[senco-forum] Re Standards Site

Hi Maggie

I think I might be agreeing with you as the whole point of my original post
to start this thread, was a link to the DfES Standards Forum and to a recent
contribution to the Standards forum that begins to expose one of the more
recent reports written on this topic was to a large extent based on a
research program which did not use sound scientific research methods.

Best wishes

dolfrog 

-----Original Message-----
From: senco-forum-bounces at lists.becta.org.uk
[mailto:senco-forum-bounces at lists.becta.org.uk] On Behalf Of Maggie Downie
Sent: 01 February 2007 21:04
To: Eddie Carron; senco-forum at lists.becta.org.uk
Subject: Re: [senco-forum] Re Standards Site

I don't think it is altogether fair to blame teachers or parents for the
present state of illiteracy.  After all, in most cases they have been doing
what they have (in the case of teachers)been trained to do, or, (in the case
of parents) been advised to do.  The academics who train teachers, who
advise the Dfes & write the Dfes' programmes have, in the main, been
perpetrating methods (if 'method' you can call it, as it seems to be more a
series of unsubstantiated assertions  and pious hopes which have been
soundly refuted by scientific research over the past 30 years) which have
failed not only disadvantaged & 'low ability' , but also a substantial
number of 'bright' children over the past two decades or more.  

It might be said that it is up to teachers to keep abreast with research,
but teachers are very busy people and have had enormous pressure on them to
'conform' to the 'official' methods.  But it is to their credit that
pressure for change has come mostly from teachers and practitioners of
methods which have demonstrably excellent results and that many of the the
most effective 'programmes' have been developed by them.

Maggie

Eddie Carron <eddiecarron at btconnect.com> wrote: But the 'social climate'
'media intrusion' etc is not exclusive to the UK. only the high level of
illiteracy is. They have it in Scandanavia etc etc etc where literacy
standards are significantly higher. Of course, teachers are to blame - who
else?  We are the ones who teach, or fail to teach the children to read. We
cannot blame the children or their parents. If we choose to use teaching
methods which we know in advance are going to fail one child in five, then
we are clearly and unequivocally to blame.  I'll bet if payment by results
was to be introduced, the illiteracy problem would be resolved almost
instantly. Those who are paid to teach children to read get paid whether or
not they are successful - therein lies part of the problem.

If a child has a specific learning difficulty, his/her failure to acquire
reading skills is, to some extent at least, understandable. But the
majoriity of those who we fail to teach to read, have no specific learning
difficulties. As a group, they do tend to reside at the lower end of the
intellectual spectrum but any child with an IQ of 85+ can be taught to read,
assuming there are no other extraneous factors.  A 97% literacy rate is what
is achieved in Scandanavia, some other European countries and of course many
Asian countries - are we really down to the level of saying its not the
teachers fault - it just that 20% of  UK children do not learn to read by
the methods we as teachers choose to use to teach them - but you musn't
blame us! I  s it really nobodies fault - just a fact of life?

Eddie C.

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