Review of Education. 2022;10:e3314.|1 of 53https://doi.org/10.1002/rev3.3314wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/roeReceived: 16 August 2021 | Accepted: 17 November 2021DOI: 10.1002/rev3.3314 RESEARCH REPORTReading wars or reading reconciliation? A critical examination of robust research evidence, curriculum policy and teachers' practices for teaching phonics and readingDominic Wyse | Alice Bradbury© 2022 British Educational Research Association.IOE, UCL’s Faculty of Education and Society, University College London, London, UKCorrespondenceDominic Wyse, IOE, University College London, 20 Bedford Way, London WC1H 0AL, UK.Email: d.wyse@ucl.ac.ukFunding informationBoth authors benefit from funding from the Helen Hamlyn Trust as part of the funding for their research centre. No other funding is attributable to the work carried out for this paper.AbstractTeaching children to read is one of the most funda-mental goals of early years and primary education worldwide, and as such has attracted a large amount of research from a range of academic disciplines. The aims of this paper are: (a) to provide a new criti-cal examination of research evidence relevant to effective teaching of phonics and reading in the con-text of national curricula internationally; (b) to report new empirical findings relating to phonics teaching in England; and (c) examine some implications for policy and practice. The paper reports new empirical findings from two sources: (1) a systematic qualitative meta-synthesis of 55 experimental trials that included longitudinal designs; (2) a survey of 2205 teachers. The paper concludes that phonics and reading teach-ing in primary schools in England has changed sig-nificantly for the first time in modern history, and that compared to other English dominant regions England represents an outlier. The most robust research evi-dence, from randomised control trials with longitudi-nal designs, shows that the approach to phonics and reading teaching in England is not sufficiently under-pinned by research evidence. It is recommended that national curriculum policy is changed and that the
2 of 53 |WYSE and BRADBURYINTRODUCTIONTeaching children to read is one of the most fundamental goals of early years and primary education worldwide. Reading is vital for pupils' cognitive development if they are to progress successfully throughout education, as birth cohort studies have shown (Sullivan & Brown, 2013), and reading gives children access to nearly all areas of the school curriculum as chil-dren move from early years through to secondary education, and beyond. Because reading is so fundamental to children's learning it is also one of the key ways in which the quality of education is measured. For example, settings and schools are held to account by parents and by wider society for the progress in reading that children make as a result of the teach-ing in those settings. In some countries governments have policies for education monitoring locus of political control over curriculum, pedagogy and assessment should be re-evaluated. The video abstract for this article is available at https://youtu.be/bJImJ 79JKNI.KEYWORDSassessment, phonics, policy, readingContext and implicationsRationale for this studyTeaching children to read is one of the most important elements of primary educa-tion because it is fundamental to children's educational development. For this rea-son it is vital that the teaching of reading, and curriculum policies on reading, are informed by robust research.Why the new findings matterIf children are not being taught to read in the most appropriate way, because curricu-lum policy and teaching practices are not informed sufficiently by robust research evidence, then children's education will not be as effective as it should be.Implications for practitioners, policy makers, researchersThe outcomes of the survey of teachers in England, and the new analysis of system-atic reviews and meta analyses, and randomised controlled trials with longitudinal designs, reported in the paper show the need for changes to the teaching of reading and to national curriculum policy on the teaching of reading.The teaching of phonics and reading in curriculum policy and practice should more closely reflect the evidence that contextualised teaching of reading, or balanced instruction, is the most effective way to teach reading.