Sold a Story

What a great podcast - excellent research presented in a really engaging way to tell a very important and impactful story. As the mother of a bright and very articulate boy, I really expected him to thrive with literacy when he got to school but he didn’t. I know his school uses Balanced Literacy and I can see now that this probably contributed to his struggles with reading. He’s now 12 and is able to read but only because we’ve paid for private tutoring after we, too, picked up on the issue during Lockdown. But sadly he is not an ‘avid reader’ due to his rough start with literacy. As a Kiwi, I feel slightly ashamed that it was a New Zealander who pioneered this programme that has actually turned out to be quite harmful to so many people. But the big issue here is that there was money to be made, and that frequently leads to the needs of the vulnerable being ignored. This is a really important listen for New Zealanders as the curriculum changes about to hit here will no doubt reignite the “Reading Wars”!

This podcast is shocking. No wonder so many children and now adults can’t read well (ie functionally illiterate). Also show how ideology (and money) yet again trumps actual research. It is slowly taking decades to adopt proven strategies of teaching children how to read (ie using phonics, which was the “old fashioned” boring way). I can see why some people are so keen to do homeschooling! I feel guilty that I trusted the schools my children went to in New Zealand. I just wished I knew now what I knew 15 years ago. Also the nonsense does not stop with young children, I teach at a university in New Zealand and we are changing the way we are teaching, which isn’t going to end well, as it is the equivalent of replacing phonics…

This is the best explanation I have heard about how children are being taught to read through reading programs that are based on flawed theory. Research has shown over & over that these programs are flawed, yet they remain in schools worldwide, with the authors making millions off them. Presented in a narrative format, this podcast makes the issue both interesting & easy to understand.

This documentary style podcast is outstanding. The amount of work that has gone into this is incredible. Thank you so much for your time and effort to bring such an important topic into the light. I am so glad I found this podcast and I’m sharing it with whoever I can and praying our education system listens and changes for the benefit of all our children ❤️👏