The largest teaching union has slammed the phonics reading check for six-year-olds as a 'waste of money', after Government research found that the majority of teachers found it had 'little or no impact' on children's reading and writing.

The first interim report by the National Federation for Educational Research for the Department for Education also concluded that many schools believe that phonics should be used alongside other methods to teach children to read.

This is at odds with education secretary Michael Gove's insistence that 'systematic synthetic phonics' should be used as the only method of teaching children to read.

The findings are based on interviews with staff in 14 primary schools and 1,800 Year 1 teachers and literacy co-ordinators, the week after the first reading check took place.

Around 600,000 children took the check last June. Just under six out of ten six-year-olds met the standard required by the new phonics reading check, the results of the first year of the test showed.

Most of the teachers interviewed for the research said that the check would have 'minimal, if any, impact on the standard of reading and writing in their school in the future.'

The report also said, 'Year 1 teachers had mixed views on whether the standard of the check was appropriate, with slightly more teachers suggesting it was too difficult.'

Teachers also raised issues about the suitability of the reading check for children with special educational needs, children with 'high ability', and pupils whose first language is not English.

Most literacy coordinators surveyed said that the check did not provide valuable information for teachers.

The report said that while teachers were 'overwhelmingly positive about phonics as an approach to teaching reading and its contribution towards early reading development', in the majority of schools other strategies to teaching reading were used alongside phonics.

Members of the NUT have voted to boycott the 2014 reading check. Teaching unions say that the test is pointless because it does not tell teachers anything new about children's ability to read, does not show whether children understand what they are reading, and could put young children off reading and books.

Last year, a joint survey by the National Union of Teachers, the Association of Teachers and Lecturers and the National Association of Head Teachers found that 91 per cent of teachers felt the phonics check told them nothing that they did not already know about their pupils' ability to read.

Children take the one-to-one check with a teacher they know and are tested on their ability to decode words. They are given a list of 40 words to read from, some of which are made-up 'nonsense words'. The DfE has said that including the made-up words is important because children will not know them or have memorised them and will have to use their decoding skills.

But Christine Blower, general secretary of the National Union of Teachers, said, 'This report will make for very uncomfortable reading by Michael Gove as it has very little to say that is positive about the phonics check.

'The NUT agrees with many of the findings, in particular the key conclusions that schools believe the check provides no new information on pupils' ability and that phonics should be used alongside other methods in the teaching of reading. This is indeed what happens now.'

She added, 'This evaluation of the phonics check shows clearly why Michael Gove should really listen to the profession. The phonics check is clearly a waste of money. The education secretary needs to practice as he continually preaches and let schools make their own decisions about teaching and learning and stop this incessant meddling.'

A DfE spokesman, said, 'The phonics check ensures children struggling with reading get the help they desperately need. Last year's check - when teachers identified more than 235,000 six-year-olds behind on reading - demonstrated its value.'