This is notable because Wales largely resisted SSP for nearly 20 years, even after England adopted phonics following the 2006 Rose Review.
(e.g. see here: walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-n...)
Englandβs reading results have since risen towards the top of international rankings.
The new guidance says prioritising guessing over decoding can undermine the development of essential phonics skills.
Itβs part of new principles for language and literacy published yesterday.
π΄σ §σ ’σ ·σ ¬σ ³σ ΏA significant shift in Welsh education policy this week.
After resisting for 20 years, the Welsh government now says systematic synthetic phonics (SSP) should be a key part of teaching children to read & pupils should not be guided to guess words from pictures or context.
6. Before Wales can fix its reading problem, it needs to fix its evidence problem.
Without data and accountability, recommendations risk being little more than guesswork.
www.itv.com/news/2026-02...
5. Wales collects no national data on how well children are learning to read at the early stages.
In that vacuum, inspection judgements carry huge weight and can rapidly shape classroom practice, despite a questionable evidence base and virtually no way of measuring progress.
4. In that vacuum, the schools watchdog Estynβs judgements on reading are the closest thing we have to a Wales-wide picture of whatβs going on.
But as I discuss in the article, what if those judgements and recommendations are themselves controversial?
3. When I first starting looking into this, I was amazed at how little data there was to tell us how well Welsh children can read.
I was criticised at the time for using "old data" because i referenced a report from 2012 which said 20% of children were functionally illiterate.
2.
Todayβs report from the schools watchdog makes for grim reading. And the concerns go beyond pupils being left behind.
Shockingly, it says the literacy skills of *too many of the teachers themselves* are weak.
annual-report.estyn.gov.wales
Iβve written about reading again (sorry).
Thereβs another sobering report on poor literacy in Welsh schools today. But how can a country get to grips with a problem if it has no reliable data on how bad things actually are?
www.itv.com/news/2026-02...
5/ These concerns connect directly to CAL:ON Cymru, an Β£8.2m literacy initiative launched at Bangor University without panel consensus, and the final reason she resigned.
The committee meets tomorrow to consider her evidence.
4/ A key concern she raises is the role of civil servants.
She says officials exerted more influence than panel members, with draft statements circulated that "bore no resemblance" to panel discussions with evidence-based proposals excluded.
3/ In her letter, she says that despite ministerial statements backing phonics, the panel could not agree on how reading should be taught. This made it unrealistic to expect clear or useful guidance.
business.senedd.wales/documents/s1...
2/ Nonweiler was the only panel member with direct experience of teaching beginners to read using systematic synthetic phonics. Link to previous report here: www.itv.com/news/2025-10...
1/ You may remember our @ITVNews reporting on reading standards in Welsh schools, including the resignation of literacy expert Elizabeth Nonweiler from a Welsh Government panel.
Tomorrow, the Seneddβs CYPE committee will discuss the letter she wrote explaining why she stepped down.
No words after that. I love this team #wrexham #limbs
Went to Clyne Tip early this morning.
Was reminded once again why it's one of the finest places in Swansea/Gower (as argued here by Adrian Chiles).
Beautifully efficient.
Angel Rangel was there recycling a substantial amount of cardboard.
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Not sure I could ever get on board with "hacking my gut" - sounds awful...
"I spent months trying to find out if hacking my gut health could help me age better"
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Na π₯² gutted
Busy first week back.
Say what you like about my dress sense but you canβt say I donβt get around the patch π§€π§£
I canβt stop talking about it to people in person so I thought Iβd share this here too. Thanks for listening.
Iβve had to drive up the heads of the valleys road from Swansea to Abergavenny three times this last week.
Since the road was finished it has genuinely become one of the greatest joys of my life.
Itβs turned a 90 minute plus journey into around an hour.
At Edgar Street.
Last time I was here Gareth Evans skied the ball into the stands and I caught it. Someone shouted sign him up and I was thrilled.
Dad was with me, Mum visited Hereford Cathedral.
We lost 2-0 but survived that season #wrexham
Back in work today after a great stint of paternity leave.
With 2 under 2 in the house (+a recent house move), βrefreshedβ may be the wrong word...but Iβm looking forward to getting stuck back in!
Catching up on emails and messages over the next few days - do drop me a line if we need to catch up.
How old is Alastair, Sarah?
It was also good to see reading in schools in Wales getting more attention this week.
Thanks to Teleri Glyn Jones from BBC Politics Wales for the shout out for our journalism at @itvnews.bsky.social
Very interesting comments from Luke Sibieta of the IFS
tooπ
www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/epis...
It comes weeks after we revealed an email sent in error by one of Estyn's most senior directors dismissing a literacy expert as "evangelical" but saying by meeting her "at least we'll have given her air time."
www.itv.com/news/2025-11...
Wales' schools watchdog has announced today it will have a three year "enhanced focus on reading" from September 2026.
Read more here:
estyn.gov.wales/reading-for-...
#stormclaudia
The latest episode of the Impact Podcast is out now. Episode 211 - "Why I quit". Literacy Expert Panel Member, Elizabeth Nonweiler speaks out about why she has resigned from the Welsh Government panel & what's going wrong.
Listen here: open.spotify.com/show/778EJMB...
That was incredible. I wish we could have seen how Alan managed to persuade them.
