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BALLS CONFIRMS £9M INVESTMENT IN PHONICS TRAINING
26 January 2009Children’s Secretary Ed Balls today confirmed £9m of funding for training to develop high quality phonics in early years settings and primary schools, as part of the Government’s drive to ensure every child learns to read. In the new financial year the remaining 51 local authorities will join the existing 100 already engaged in the highly successful Communication, Language and Literacy Development programme, that has been designed to implement Sir Jim Rose’s recommendations on early reading. This £9m commitment means every area will have a specialist advisor training and supporting early years practitioners and primary school teachers. The Government is separately funding Leading Literacy Schools to ensure newly qualified teachers (NQTs) get the best possible training in the use of phonics from this year. Ed Balls also published a letter from Sir Jim Rose updating him on the progress that has been made in the implementation of the Early Reading Review recommendations and highlighting successes and areas for improvement.In his letter, Sir Jim Rose points to the significant improvements in children’s outcomes at age five in communication, language and literacy. He also notes evidence from practitioners and teachers that children who had below average speaking and listening skills improved dramatically when exposed to imaginative techniques such as role play, music and dramatised stories. Standards of children’s literacy have never been higher – with 86% of children reaching the expected level 4 in reading at the end of Primary school in 2008, in comparison to just 67% in 1997. In rolling out the Every Child a Reader programme the Government has committed to providing effective early intervention and ensuring every child gets the help they need to learn to read. Ed Balls said:“We know that ensuring children are confident communicators and able to read and write well is vital to their development and progress at school. I am delighted that Sir Jim is reporting such success in our implementation of his recommendations. "The further expansion of the Communication, Language and Literacy Development programme to all parts of the country is testament to our commitment to this task. We have now invested over £20m in implementing Sir Jim’s recommendations. I am pleased that from this year every local authority will be running this highly successful programme.“I’m also encouraged that teachers have embraced the programme and are reporting on its successes. I want to see them continuing to drive this forward locally and build on the successes already achieved. “Taken with the KPMG report on the third year of Every Child a Reader we can be increasingly confident that the Government's early reading policies are ensuring that every lesson uses phonics and every child, that needs something extra, gets the one-to-one support they deserve.”In his update to Ministers, Sir Jim Rose acknowledged that the centrally-driven early success of the programme now needs to be maintained by teachers up and down the country. He also underlined the importance of Initial Teacher Training in continuing improvements in phonics teaching.Sir Jim Rose praised the Training and Development Agency for Schools (TDA) and National Strategies for their work to audit providers’ action plans but noted the importance that all trainee teachers have opportunities to practice and improve their phonics teaching, regardless of the type of courses they do. This is in addition to the Ofsted report – “Responding to the Rose Review: schools’ approaches to the systematic teaching of phonics”published in May 2008 – which noted how teachers have been ‘surprised by the joy’ shown by children as they master phonic skills and how that has created a ‘virtuous circle’. Children’s increasing command of the skills has led to staff’s expectations being raised which, in turn, is improving the pace and demand of teaching and leading to further success.
Editor's Notes
This press notice relates to 'England'
1. High quality phonics are as defined by the Rose Review (2006) and within the context of a braod and rich curriculum. 2. Local authority funding for the Communications, Language and Literacy Development programme from April 2009 were included in the Standards Fund allocations notified to LAs in November 2008. 3. Details of the Communications, Language and Literacy Development programme are available on http://nationalstrategies.standards.dcsf.gov.uk/node/832534. Sir Jim Rose’s letter is attached.[CLICK HERE FOR LETTER]5. The 2008 Foundation Stage Profile outcomes were published in September 2008 and are available on http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/rsgateway/DB/SFR/s000812/index.shtmland recorded a six percentage point rise in the ‘Linking Sounds and Letters’ scale that relates to phonic workThe KPMG evaluation - Every Child a Reader: the results of the third year – was published in November 2008 and is available onhttp://www.everychildareader.org/pubs/third_year.pdfContact Details
Public Enquiries 0870 000 2288, info@dcsf.gsi.gov.uk
Press Notice 2009/0016
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