§ Mr. BercowTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the phonetic approach to the teaching of reading. [136194]
§ Ms Estelle MorrisThe National Literacy Strategy, which is based on research and inspection evidence of best practice, gives a strong emphasis to the systematic teaching of phonics. As part of the strategy, we have provided all primary schools with practical guidance on the teaching of phonics in the booklet "Progression in Phonics". Since the implementation of the literacy strategy began, there has been a 10 percentage point increase, to 75 per cent., in the percentage of 11-year-olds achieving the standards expected for their age in English.