The All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for Education has raised concerns that the coalition Government’s focus on phonics will contribute to a decline in literacy standards.
Supported and managed by the British Educational Suppliers Association (BESA), the APPG’s report, ‘Overcoming the Barriers to Literacy’, drew many conclusions including the recommendation that a single focus on systematic synthetic phonics is flawed.

The report referred to problems with the government’s recent initiative to match-fund school’s investment to a specific and limited number of government-selected phonics learning resources, only available through one supplier. It stated that ‘Teachers must be able to choose their own resources for literacy to suit individual literacy needs.’ It went on to stress that; ‘there should be no government prescription of resources, and funding should be given directly to professionals to deal with their school’s literacy issues.’

Ray Barker, director, BESA comments; ‘For cash-strapped schools the incentive to take advantage of the matched funding offered for phonics products and training will push them in the direction of synthetic phonics.  This is at odds with many teachers’ experience that a broad-ranging approach to literacy, alongside one-to-one tuition, is most effective.  It also goes against the move towards school autonomy in other areas.’
As the sector’s trade association, working between the government, schools and suppliers BESA applauds the APPG’s findings which emphasised the importance of the resources industry in the creation of materials that help schools and teachers to meet their goals.

Barker continues; ‘Our members and the sector in which we operate are firmly focused on education outcomes and it is essential that the industry is a part of policy change from early stages. This will ensure that appropriate, high quality resources and approaches can be developed in a cost-effective and timely way for the benefit of all.’

For further information on the APPG’s report and its recommendations to the government please visit www.besa.org.uk