The government has set a target for 90 per cent of pupils to reach the expected standard in the Year 1 phonics screening check, the Department for Education has announced.
The ambition will be announced by education secretary Bridget Phillipson in a speech at the Confederation of School Trusts (CST) conference tomorrow. She will say that strong reading skills are “the foundation for everything else” in education.
In the latest data, 80 per cent of pupils met the expected standard in the phonics screening check in Year 1, while 89 per cent met that standard by the end of Year 2.
The planned Year 8 assessment, which will test reading fluency and comprehension at age 13, is intended to help schools to identify students falling behind in literacy before their GCSE years.
Data from the new statutory assessment will be made available to Ofsted and government, but individual schools’ results will not be published - as with the phonics check. Schools will make children’s results available to parents.
The aim is for the phonics target to be achieved by the end of this parliament, which is likely to be 2029. This is the same timeframe as for the introduction of the new reading assessment.
‘No foundation more important’
The Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL) said the government must explain what the Year 8 test will achieve beyond the work that is already taking place in schools to identify students requiring additional assistance. It added that the test must not create additional curriculum expectations for schools.
Ms Phillipson will tell the conference in Birmingham that reading remains “the passport to the rest of their lives”, warning that too many children are being “locked out” of learning because they cannot read confidently.
“When they can’t, the sense of dejection sets in. Engagement seeps away. Attendance follows,” she will say. “Reading holds the key to so much. There is no foundation more important.”
The Year 8 assessment will provide a “snapshot in time”, the DfE said, and will not be an exam that students need to prepare for.
The DfE also said it is expanding its English Hubs network to support early reading in Reception classes, and funding new training for secondary teachers to help struggling readers.
An extra £1 million fund will be made available to help schools with the greatest need purchase reading resources, the DfE said.
‘Clear plan’ required
Pepe Di’Iasio, general secretary of ASCL, said school workforces were “already stretched to breaking point”, and the Year 8 test must not become another accountability measure for schools.
“The ambition of 90 per cent of children reaching the expected standard in the phonics screening check is all well and good, but it needs to be supported with a clear plan of how this will be achieved,” he added.
“Vlogts and targets are easy to set, but what would make the greatest difference in improving literacy is to ensure that schools are sufficiently funded and resourced to provide more intervention and support to children from disadvantaged backgrounds and those with special educational needs.
“As things stand, the financial situation is dire and schools are having to cut provision.”
Further details about the design of the Year 8 test will be published in due course, the DfE said.
The plans will feature in the forthcoming Schools White Paper, which the government says will set out its long-term strategy for improving standards.
Daniel Kebede, general secretary of the NEU teaching union, said the government was failing to tackle the real reasons why pupils disengage from learning.
He warned that an “exam factory culture” had narrowed the curriculum, and argued that introducing another test risked undermining efforts to make reading enjoyable.
Mr Kebede also said the move appeared to pre-empt the findings of the ongoing curriculum and assessment review, adding that teachers already know which pupils are struggling.
‘Very positive steps’
Becks Boomer Clark, CEO of Lift Schools, said the new target and test were “very positive steps forward”. Her trust set itself a 90 per cent goal for primary phonics in 2021 and has been testing reading ability in mainstream schools from Year 2 to Year 10 for the past few years.
“This has provided us with invaluable information and insight on how to get children back on track - it has driven significant leaps forward in how our children and young people read and, as a result, how they can engage fully in their learning,” she said.
This was especially important for students from more disadvantaged backgrounds, she added.
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