The Bookseller.com

9th January 2009

Free phonics hit publishers' sales

22.05.08 Caroline Horn

The government's free phonics programme Letters and Sounds has had a "severe effect" on sales of phonics programmes into schools, according to Christopher Jolly, m.d. of Jolly Phonics.
Jolly said that while his trade sales have remained strong, his school sales are down about one-third since Letters and Sounds was made available to schools last September. "If you have a new competitor in the market that is offering a product free of charge, and there is heavy pressure to use its product, then it will have a knock-on effect on sales," he said. Jolly Phonics previously held about 80% of the UK schools market.

The government introduced Letters and Sounds as an outline for the teaching of synthetic phonics in schools last autumn. The Department for Children, Schools and Families states that it is "not promoting Letters and Sounds as the preferred phonics programme, merely one of many high-quality phonics teaching programmes which meet the core criteria".

But Jane Harley, head of primary literacy publishing at OUP, said: "Some local authority consultants tell schools they only need the government programme, even though the message from the top is that high-quality phonics programmes can be used alongside, or instead of, Letters and Sounds." The government programme does not include classroom resources, so schools will still need other commercial programmes for those materials, Harley added.

Graham Taylor at the PA's Educational Publishers Council said: "We have some continuing questions, among them the legitimacy of a government-­supported programme for schools. The government takes the view this is professional development for teachers, not a teaching programme―but there is a fine line between the two."

A spokesperson for the DCSF said that a recent Ofsted survey found that out of 20 schools visited, 12 had chosen to use Letters and Sounds. They added: "It is for schools and settings to decide which phonics programme to use . . . We are not promoting Letters and Sounds as the preferred phonics programme, merely one of many high-quality phonics programmes which meet the core criteria."

Caroline Horn publishers children's Home phonics

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