Nursery World - Literacy

Concerns have been raised about some early years settings using phonics with two-year-olds. Meredith Jones Russell reports

The best approach to developing children’s early reading skills has been a hotly debated topic for decades. Synthetic phonics have been recommended as the primary method by which children are taught to read since the Rose Report in 2006, which proposed that ‘for most children, high quality, systematic phonic work should start by the age of five’.

However, research carried out by Karen Boardman, head of early years education at Edge Hill University, found that in fact, much younger children are participating in formally taught phonics sessions in some nursery settings and Reception classes, often from the age of just two.

‘It was a surprise to me, and it scared me a little bit,’ she says. ‘Phonics were only ever designed for children over the age of five, but now we seem to be trying to run before we can walk.’

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