Michael Shaw should be applauded for redressing the imbalance given to Miriam Gross’ Centre for Policy Studies booklet by the press. Most teachers are hard-working and sensible, including in teaching phonics - this is not reflected in Ms Gross’s booklet.

On a related note, politicians continue to ignore the fact that most children spend a good deal of their reading time at home - with their parents. The only person who seems to be addressing the fact that parents need to be taught about the building blocks of English is Alan Davies, with his downloadable Sound It Out software.

Ruth Jones, From the TES website (www.tes.co.ukthepaper).