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State Schools (Independence)

I am sorry to intervene again, for the final time, but the point is that a lot of these documents are influential on teachers. Most teachers with whom I come into contact are conscientious, and will lean on documents that emanate from the DFES. The problem, particularly with phonics and the teaching of reading, has been that teachers have leant on the framework document but it has been wrong. The searchlights model is the wrong method for teaching children to read, yet many conscientious teachers, doing their best, have relied on it to the detriment of many children’s reading skills. My point is not that we should be more prescriptive or take more powers but that where we have influence we should use it the right way, based on evidence of the pedagogical methods and curriculum that works and that parents want.