Since last December the Department for Education (DfE) has been consulting on the national curriculum report of its ʻexpert panelʼ (EP). A statement from the Secretary of State is expected very soon. It will launch draft proposals for the revised national curriculum for England together with draft KS1/2 programmes of study for the designated ‘core’ subjects of English, maths and science.
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Children, their World, their Education, the 600-page final report of the Cambridge Primary Review, has received First Prize in the 2011 Book Awards of the Society for Educational Studies (SES). This cash prize is awarded annually for a book which tackles issues of fundamental educational importance, displays conspicuous originality of analysis and argument, effectively connects research, theory, policy and practice, and is accessibly written.
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TALK REALLY MATTERS. In its chapter on pedagogy, the CPR final report highlighted classroom talk as the point where the research evidence on children’s development, learning and effective teaching most obviously and urgently converges. We neglect talk at children’s peril, for it is one of the keys to empowering them as thinkers, learners and citizens. Yet, in their evidence to the CPR many of our witnesses complained that oracy just isn’t taken seriously enough where it matters. They told us that the current national curriculum version of ‘speaking and listening’ is weakly conceived, that it wrongly detaches oracy from literacy, and that there remains considerable political ambivalence about
whether, beyond basic communication skills, talk is really as crucial to learning as its advocates claim.
It is crucial. The evidence is clear and convincing. The CPR has therefore argued, in both its final report and its submission to the current national curriculum review, that oracy should have a much higher profile across the whole curriculum, not just in national curriculum English where it currently appears.
That’s why we support Hello, the 2011 national year of communication, and No Pens Day (28 September 2011, or another date at about that time) when children and teachers are asked to put down their pens, turn off their screens and concentrate on TALK. Will you join us in supporting Hello and the power of talk in this very tangible – and indeed audible – way? Several hundred schools have already committed themselves.
If you would like to comment on what is written in the summary then please send your feedback to Julia Flutter, juliaflutter@primaryreview.org.uk.
A New UKLA report on teaching reading:
PRESS RELEASE!
In its business plan, published last week, the government included the target of promoting “systematic synthetic phonics in schools” to remedy low reading scores. The government is also planning to introduce “a simple reading test” for six-year-olds to help identify those who need extra help. This is likely to be a non-word reading test.
UKLA says Phonics is not enough!
In two new publications, available at www.ukla.org, UKLA argues that both moves are unhelpful and sets out a research-informed alternative approach.
In Teaching Reading: What the evidence says (foreword by Michael Rosen), Henrietta Dombey and colleagues in the UKLA and the International Reading Association draw on abundant evidence from both sides of the Atlantic to show that what actually works in the classroom is a more comprehensive, integrated and flexible approach.
An accompanying statement gives 5 clear reasons to show why a ‘non-word reading test’ would be unproductive.
Both publications are available in printed form from UKLA for £5.
Publication date: 19th November, 2010
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