Dominic Wyse

Synthetic phonics and the teaching of reading

A review of the teaching of early reading in England commissioned by the UK Government recommended that synthetic phonics should be the preferred approach for young English learners. In response, all English schools have been told to put in place a discrete synthetic phonics programme as the key means for teaching high-quality phonic work. In this paper we analyse the evidence presented by the review to support the change to synthetic phonics. We show that the review provided no reliable empirical evidence that synthetic phonics offers the vast majority of beginners the best route to becoming skilled readers. We analyse the available empirical evidence in English, and show instead that the data support approaches based on systematic tuition in phonics. There is also evidence that contextualised systematic phonics instruction is effective. However, more research is needed, particularly with typically developing readers, in order to determine whether contextualised systematic phonics is more effective than discrete systematic phonics.

The development and consequences of national curriculum assessment for primary education in England

Background: In 2008 primary education in England reached, historically, another important phase in its development. Government reviewed the primary curriculum and some aspects of the national system of assessment. These government reviews coincided with an independent Primary Review based at the University of Cambridge to which the authors of this article contributed one of the research surveys. Purpose: The main aim of the article is to review research and other evidence about the development of national curriculum assessment in England since 1988. Some historical background is also provided about the period pre-1988. Sources of evidence: The main source of evidence is significant research studies that have shown the impact of national curriculum assessment on teachers and pupils. Main argument: The evidence shows that there were gains in national curriculum test scores up to 2000 but that they then plateaued. The research evidence reveals a number of negative consequences of the implementation of a ‘high stakes’ national assessment system in England. Conclusions: It is concluded that greater emphasis on appropriate formative assessment strategies would be of benefit to pupils. The replacement of a high stakes assessment system with a system of sampling in order to evaluate educational progress nationally is also recommended.

Place-Related Identities Through Texts: From Interdisciplinary Theory to Research Agenda

ABSTRACT The implications of the transdisciplinary spatial turn are attracting growing interest in a broad range of areas related to education. This paper draws on a methodology for interdisciplinary thinking in order to articulate a new theoretical configuration of place-related identity, and its implications for a research agenda. The new configuration is created through an analysis of place-related identities in narrative theory, texts and literacy processes. The emerging research agenda focuses on the ways children perceive and represent their place-related identities through reading and writing as inspired by and manifested in texts.

My Place: Exploring children's place-related identities through reading and writing

This paper considers how children perceive and represent their placed-related identities through reading and writing. It reports on the findings of an 18-month interdisciplinary project, based at Cambridge University Faculty of Education, which aimed to consider childrens place-related identities through their engagement with, and creation of, texts. This paper will discuss the project, its interdisciplinary theoretical framework, and the empirical research we conducted with two classes in primary schools in Eastern England. A key text used in our research was My Place by Nadia Wheatley and Donna Rawlins. Drawing on our interdisciplinary theoretical framework, particularly Doreen Masseys notion of place as a bundle of trajectories, and Louise Rosenblatts notion of the transaction between the reader and the text, this paper will examine pages from My Place, children talking about how this text connects with them, children talking about their sense of place, and maps and writing the children produced based on their place.

Place-related identity, texts, and transcultural meanings

The spatial turn has been marked by increasing interest in conceptions of space and place in diverse areas of research. However, the important links between place and identity have received less attention, particularly in educational research. This paper reports an 18-month research project that aimed to develop a theory of place-related identity through the textual transactions of reading and writing. The research was an in-depth qualitative study in two phases: the first phase involved the development of an interdisciplinary theory of place-related identity, which was ‘tested’ in a second empirical phase. Two contrasting primary school classes were the site for the research that included the development of a unit of work, inspired by the book My place, as a vehicle for exploring place-related identity. The data were interviews, classroom observations and outcomes from pupils’ work. The construct of transcultural meanings, established from the analytic categories of localising identity, othering identity and identity as belonging, was identified as a defining phenomenon of place-related identity. The conclusions offer reflections on the development of our initial theory as a result of the empirical work, and the implications for practice and future research.

Inclusive Pedagogy and Knowledge in Special Education: Addressing the Tension.

There has been an increasing focus in policy and practice on adopting inclusive pedagogy as a way of reconceptualising how schools work with children with special educational needs (SEN). The paper considers the split between knowledge and pedagogy inherent in some dominant strains of inclusive pedagogy. Drawing on the ‘knowledge turn’ in curriculum studies, we argue that although an analytical distinction between knowledge and pedagogy may be useful, too strong a delineation between the two fails to best serve the needs of children with special needs. Specific implications for teacher education in relation to SEN in England are considered.

Creating curricula: aims, knowledge, and control a special edition of the Curriculum Journal

The contributors build on this importance to suggest a rapprochement in the field around the idea of curriculum knowledge as both constructed and real. This book was originally published as a special issue of The Curriculum Journal.

Writing and writers: the perceptions of young children and their parents

Over the past three decades early writing research has focused on the processes involved as children learn to write. There is now a powerful evidence base to show that children’s earliest discoveries about written language are learned through active engagement with their social and cultural worlds. In addition, the idea of writing development as an emergent process is well established. The study reported in this paper adopted case study methodology combined with an age-appropriate data collection technique in order to explore children’s perceptions of themselves as writers. A focused task using a hand puppet called Baby Bear was used to elicit children’s perceptions. The children’s parents were interviewed to elicit their perceptions of their children as writers. This small-scale exploratory study found that the children had clear perceptions about themselves as writers. There were important links between parents’ perceptions of their children as writers and the ethos for writing they created in the home. It was found that, overall, more positive parental perceptions were linked with more attention to the meaning of children’s writing. It is concluded that early years settings could usefully identify and compare children’s and parents’ perceptions of writing in order to enhance children’s writing development.

Promising yourself to do better?: Target-setting and literacy

Target-setting in the English education system is a new phenomenon but not one that has been investigated empirically. This paper reports the most significant findings from some small scale research carried out by final year teaching students. It was found that a focus on childrens individual needs through formative assessment and oral discourse was beneficial. Strategies to enhance the target-setting process are suggested.

Child protection : the teacher's role

The Children Act 1989 created higher expectations for all professionals who work with children particularly in the area of child protection. In the article it is argued that teachers are a vital gr...