Arthur Morgan (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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Question 22: To ask the Minister for Education and Science the roll-out of the synthetic phonics method of literacy training in teaching children to read in primary schools; and her plans to widely introduce this method throughout primary schools which could benefit them. [19950/06]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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The primary curriculum acknowledges that reading is a complex activity and it stresses that a range of approaches is required to teach children to read successfully.

The approaches to reading must also be grounded in the children's oral activity and experience. The curriculum, therefore, provides for the use of a range of approaches to facilitate the development of both word identification and comprehension strategies.

The curriculum recognises the important role that phonological approaches, which include both synthetic and analytic approaches, play in developing children's knowledge of and ability to combine letter sounds in order to identify words. It highlights that in order to be successful these approaches must be used with other strategies such as the development of children's ability to use meaning cues. In addition, children's comprehension skills need to be developed so that they can extract meaning from their reading.

The importance of using a range of approaches, including phonological approaches, to teach reading was highlighted at in-service seminars delivered to teachers across the country during the roll out of the Primary School Curriculum.

Teachers are also able to keep abreast of ongoing developments and provision of resources in relation to literacy through membership of such bodies as the National Reading Association, the Irish Learning Support Association and their association with locally based Education Centres.

I am confident that the implementation of a combination of approaches in our primary schools will enable our children to develop their reading skills so that they can further their learning, critically analyse and respond to their reading material and, above all, read for enjoyment.