics and they are doing their best,” 
Professor Chapman said. “The system has been letting them down.”</p><p class="gmail-selectionShareable">Centre
 for Independent Studies senior research fellow Jennifer Buckingham said
 the study was relevant to Australia, where, ­although phonics was 
embedded in the curriculum, how well it was taught varied across the 
country.</p><p class="gmail-selectionShareable">She said many studies had 
found graduate teachers were emerging from training with a weak 
knowledge of the structures of the English language, while a large 
proportion of Australian early primary school teachers were not familiar
 with basic linguistic concepts.</p><p class="gmail-selectionShareable">“That’s
 one of the aims of the phonics check; to investigate if there is a 
weakness there and, if so, identify where those weaknesses are,” Dr 
Buckingham said.</p><p class="gmail-selectionShareable">Professor Chapman said Australia’s bid to introduce phonics screening was a “good move”, having worked well in Britain.</p><p class="gmail-selectionShareable">He
 said despite teachers’ best intentions, literacy levels in New Zealand 
were unlikely to improve unless teachers were given more support to 
increase their knowledge and skills in literacy instruction.</p>

<br clear="all"><br>-- <br><div class="gmail_signature" data-smartmail="gmail_signature">=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+<br><br> Harold F. Schiffman<br><br>Professor Emeritus of <br> Dravidian Linguistics and Culture <br>Dept. of South Asia Studies                     <br>University of Pennsylvania<br>Philadelphia, PA 19104-6305<br><br>Phone:  (215) 898-7475<br>Fax:  (215) 573-2138                                      <br><br>Email:  <a href="mailto:haroldfs@gmail.com" target="_blank">haroldfs@gmail.com</a><br><a href="http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/" target="_blank">http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/</a>    <br><br>-------------------------------------------------</div>
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