Every teacher working in primary schools is concerned with how their classes develop their reading skills. Every primary school leader is acutely aware of the fundamental importance of reading. Primary schools are stuffed full of books, resources and schemes to teach reading.

So the new reading framework released by the government is a curious artefact, as it starts with the premise that this is not universally the case.

Teaching literacy in primary schools: the new reading framework

There is actually a lot of knowledge in schools already about reading.

We know that some children start school better prepared to be able to learn from the provision in our classrooms than others. Some of the key factors that complicate the learning process for schools include low levels of spoken language, emotional and behavioural impacts and a lack of pre-school experiences.

Of course, it is also easy to understand how some special education needs will have a direct impact on how children learn to read. Children with development language disorder (estimated to be 7-10 per cent of the population) have challenges in learning language, and learning to read is about learning about language.

The reading disadvantage gap

And then there is poverty. If, as a school, you have low levels of children who live in poverty, and few children with special educational needs, this puts you at an advantage. It is easier to achieve high pass ratings in national assessments, such as the Phonics Screening Check, when your cohort of children does not include children who live in poverty, or have special educational needs.

The truth is: schools in more affluent areas, with parents who have disposable income to buy books, resources and additional tutoring, have less to do when it comes to reading.

How have things changed during the pandemic?

Covid impact

We have been through a seismic shift in the past 18 months. The pandemic has impacted everything and unless you have been working at the chalkface, you are unlikely to understand the full extent of the difficulties faced by teachers and leaders.

We are beginning to understand the extent to which this crisis has exacerbated all the underlying issues in our education system. It seems things have got worse, not better. Not least, the pandemic has had an enormous impact on how we teach reading - especially for younger children.

During the first phases of the pandemic, we were told to put books away - the virus, we were informed, could be transmitted by sharing books. Everything moved online. We must wear masks. Has anyone mentioned how hard it is to teach phonics or reading skills online? Or through a mask?

Reading challenges

Like everyone, children have been affected by the restrictions placed on them. We do not yet have any firm indications of what the long-term consequences for their development will be, but we have some emerging insights.

There is evidence that executive functions, language development and social and emotional skills have been impacted. Children without large reserves of books at home have been limited in their exposure to text. The pandemic has affected pre-school attendance. Libraries have been closed.

So, it is clear, we have particular challenges in front of us that existed before and that have got worse. This will demand new responses.

The right intervention?

It is natural to look back to the past for inspiration - an understandable reaction to the difficult times we have faced. But the new Department for Education guidance may do this to the detriment of its validity or use in helping schools to meet the challenges they have - and will have - in teaching reading.

The framework draws heavily on the report of the National Reading Panel in the USA, published in 2000. I have felt the impact of its recommendations throughout my career. Drawing on research from as far back as 1970, the reading recommendations suggest that, among other things, we should base our teaching of reading on five areas: phonological awareness, reading comprehension, reading fluency, phonics (in a systematic way) and vocabulary.

The later published findings of the National Early Literacy Panel (2008) expand and add to these findings, but it is 20 years and more since that important publication, and the world has changed immeasurably. 

Predating the national curriculum, 2013, and principally conducted in the USA, the studies that informed the National Reading Panel may present an inaccurate picture of the most effective ways to teach early literacy skills in the UK context, in a post-pandemic world.

The real expertise?

This week brings the annual conference of the Society for the Scientific Study of Reading (SSSR). It is the Oscars for psychologists and other scientists who study literacy development. To share your research at SSSR is an honour.

This year, the president of SSSR is Professor Rob Savage, of University College London. Previously it was Professor Maggie Snowling, of the University of Oxford. The conference organiser and vice-president is Professor Kate Cain, of  Lancaster University, with support from Dr Jessie Ricketts, of Royal Holloway, University of London, and Professor Clare Wood, of Nottingham Trent University.

These scientists, experts in the development of reading, will spend the week watching presentations, discussing their findings with each other, and learning together. They will share their work, conducted in the UK, in UK schools.

Their work is at the cutting edge of our understanding and you would expect it to be of considerable value and interest to policymakers and educators (and indeed it is, outside the UK).

Surely, if anyone would be able to give us some insight into how to address the challenges presented to schools in response to the pandemic, these would be the people we should be relying on?

Hope for the future

This new DfE publication was the opportunity to build a plan for the future - to present a way forward, to work with the most recent research and provide school leaders and teachers with the tools to observe, plan and develop an effective response to the unique challenges that the pandemic has presented us with.

It was a chance to create threads of coherence with the research-informed direction taken by the new EYFS, Early Career Framework and National Professional Qualifications (NPQs). Instead, it harks back to a different time, place and country.

The pandemic has emphasised that we need to work together, to adjust and respond to the children in front of us - not the ones we wished we had.

So, a further publication from the DfE, outlining the foundations of early reading development in the brave new post-pandemic world, would be welcome. Perhaps that will come next? I’d be happy to help.

Megan Dixon is director of research at Holy Catholic Family Multi-Academy Trust