I am aware of a number of universities where people are working hard to provide good training for their student-teachers in synthetic phonics - and liaising well with local schools.
I have some very positive news about Liverpool Hope University.
Recently I was invited to provide a full day's training event and a further day is booked in the New Year.
The request was for generic information for university lecturers themselves as all lecturers may be called upon to monitor student-teachers providing phonics lessons in their teaching practices.
In addition, I was asked to provide generic information in the synthetic phonics teaching principles for around 180 student-teachers (early years and primary) and to show the materials of the Phonics International and the ORT Floppy's Phonics Sounds and Letters programmes as student-teachers may encounter various phonics programmes in schools when they do their teaching practices and when they join schools as newly qualified teachers.
In addition, lecturers at University College Birmingham invited myself and Abi Steel to provide talks and workshops in the synthetic phonics teaching principles over a period of three days. Both these universities are very keen to find ways that we can work with them in providing good training and good information.
More recently, I provided a talk at the annual conference of UCET (Universities' Council for the Education of Teachers) and I decided to focus this upon 'The issues underpinning and undermining Synthetic Phonics teaching for reading, spelling and writing for all ages'.
Further, I provided a keynote introduction and two workshops at the University of Northampton - but sadly I blotted my copybook at the end of the conference when I reacted (over-reacted) to the comments which I considered to be anti-phonics made by one of the other speakers. It's much easier to write comments which are measured via the internet rather than commenting in the heat of the moment!
Much to my huge embarrassment.
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