With the Government currently having a bumpy ride, Conservative leader David Cameron has not been slow to spot an opportune moment to release a Daily Mail-pleasing 'policy'. Hence last weekend's announcement that under Tory rule, every child should be reading by the age of six, and would be given a national reading test to assess their progress. Central to this would be synthetic phonics, rigorously applied, with the promise of a more 'creative' approach to follow once reception and Year One children had learned their lessons.
Leaving aside the small matter that synthetic phonics has already been adopted by the Government as the first and foremost method of learning to read under the National Curriculum, Mr Cameron's policy proposals seem very ill-thought-out.
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