Great Reading Disaster - Imprint Academic

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By the late 1980s half the nation's children were receiving eleven years of progressivist schooling that failed to give them even the elementary basis of education that was completed by the age of seven in earlier days. This great reading disaster was caused by the 'look–say’ method of teaching, which presented whole words not individual letters. This book explains the causes and provides the solution to this problem. In 2006, the Secretary of State for Education and Skills has ordered schools to use the phonic method but there seems little evidence that its implications are properly understood or that any serious re-training programme for teachers is being put in place. The authors believe their explanations and recommendations in this book are thus needed just as much as ever.
Credit: Chris Woodhead

"Nobody has done more to try to solve this country's reading crisis than Mona McNee. Her account of what has happened makes tragic but essential reading. It should be on every college reading list and in every primary school classroom. I hope Mr Balls has a copy by his bed."

Credit: Nick Seaton, Campaign for Real Education Newsletter

"The Great Reading Disaster includes chapters on progressivism, teacher training, local education authorities, central government, publishers and the media, voluntary organisations (including the Campaign for Real Education), conspiracy theories and testing. Political attempts to improve the system against the customary backlash from the 'progressive' establishment are also covered. Mystified parents, teachers, school governors and employers seeking to understand state education will find many answers in this book."

Source: Quest

Credit: Ciarán Guilfoyle

"One feels better armed with ideas and arguments necessary to put the English-teaching world to rights, and one is left with a sence of what education could be were the teaching establishment to get children reading confidently within a few weeks of their starting school. The Great Reading Disaster is a book to be welcomed by the Queen's English Society."

Source: Salisbury Review

Credit: Tom Burkard

"I owe Mona McNee a huge debt. She taught my son to read... Within six months Arthur was reading well ahead of his age. By the time he was nine he had Winston Churchill's 'My Early Life' under his belt."

Source: FYC Family Bulletin

"A fascinating and comprehensive history of the teaching of literacy... [O]ffers some wide-ranging and radical thoughts on improvements to the teaching and learning in general."

Source: The Lantern

"This is a fascinating book that deserves wide readership and attention from the people in authority."
Paperback
- Publication Date: 02 October 2007
- ISBN-13: 9781845400972
- Extent: Main content page count : 400
- Code: 1845400976
- Dimensions: 15.6 x 23.4 x 3 cm
- Weight: 700 grams
- List Price: £17.95
- ONIX Version 2.1, Version 3

Details

Title: Great Reading Disaster
Subtitle: Reclaiming Our Educational Birthright
Author: Mona McNee, Philip B. Whyman
Language: English
Publisher: Imprint Academic
Imprint: Imprint Academic

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