Schools around the country are paying tens of thousands of dollars to private consultants to change the way they teach reading. This involves systematic instruction in phonics – and phonemic awareness: teaching children the 44 unique sounds that distinguish one word from another. The ministry does fund the Reading Recovery programme, pioneered by Marie Clay, at a cost of just over $29.1 million this year. Schools that did not want Reading Recovery should be able to use that funding for something else, in his view. Fellow Canterbury principal Penny O'Brien agreed it was inequitable that schools were funded for Reading Recovery but not alternatives.

Source: Stuff November 19, 2020 19:41 UTC