Oral question asked in the House of Commons, by Lord Gove (Conservative). It was answered on Monday, 17 December 2007 on behalf of the Department for Children, Schools and Families.

International Comparisons

Question: It is interesting that the Minister is now rubbishing the OECD figures, although in 2000 his own Government used those figures to claim, ““We are the stars.”” The Government quote those figures liberally when they are convenient, but when they are inconvenient, they run away from the truth. What the Minister did not tell us is that in his children's plan published last week there is not a single mention of the tried-and-tested method of teaching reading which works—synthetic phonics. There is not a single mention of that, two years after the Government appeared to accept Sir Jim Rose's report; synthetic phonics has been buried under a torrent of strategies on rusks and gloop from the Secretary of State. Should not Ministers, instead of caving in to the educational establishment by getting rid of rigorous testing, simply concentrate on getting children to read?

Answer: Certainly the hon. Gentleman should listen more carefully. I was not rubbishing the OECD; that was the OECD rubbishing him. Researchers from the OECD itself said that"““the results do not show any evidence of a real decline in standards.””" In terms of the other stuff that the hon. Gentleman said—[Interruption.] It really was ““gloop””, which is the word that he likes to use. The importance that we place on Jim Rose's synthetic phonics is embedded in the fact that we have asked Jim Rose himself to carry out the review of the primary curriculum, which will ensure that the work he did on synthetic phonics will be carried out and integrated into a reformed primary curriculum.

Secondary information

Type: Oral question
Reference: 469 c580
Session: 2007-08
Oral question type: Supplementary
Chamber / Committee: House of Commons chamber
Subjects: Education Standards Literacy Teaching methods Curriculum Primary education Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development Science Numeracy Programme for International Student Assessment
Link: View this Oral question on www.publications.parliament.uk