Ministers should investigate whether phonics testing for Year 1 pupils is an “effective” intervention in helping children learn to read, researchers have said.

But a report from Institute for Educational Policies (EPI), which suggested there was “no evidence” that it led to improved results, was criticized for its interpretation of changes in SAT scores.

Introduced in 2012 by the coalition government, the check tests pupils’ reading in Year 1. Those who do not meet the expected standard take the test again in Year 2.

The report looked at reading and writing at the end of Key Stages 1 and 2, before and after the introduction of the annual check.

It examined the effect for Year 1 pupils rather than the greater emphasis on phonics and found an “overall upward trend” in reading performance at Key Stage 1, with the proportion meeting the expected standard rising from 85% in 2010 to 88% percent in 2012.

But this growth has “slowed and stagnated”, with 90% meeting the standard in 2013, rising to 91% in 2015.

However, professor and blogger Andrew Old, disputing the findings, said: “It could be argued that this is not a significant or reliable result, but it is ridiculously biased to describe it as slowing and blocking an existing trend “.

At Key Stage 2, results “rose and then fell”, the report said, with 71 per cent reaching the expected standard in reading in 2017, 75 per cent in 2018 and 73 per cent in 2019.

But the researchers warned that it was “particularly difficult to examine whether the review may have had an impact on Key Stage 2, as reformed assessments at this stage began in 2016”.

The report also found that children who met the expected standard in the phonics check were “more likely to reach ‘expected level’ in Key Stage 2 reading than those who ‘failed'”.

The report also analyzed the gaps between students with different characteristics. It found “no evidence” that any have closed, while gender gaps “appear to be widening slightly”.

40% of teachers want the canceled check

EPI also tasked Professor Tapp with asking their respondents about the phonetic check.

Thirty-nine percent said the check should be scrapped, while 24 percent said it should be kept “but with significant changes.” Fourteen percent said it should stay as it is.

Twenty-seven percent of teachers said checking led to “neglecting (of) other areas of the curriculum that are important,” while 15 percent said it “encourages us to focus on teaching the most important things.”

When asked about the amount of time spent in the phonics lesson in the two weeks preceding the check, 30 to 60 minutes per day was the most common answer.

EPI called on the Department for Education to “carry out a fresh, transparent, evidence-based review into whether phonics screening is an effective national intervention to help children learn to read”.

This review “should be carried out by independent experts with a wide range of knowledge, including children’s reading and literacy development, as well as practices and pedagogies in primary schools”.

Such a review “could be undertaken alongside and inform or form part of the overall curriculum and assessment review now being led by Professor Becky Francis for the department”.

Dr Tammy Campbell, EPI’s director of early years, inequalities and wellbeing, said reading was “so important for learning, fun and access to ideas and imaginations”.

The curriculum and assessment review it provided “a good opportunity to pause — and reassess policy in this area,” she said.

A second report, also published this week, warned that children’s enjoyment of reading had fallen to its lowest point since records began in 2005.

Analysis of responses from more than 76,000 young people by the National Literacy Trust found that 34.6% said they enjoyed reading in their spare time, down 8.8 percentage points on last year. In 2016, the figure was two out of three.

Reading frequency is similarly at an all-time low, with only 20.5% of eight- to 18-year-olds saying they read daily in their spare time.

The gender gap also tripled as a result of a larger decline in the proportion of boys who said they liked to read. Girls are now 12.3 percentage points more likely to say they enjoy reading.

Jonathan Douglas, chief executive of the trust, said “the future of a generation is at stake”.

“To make reading for pleasure a truly national priority, we urge the government to form a reading task force and action plan with multi-sector partners.”