'SCANDAL' THAT KIDS STRUGGLE TO READ Teachers have been urged to set aside personal ideologies that have prevented the widespread adoption of phonics instruction in schools, with a leading international education advocate describing it as scandalous that many children are struggling to read properly. In Australia to promote an education initiative aimed at disadvantaged students, Kevan Collins, head of Britain's multimillion-dollar Education Endowment Foundation, said it was disappointing to see "political noise and guff" continue to distort an issue as important as learning to read.

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The first generation of 'digital kids' are struggling to read as experts warn agains screen time. Leading educators, academics and teachers are sounding the alarm over the impact excessive screen time is having on Australian children's reading, writing and ability to concentrate in school. A Four Corners investigation has found there are growing fears among education experts that screen time is contributing to a generation of skim readers with poor literacy, who may struggle to gain employment later in life as low-skilled jobs disappear. By the age of 12 or 13, up to 30 per cent of Australian children's waking...

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SCIENTIFIC STUDY SUPPORTS CASE FOR PHONICS The Australian, General News, 07/08/18, Rebecca Urban, page 5, circulation: 94,448 Rigorous and systematic phonics instruction underpins the effective teaching of reading and writing at high-performing schools, a leading global education publisher has said, highlighting 'incontrovertible' scientific evidence to back widespread adoption of the teaching method in classrooms. With South Australia kicking off its Year 1 phonics screening checks this week, Oxford School Improvement has released a report summarising the extensive evidence to support the adoption of phonics, which teaches children to read by breaking down words into their most basic sounds

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