Many years ago, I developed a taste for the novels of Graham Greene and, although I didn’t find his tale The Quiet American (1955) as enthralling as some of his others, nevertheless, a phrase from the book has always reverberated in my mind. It’s a complex meditation on the changing order of power relations in, particularly… Continue reading Meaning no harm…?
As expected, yesterday’s interview with Debbie Hepplewhite and Andrew Davis on Radio 4’s PM programme followed the usual course of the debates between phonics advocates and the anti-phonics lobby. As such, it was highly instructive. Before I could write about the exchange, I had to listen to it again because, as often happens with phonics… Continue reading Andrew Davis’s damp squib
The latest issue of Teach Primary carries a debate entitled ‘Is it time to ditch the phonics screening test?’ In actual fact, its correct title should be ‘Is it time to ditch the phonics screening check’ but we’ll come back to this point. In any event, it pitches Debbie Hepplewhite against David Reedy. As most… Continue reading David, is ‘reedy’ a pseudo word?
By kind permission of Debbie Hepplewhite, I am posting, in its entirety, her response on the Reading Reform Foundation to an article by Graeme Paton in yesterday’s Telegraph newspaper. Debbie’s post provides an excellent risposte to many of the issues raised in Paton’s piece, titled “Compulsory reading test ‘should be scrapped’” and straplined ‘Bright children are… Continue reading Debbie Hepplewhite confounds screening check critics
