The ITA system for teaching reading in the 1960s and 70s

[ZiggyPlaysGuitarrr]

I found this article really interesting. It seems that this method of teaching was introduced completely inconsistently and then quietly dropped when it became apparent that it didn't work. Was anyone taught by this method? Has it affected you in the long-term?

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2025/jul/06/1960s-schools-experiment-created-new-alphabet-thousands-children-unable-to-spell

My sister and I learned to read this way. Neither of us had any problem moving to standard English.

The "other" primary school in the village used this (one reason why I think we ended up at our school) and the library had some books for that. I remember sitting with a girl my age in the library and us each with our books neither able to reach each other's books. I showed her mine and she told me that her teacher said those books were "only for grown ups". Tbf I suspect grown ups at our age would have meant the big girls of 8 or 9 though.

I think they found that children learning to read, initially shot forward, but then some really struggled to the point they gave up when they tried moving to normal spellings.

I remember the ITA fiasco from DS's early school days.
He was beginning to read before he went to school, but then was completely baffled by ITA books. It put his reading back considerably, until I decided to take charge and taught him using the conventional alphabet.
He's an enthusiastic reader to this day, so it didn't harm him in the long run.

I think the main problem with the ITA was how the changeover between the two alphabets was handled. Ideally, pupils reading development would be closely monitored, and the changeover adjusted to each child's needs.

But teachers were poorly trained for this, and with large classes of forty or more pupils it was impossible to provide the close support needed for a successful transition.

I remember the ITA fiasco from DS's early school days.
He was beginning to read before he went to school, but then was completely baffled by ITA books. It put his reading back considerably, until I decided to take charge and taught him using the conventional alphabet.
He's an enthusiastic reader to this day, so it didn't harm him in the long run.

I think the main problem with the ITA was how the changeover between the two alphabets was handled. Ideally, pupils reading development would be closely monitored, and the changeover adjusted to each child's needs.

But teachers were poorly trained for this, and with large classes of forty or more pupils it was impossible to provide the close support needed for a successful transition.

I did ITA at School in the 1960’s. It stopped when I was about 7/8 and it ended up I needed extra spelling lessons. I have no problem spelling now. It was supposed to make you read quicker. Apart from extra spelling lessons it didn’t really do me any harm

Started school in 1967 and we were taught ITA method. I can honestly say it had no negative effect on me then or when we switched over to standard phonetics. I was an avid reader then and now

Oh wow! I read it easily as the words are spelled phonetically (aside from the made up characters!) but it's interesting to hear that it was easily decided by someone who normally has trouble with reading. I guess that was the logic in introducing it in the first place - but they obviously didn't think ahead to the children needing to learn to read the normal spellings down the line.

It was fairly common then! It seems there's a mixed bag, between those who were negatively affected by it and those who weren't. It does sound like class/ cultural differences were at play in some cases at least, with those who had books in the home and lots of parental input mostly coping ok.

Lots of children in other schools in my era used ITA and there were books in the library that used it - I was fascinated by it (I went on to do a few linguistics courses at uni!).

I was taught ITA. I could already read and write starting school, so like someone else said, it was just like a parallel language for me and I toggled between the two fairly easily.
My Mum wasn't impressed. Mid 1970's.

Yep, taught to read using this in the sixties. Didn't cause me any problems at the time or transitioning to "proper" reading. I loved reading then and still do. Don't slag it off just because it's not what is in use now - it worked, and worked well, for many many kids.

I started school in 1969 and was taught ITA. I can’t remember much about it except that walk was spelt wauk.

I changed schools and that was that, but it was definitely strange.

They definitely used ITA at my Primary School. My DM always said it was why my older brother was useless at spelling and a slower reader. But it didn't have any impact on me - spelling was one of my strengths. I think maybe my DB was just better at Maths and Science and wouldn't have excelled at reading and spelling whichever system had been used.

My siblings and I.

I missed it but my poor brother had it inflicted on him for a year or so before they swapped back.

Yes, I was taught this in the 1970s. When my mum found out, she stormed into the school and demanded that they teach me properly.

I think it was only taught in Reception but yes, it wasn't a great start as you had to learn to read properly at some point.

I could read very well before I went to school. They did use the ITA method but because I already had an advanced reading age it didn’t really affect me. All I can remember is the A and E being joined together.