It links in with the most controversial early learning goals in the Early Years Foundation Stage. And its very structured nature seems at odds with the child-initiated, play-based approach of the EYFS. Can the two run in tandem without compromise?
On the basis that Letters and Sounds is here, and early years professionals have to work with it, we've commissioned a three-part series giving expert advice on how to incorporate the programme without sacrificing best practice. The first part, on pages 16-17 of this week's Nursery World, sets the initiative in context. This will be followed by an article on birth-to-threes, then another concentrating on the three-to five-year-old age group.
In fact, the first phase of Letters and Sounds can be relatively easily incorporated by early years settings, offering lots of ideas based on music, rhymes and games. The problems come if children are rushed on to the next phase, and the next, where a much more rigid structure is set down.
This is especially true if practitioners have not been properly trained. Rose recommends that teachers should be able to use their professional judgement in teaching children to read, but this is not possible without the right knowledge and experience.
We hope our series will prove useful and inspiring to all those helping young children to take their first steps to becoming confident and enthusiastic readers.
