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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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