Media Release

14th August 2001

Read The Reading Report Carefully - Donnelly

"The report of the Education and Science Select Committee into the teaching of reading needs to be read with care," said New Zealand First Education Spokesperson, Hon Brian Donnelly MP today.

"In its call for a re-emphasis on the importance of phonics and word-level decoding skills, the report is not saying we should throw out the baby with the bath water."

The report acknowledges New Zealand has an enviable record in developing excellent methods and materials to teach reading for meaning, and this expertise must not be lost. Any re-emphasis on phonics must be connected with meaningful engagement with real text.

Mr Donnelly chaired the sub-committee which carried out the review over the last 12 months.

ENDS

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Gordon Campbell: On the Sony cyber attack

Given the layers of meta-irony involved, the saga of the Sony cyber attack seemed at the outset more like a snarky European art film than a popcorn entry at the multiplex.

Yet now with (a) President Barack Obama weighing in on the side of artistic freedom and calling for the US to make a ‘proportionate response’quickly followed by (b) North Korea’s entire Internet service going down, and with both these events being followed by (c) Sony deciding to backtrack and release The Interview film that had made it a target for the dastardly North Koreans in the first place, then ay caramba…the whole world will now be watching how this affair pans out. More>>