You'll notice, I'm sure, several fallacies about this, not least the one that implies reading words in lists, out of context tells you whether people are 'good' or 'bad readers. Another is the one that implies reading words in lists tells you anything more than if a child is good at what we now call 'decoding' ie finding the correct correspondences between letters and sounds. In other words, those word lists paid no attention to meaning.
I may have overlooked this in the document, but it rather seems as if we are once again in this zone. Lists of words - without their meanings attached, either in terms of their 'dictionary definitions' or in terms of their contextual meanings (ie in sentences, paragraphs, chapters or wherever). It's as if this and most word-list compilers have suddenly dropped an interest in the idea that we use language as a way of making meanings.
What then is the point of the Word List? What's it for? Yes, rather obviously for spelling. In a stroke, by making a word list specific, important and ultimately related to tests, we raise the reading for spelling and reading for phonic correctness as more important than understanding and meaning.
Is this 21st century education? It is of course highly problematical trying to predict what present 10 and 11 year olds will be doing in 10, 20, 30, 40 and 50 years time. However, certain shadows and shapes of what kind of world they might live in and what kind of skills and critical apparatus they might need in order to negotiate it have appeared before us.
Is this a fair list?
1. The ability to distinguish the significant from the not significant.
2 The ability to adapt and be flexible to deal with the unexpected and/or the highly temporary.
3. The ability to be never-endingly curious.
4. The ability to co-operate with people around you.
5. To be able to show empathy and compassion.
6. To be able to co-operate with others and/or to engender co-operation between people
7. To be able to to understand 'process', 'principle' and 'theory' - that's to say, an ability to understand how and why systems operate and how they are different from or similar to each other.
8. The ability to be able to create and invent things in any medium using what is around you.
In this draft proposal I see very little, if anything at all that corresponds to this list. Instead, I see pages of instructions and commands, from anonymous government priests to teachers and an implied set of instructions and commands to pupils.
I think I know where this comes from: a) a misremembered past and b)a false description of an aspect of the present. The past is written all over the document whether that it's in the word lists, grammar lists or the enforced recitation of poetry. It's misremembered because that past (which I lived through) was highly discriminatory and guaranteed failure to the majority of pupils.
The false description of the present lies in the present obsession and addiction to the international league tables. What is the point of these? What point do they prove? Has someone discovered a mathematical formula that proves a causation between position on the league table and a nation's sucess? How significant are the positions anyway? Do they really compare like with like? And what is the point of importing another country's way of running schools solely on the basis of a position on the league table.? Aren't cultures and morees significantly different from country to country and continent to continent? Attitudes and access to print, magazines, books, screens, and visual imagery are embedded in centuries of habit and custom.
All this magically fades away in the face of the international league tables. Whole countries-ful of people are designated as not functioning properly on the basis of them. Indeed, we have governments (like ours) creating programmes of study on the basis that doing them will get 'our' exam results higher than 'theirs'. If we don't, the argument seems to run, we will fail to compete, our capitalists will not be able sell their stuff as easily or as well as theirs.
I'm not an expert on what it takes for one capitalist to outdo another, but in the time coming up, is it really the case that spending time learning how to decode dictated and government sanctioned word lists which will give our chaps a competitive edge over all the foreign chaps?
I don't think education should be shaped as a tool with which British capitalists hammer foreign Jonny capitalists' companies into the ground. However, the thought that learning sanctioned but anonymously authored word lists is going to give us the competitive edge is to my mind a complete nonsense.
Word List for Years 5 and 6 [162]
accommodate
affection
analyse
ancient
apparent
appreciate
atmosphere
attitude
average
awkward
bargain
believe
blemish
boundary
bruise
career
celebrate
century
challenge
committee
convince
correspond
coward
create
curious
debate
deceive
decimal
definite
demonstrate
deprive
destroy
develop
electric
embarrass
emigrate
encounter
encourage
endure
engineer
enrol
envelope
equator
equip
especially
estimate
Europe
European
evidence
exaggerate
excavate
exceed
explanation
favour
familiar
festival
flavour
forbid
foreign
forty
fruit
garage
genuine
germ
govern(ment)
gradual
granite
guarantee
harass
haughty
haunt
hearty
height
hinder
hindrance
hoax
honour
horizon
humility
hurricane
identify
illustrate
imagine
imitate
immense
impress
imprison
include
index
industry
inferior
influence
inhabitant
instrument
interfere
interrupt
interview
introduce
investigate
jealous
juice
junction
jury
knead
knuckle
lawyer
lecture
legend
leisure
length
lenient
lightning
liquid
magazine
majesty
majority
manage
manufacture
marvellous
medium
military
mineral
minor
miracle
mischief
mischievous
modern
modest
moisture
mosquito
narrate
nation
natural
ninth
nuisance
object
observe
occupy
omit
operate
opinion
organise
origin
parallel
parliament
permanent
persevere
phrase
popular
prefer
privilege
pronunciation
protect
punctual
purpose
qualify
quench
query
rapid
realise
reason
receive,
receipt
recent
recommend
refuse
regret
relevant
remove
request
resemble
resign
restore
revise
rhyme
rhythm
ridiculous
sandwich
satisfy
saucepan
scheme
seize
severe
sign
similar
sincere
society
solemn
sphere
statue
stubborn
style
succeed
success
suggest
suit
superior
surprise
syllable
sympathy
syrup
talent
telescope
tempt
terminate
theatre
thorough
tomorrow
tremendous
triumph
twelfth
tyrant
umpire
unite
utter
vacant
variety (root
word vary)
ventilate
villain
virtue
vocabulary
volcano
volume
wardrobe
whether
wisdom
wizard
woollen
wrench
yacht
yeast
zero
zone
zoology
