Out with Reading Recovery; in with structured literacy. There's a big change coming for New Zealand's young readers

The government's order that schools adopt structured literacy might sound high-handed, but the change is being welcomed by many educationalists

Education is facing a bunch of changes, but the important ones are not banned cell phones or woke foods.

The government has ordered teachers to adopt 'structured literacy' to get children reading.

That means Reading Recovery, a system New Zealand pioneered and spread to the world, along with 'whole language', is out.

The decision has met with split reactions, with some in the sector welcoming the system change, and others disappointed by it.

The Detail speaks to proponents of both today, looking at the pros and cons of each.

Historically New Zealand schools have taught a mixture of whole language and balanced literacy.

That involves being immersed in and surrounded by books and all different kinds of words, in the belief that children will learn the same way they learn other skills in life - by observing and repetition.

However structured literacy means recognising the symbols for different word sounds (phonics), then recognising them in words. The word often used in conjunction with it is 'decoding'.

"The term itself, structured literacy, was coined by the International Dyslexia Association - so it has trademarked the term," junior teacher and literacy publisher Micaela Bonnar tells The Detail.

"It's an explicit, systematic way of teaching literacy that is seen as building blocks - so you start at the very early stages of teaching letter sounds, then you're looking at spelling patterns, you're looking at the way we can put different word parts together," she says.

"Whole language - from about the 1970s into the '80s - came about with Marie Clay," Bonnar says.

She was the pioneer of Reading Recovery, developed as an early intervention in response to the numbers of children struggling to learn reading and writing.

"The philosophy behind whole language is that learning to read is the same as learning how we talk and listen," Bonnar says.

"The idea is that it's a natural process - therefore if we just surround children with language and literacy-rich environments, lots of books, we read to them, we put them in front of them, that eventually they will learn how to read…

Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details