Controversy over when reading and writing should be taught could persist under the revised framework.Jan Dubiel, national development manager for Early Excellence, reviews the essential principles.

The area of Literacy has always been a theatre of tension and conflict within education generally and early years provision in particular - a tension that is likely to persist under the revised EYFS as Literacy becomes a Specific area of learning and development.

Of all the aspects of the curriculum Literacy is the one that provokes the most impassioned debate, polarises opinion and is subject to the highest amount of external and political interference. Everyone has a view on how and when reading and writing should be taught. The current Government's obsession with synthetic phonics as the panacea for all underachievement and social inequality is the most visible example of this, and the phonics screening test in Year 1 its most tangible manifestation.

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