Articles

Articles

On mathematics anxiety

The jury is in – maths anxiety is a problem, and it seems to be worse for girls.

Articles

Reading Pledge

The Reading Pledge is an evidence-based framework for schools to reduce the number of children who finish primary school unable to read proficiently....

Articles

Everything old is new again

“Five years ago, there was almost nothing known about how educators can use research well to improve practice.” (Deliberately unattributed, 2024)

Articles

Explicit teaching is inclusive

If you do a Google image search for Response to Intervention (RtI) or Multi-tiered System of Supports (MTSS) you will return variations on the below...

Articles

Are SEND children different?

It’s a truism in education to say that all children are different, and of course they are. Each child is a precious, unique individual with their own...

Articles

What we’ve been reading

Nicola Bell ‘Fun and murder-y’ is a literary genre that I really enjoy, and I’ve been reading a lot of that type of book lately. One was The Bullet...

Articles

What is the ‘Science of Reading?‘

That depends on who you talk to. There is no agreed upon definition. Nor is there any official body like the Académie Française that can dictate a...

Articles

Editorial

When I was director of the Centre for Child Study at the University of Birmingham in the early 1980s, we took delivery of our first ‘departmental...

Articles

Me and Reading Recovery

Teacher question: Would you do an article about your thoughts on the recent report about Reading Recovery? By Tim Shanahan Download PDF The first...

Articles

Once more for the people at the back

It’s been a busy few weeks with respect to discussion and debate about literacy in the public domain. I have been interviewed a number of times by...

Articles

Does The Writing Revolution work?

In 2017, Judith Hochman and Natalie Wexler published The Writing Revolution (TWR): a book outlining a new way of thinking about and teaching writing....

Articles

Endeavouring to learn Morse*

By Kevin Wheldall, Joint Editor Download PDF During the Second World War, my (late) father served in Burma (now known as Myanmar) as a member of ‘the...

Articles

How much phonics should I teach?

Teacher question: Teacher: I keep hearing about the science of reading and that I need to teach phonics (I’m a second-grade teacher). I’m okay with...

Articles

Groundhog day for reading instruction

There are few things more disheartening in my work life than having to spend precious time unpicking and rebutting the destructive work of high...

Articles

Reading is a human right

In 1961, the Ontario Human Rights Commission was formed to “prevent discrimination and to promote and advance human rights” in the Canadian province....

Articles

When should reading instruction begin?

People sometimes raise the question of when the optimal time is for children to begin to learn to read. This is especially relevant for parents of...

Articles

My unexpected journey

In the pre-COVID days, when I did face-to-face training, I would usually ask folks if they remembered learning to read. 99.99% of them reported no...

Articles

A worm in your ear

Have you ever had a worm in your ear? Not a real live worm, of course (but commiserations if you have!). No, I mean what we commonly refer to as...

Articles

Abandon our literacy myth

Why do many thousands of New Zealand adults have very poor literacy? An adherence to the whole language method of teaching literacy over many decades...

Articles

Evidence and the real world

There is a growing appetite in Australia for more evidence-based policymaking in education. In particular, policymakers are often called on to use...

Articles

Following the evidence

There are very few exceptions to the statement ‘everyone can learn to read and write’. Learning to read is one of the most studied human skills. We...

Articles

Papering over the reading gap

Why using coloured paper and overlays might do more harm than good for students with reading difficulties. By James Murphy Download PDF I have been...

Articles

On sequences of instruction

I received an interesting question from a third-grade teacher in Frankfort, Kentucky (US). She writes, “In my district we do not have a specific...

Articles

What we’ve been reading

Jennifer Buckingham In my WWBR list this time is a book that has immediately become one of my favourite books ever. Frank Moorhouse’s Martini is a...

Articles

Editorial

By Robyn Wheldall Download PDF My husband is a guinea pig My husband is a guinea pig and I’m very happy about it! This may sound like a strange thing...

Articles

Why all children need school

I have the clearest memory of watching my two-year-old son exploring the back garden. A very thin twig was poking out from the hedge. He picked up a...

Articles

Change management: The science of reading

“I want to align my practice to the Science of Reading, but I don’t have support from my administration team or colleagues … what do I do?” “I am a...

Articles

Rebooting behaviour after lockdown

Delivering effective instruction – or even just making the classroom run smoothly – is difficult when educators are struggling with behaviour issues....

Articles

Editorial

By Kevin Wheldall Download PDF Out of sight but not out of mind A common misconception about dyslexia is that it is typically to do with distorted...

Articles

Editorial

How hard is it not to read? Every morning I stand in front of the bathroom mirror waiting for my electric toothbrush to tell me when the required two...

Articles

Why phonology comes first

The very first essay I wrote in my undergraduate linguistics course was a defence of the English spelling system. My argument – inasmuch as my callow...

Articles

The discipline of reading

“The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go.” – Dr Seuss, I Can Read With My Eyes Shut...

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