Canada
In Canada, public education is the responsibility of the Provincial and Territorial governments. There is no evidence that systematic phonics (including synthetic phonics) has been adopted by any of these jurisdictions. However, systematic phonics and synthetic phonics receive attention in some publications.
- In 2003 the Department of Education for the government of Ontario published a report entitled Early Reading Strategy - The Report of the Expert Panel on early Reading in Ontario. The report appears to support the use of systematic and explicit phonics instruction. It suggests that instruction in phonemic awareness be followed up with "systematic and explicit instruction" on the relationship between letters and the sounds they represent. (Pg. 17)
- In 2009, the Department of Education for the province of British Columbia posted a discussion paper on their Read Now website entitled Reading: Breaking Through the Barriers. The paper states that explicit and synthetic phonics needs to be taught directly in the classroom because it works "for all students but are particularly helpful for students at risk for reading difficulty". (Pg. 8) There appears to be no evidence, however, that systematic phonics (or synthetic phonics) is a part of the teaching pedagogy.
- Dr. Robert Savage, of McGill University, concludes that, with respect to remedial programs, we should not wait for children to fail before using phonics programs. He also recommends the teaching of such skills as segmenting and blending alongside the "explicit teaching" of letter sounds. He also says there is a need for more Randomized controlled trials in order to produce more definitive conclusions.
Read more about this topic: Synthetic Phonics, History
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