Polly Curtis writes: Are the Tories getting their phonics in a twist? This morning Michael Howard said they would replace Labour's national literacy strategy with phonics, a "traditional, proven" method. The shadow education secretary, Tim Collins, later clarified that by this they meant "synthetic phonics". But synthetic phonics have only been introduced at all into schools since 1998 as a small element in the Labour government's literacy strategy.
What the Tories are nostalgic for is plain old phonics, where children learn letter by letter, so left to their own devices they can work out words; in synthetic phonics, they also learn letter by letter, but the system also includes more advanced methods of how to "blend" the letters together, so you can say them properly too. True, phonics went out of fashion in the 1970s when teacher training colleges started teaching analytic phonics, where children learn whole words from pictures and rhyme games – "look and say" as it was often known – but they've recently got a new airing. Synthetic phonics are trendy since a major study in Clackmannanshire in Scotland produced miracle results. Read the full Guardian report here.
Polly Curtis is a correspondent on EducationGuardian.
