The Early Years Curriculum Group is against recommendations made in the Rose Review that children should be taught to read using synthetic phonics by age five (News, 8 December 2005).
The experts believe that synthetic phonics should only be one of a number of different approaches to teaching reading and should not be introduced until children are in Year 1.
They are also concerned that there could be downward pressure to use synthetic phonics to teach reading to under-fives.
Janet Moyles, a member of the EYCG, said there was 'huge strength of feeling' among early years practitioners to say 'no' to synthetic phonics before five.
She said, 'Children learn best from books and fun literacy activities rather than from the formal teaching of phonics.'
However, a review of research into phonics teaching commissioned by the DfES found that using systematic phonics to teach children to read was better than non-systematic phonics or no phonics at all. It was based on 12 randomised controlled trials, eight of the trials done with five- to seven-year-old children and four trials with older children.
Co-author Professor Greg Brooks from the University of Sheffield, a member of the Rose Review group, was due to present the findings at a Basic Skills Agency conference on Monday.
He told Nursery World, 'There is enough research evidence to say that systematic phonics can work for children from five. Systematic phonics instruction of whatever variety enables children to make better progress in reading accuracy and needs to be part of the repertoire in school. It needs to be done routinely in the classroom for children who've not started reading. If it's going to be done it should be as soon as children are in school, except those that are already reading fluently.'
He said there was insufficient evidence to cite benefits in synthetic phonics for comprehension and spelling, or to say that synthetic phonics was more effective than analytic phonics.
The report can be seen at www.dfes.gov.uk/research. To join the EYCG campaign e-mail mwendyscott@btopenworld.com.
The report can be seen at www.dfes.gov.uk/research/data/uploadfiles/RR711_.pdf.