Phonics check

[BucksKid]

Why do teachers, on Internet forums, say 'yah, (eg) 83% of my class passed the phonics check' Rather than 'oh no, 17% of my class didn't pass the phonics check' ?

Do they realise how disrespectful that is to the 17%?

Do they care that 17% of their pupils have left their class without the basic skills needed to learn to read?

Is it because they met their performance management target?

mustbetimeforacreamtea: Teacher kept emphasing that in the tests dc had come out as 2a for reading and therefore there wasn't a problem as dc had obviously developed his own system for reading and was doing well with it.

What makes u think that the teacher is wrong?

Lots of children have learned, and continue to learn, to read beautifully with very minimal or even no formal phonics teaching whatsoever. They work out the regular bits, such as 'cat, mat, sat, prat, spat, sprat' for themselves and have below average trouble with the likes of 'swan swam', 'supper, sugar' and 'bone, done, gone' too.

A few posters on here keep claiming that phonics must be the only show in town, from beginning to end, but many teachers don't agree with them, and for very good reasons.

Of my 4 grandchildren, the 8-yr-old who is the best reader, speller and most prolific writer has always taken phonics with a pinch of salt and did not do particularly well in her phonics test. I am bit worried that the phonics test has left many parents of children who are really learning to read perfectly well thinking that they are doing less well than they really are, because they did not score brilliantly in the phonics test.

What makes u think that the teacher is wrong?

Because you don't know until too late whether the child is one of your supposed 'natural readers' or whether the self taught 'strategies are going to completely let them down once the pictures disappear and the words and text get more complex.

The bad habits they have taught themselves are incredibly difficult to break and the loss of self esteem they experience when they see their peers achieving well in a skill they find very difficult is something that they should not have to experience.

Your 'my grandchildren are OK' attitude is very selfish and displays a shocking lack of empathy in someone who used to be a teacher..

The tests are testing comprehension not accuracy and are multiple choice ... it's possible to achieve a good level and barely be able to read.