Is the Reading Reform Foundation influenced or controlled by external powers such as funding sources, political agendas, or institutional pressures?
Should there be more accountability and transparency in organisations advocating educational reforms?
I can think of only 3 probable answers to the attitudes of the committee members of Reading Reform Foundation.
They are controlled by the Funding Sources or the committee members are naïve.
Another reason could be to protect their rice bowls – intervention services and sales of educational material.
I wrote to the Reading Reform Foundation UK founder the late Mona McNee.
Here are a few extracts of emails from Mona to me in 2015. Read it carefully and it may explain why no one wants to discuss why many smart kids can’t read.
“I am 92 next month and failing daily -eyesight, and have been deaf for 60 years so now I merely exist.
Thank you for your help. Keep fighting for phonics based on 26 letters>sounds which works for all.”
“I am delighted to hear of your fight.
Remember I myself thought it was just look-say vs phonics.
The Evils behind all this must be very clever.”
Which evil was she talking about?
Is it possible that Mona McNee’s reference to ‘evils’ refers to issues within the committee itself?
McNee may have been alluding to personal or ideological disagreements among committee members that prevented effective action.
Members may also dissent from opinions that can lead to a lack of critical examination of their methods and practices. Could McNee have been frustrated with this phenomenon?
In December 2018, after several reminders to Debbie Hepplewhite, a committee member of Reading Reforms UK (RRF), replied as follows:
Debbie Hepplewhite
To:Luqman Michel
Mon, 24 Dec 2018 at 18:39
Dear Luqman,
I am so remiss not to have got back to you on this. My sincere apologies.
Now that you have reminded me, I shall be sure to attend to this immediately after the Christmas season.
In the meantime, I do hope you and yours are well,
Warmest good wishes,
You may read the details of the emails to and from Debbie Hepplewhite here. LINK
I did not get any response to my questions. Soon after that, I was blocked on Twitter by her.
I thought this was unbecoming of a committee member of RRF.
Debbie’s website states the following:
“In February 2017, we introduced No Nonsense Phonics Skills as an intervention tool….” LINK
Could it be possible that this woman who was a committee member of RRF did not want what I had written to RRF to be widely known as her intervention business would be affected?
She knows that if letter sounds are taught correctly the number of kids needing intervention will be reduced.
She knows that if the Baby TV programmes are cancelled there will be fewer kids who will shut down from learning to read.
Why would she throw sand in her own rice plate?
In a tweet by Geraldine Carter, on 15.6.2020 she said that she is an early member of Reading Reform Foundation and had looked at my work years ago.
In 2020, Geraldine Carter tweeted the following:
Geraldine Carter@ged10 Replying to @luqmanmichel and @RRForg
Luqman - there are thousands of requests, messages, and different points of view. It is not possible to address all of them. Perhaps write your own programme and get it published?
This Tweet from Geraldine Carter contradicts what was written by Debbie Hepplewhite.
The committee had read my emails and must have deliberated on them and decided not to respond.
What do you think?
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