to find it difficult to take the year one phonics test seriously?

[xmasadsboohiss]

i understand the theory behind it, but i still think it's bonkers!

YANBU. Stupid idea, my dc is doing it this week.

It is bonkers! Have you seen those joke things that appear on Facebook very now and again where you can read entire passages with letters replaced by numbers and symbols? That is why able readers fail. And to suggest there is only one way of measuring the level at which a child reads is ridiculous. Children learn in lots of different ways. That's why we teach it in different ways. I'm with you op.

How seriously do you take the egg and spoon race? Because that is what we are doing for sports day, and it doesn't look that intellectually stimulating, either.

It's a screening to establish which (if any) children are having difficulties with the specific skill of decoding. And children is identified are meant to receive additional support.

I think that's a good thing.

I think that the phonics test has got totally out of hand and has perverted the curriuclum in year 1 and to a lesser extent reception.

High quality phonics teaching is vital, but phonics should not crowd out other aspects of the curriculum. Young children should not know they are being tested and should have a variety of educational experiences. (I am not advocate of mixed methods, but I feel that cancelling the school play to focus on phonics is extreme.)

yeah my little one doing it this week too and people are obsessed! euphemia - i just think there must be a more imaginative way of testing a child's phonic ability than showing them nonsense 'words'

I think its a pretty good assessment of phonics. Able readers shouldn't fail.

An "imaginative" way isn't indicated. An effective one is what is needed.

It's not a reading test. It's a screening for the specific skill of decoding.

But able readers do fail! I've seen it. They see the words which closely resemble the nonsense words. The pilot study highlighted this as a real issue but unfortunately this seems to have been ignored.

to me there is just so much wrong with it. number one is labelling six year olds as failures at anything! number two is giving competitive parents something else to latch on to. number three is using nonsense words. it cannot be beyond the wit of woman and man to come up with something better.

Someone explain the test for me please?

It depends on your definition of able readers. I think 'able' readers should read the words in front of then not guess similar shaped/sounding words.

Especially when they have been encouraged to sound the words or and had it explained that they might not know the words.

An accidental slip up is understandable but it shouldn't be enough to fail.

It is bonkers! Have you seen those joke things that appear on Facebook very now and again where you can read entire passages with letters replaced by numbers and symbols? That is why able readers fail. And to suggest there is only one way of measuring the level at which a child reads is ridiculous. Children learn in lots of different ways. That's why we teach it in different ways. I'm with you op.

Firstly that's a joke that's been proven by research to be false. It takes longer to read that if the words weren't jumbled because your brain is actually looking at all the letters and unscrambling the anagrams. Secondly able readers don't fail the phonics screening check. Some able readers that have been badly taught fail the test, but that is a teaching issue, not an issue with the test.

Really, about 1/2 an hour a day of good phonics teaching over Reception and year 1 will get about 85-90%+ of your children meeting the required standard. It leaves plenty of time for teaching the rest of the curriculum. There is no need to be spending vast quantities of time on trying to get children through the test if you get the teaching right.

The emphasis they put on it annoys me as opposed to the test itself. The Teacher telling her class (including my child with asd who takes things very literal) 'you must practice everyday and you have to do well' wasn't the most helpful of things. Luckily she will do well as she is a fab reader but I know she's worried about what the teacher will do if she wasn't to do well. Personally I don't see why they even had to know it was a test as such.

I agree with Xmas no 1 and no 2 points. In a good school they spent happen. Or school refuse to call it a test, they say it is a check.

I wish that more able children could get the phonics test out of the way so that they can focus on reading comprehension in year 7. If children took the test when they were ready then no child would be labelled as a failure because they would not sit the test until they stood a good chance of passing the test.

I have no objections to nonsense words or the idea of a test. I have objections when masses of lesson time is devoted to nonsense words.

ReallyTired Mon 16-Jun-14 22:06:16

but I feel that cancelling the school play to focus on phonics is extreme.)

I am not sure why as a parent you have to take it seriously..The kids do it..If they fail they get extra help to get through next year.

My Ds did it last year..no stress .Quite enjoyed it by all accounts.

But no good teacher should be teaching a child just to decode and certainly not decode to pass a test. A good teacher teaches a child to read. I have taught a girl who had to repeat the phonics test and got a level 4 on a qca paper ( her choice to complete) in the same week!

Completely disagree