Betteney, Mark (2025) What do changes in policy regarding the teaching of phonics since 1995 disclose about successive UK education policymakers’ understanding of early reading skills? Literacy. ISSN 1741-4350 (Print), 1741-4369 (Online) (doi:10.1111/lit.70001)

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Abstract

This article explores the underpinning assumptions about the changing definition and parameters of early reading which are contained in successive UK Departments for Education (DfE, DfES, DfEE) documentation since 1995, and in Ofsted (Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills) reports and official blogs during the same period. It employs a chronological presentation of key phrases within policy documents and grey literature to identify and track the changing attitudes held by the writers of these documents regarding the skills deemed to be officially important in learning to read. The article acknowledges and explores the contested nature of the field. The exploration of these policy documents demonstrates that although UK National Curricula since 1995, including the current one, have consistently identified that skills of early reading are multifaceted, this contrasts strongly with policy, guidance, and inspection frameworks in the same period which have increasingly sat, and continue to sit, within a view of reading underpinned by rigid and narrow definitions of early reading in which phonics is pre-eminent.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	phonics, early reading, education policy, pedagogy
Subjects:	L Education > L Education (General) L Education > LT Textbooks P Language and Literature > P Philology. Linguistics
Faculty / School / Research Centre / Research Group:	Faculty of Education, Health & Human Sciences Faculty of Education, Health & Human Sciences > Institute for Lifecourse Development Faculty of Education, Health & Human Sciences > Institute for Lifecourse Development > Centre for Thinking and Learning Faculty of Education, Health & Human Sciences > School of Education (EDU)
Last Modified:	30 Apr 2025 13:55
URI:	http://gala.gre.ac.uk/id/eprint/50283

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