Data from a ‘phonics check’ of new entrants is too incomplete to draw firm conclusions from, and word recognition is not the same as reading.
- Senior Lecturer in Education, Auckland University of Technology
Compared with today’s structured literacy and standardised testing, the 1953 reading syllabus was a remarkably non-prescriptive blueprint for both teachers and pupils.
A refreshed New Zealand curriculum could require teachers to emphasise the joy of reading, not just the technical skills required. Research supports this long-overdue shift in practice.
A major survey shows learning to read for pleasure can help children and their communities in many ways, but the field remains under-studied and under-resourced.
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