# The Difficult Questions About Teaching Reading Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/thinking-deeply-about-primary-education-3470150/the-difficult-questions-about-teaching-reading Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/thinking-deeply-about-primary-education-3470150/the-difficult-questions-about-teaching-reading.md Podcast: [Thinking Deeply about Primary Education](https://stenobird.com/podcast/thinking-deeply-about-primary-education-3470150) Published: 2026-07-18T04:00:00+00:00 Episode link: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/kieran-mackle/episodes/The-Difficult-Questions-About-Teaching-Reading-e3m6pqo Audio file: https://anchor.fm/s/45dcc8b0/podcast/play/122955032/https%3A%2F%2Fd3ctxlq1ktw2nl.cloudfront.net%2Fstaging%2F2026-6-17%2F428121680-44100-2-1524ebe06f20c.mp3 Processing state: not_requested JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/thinking-deeply-about-primary-education-3470150/episodes/the-difficult-questions-about-teaching-reading Duration seconds: 2137 ## Resource Get your tickets for the ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ TDaPE Conference Online⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ For show notes, links, and a summary episode, sign up for the ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Hey! What You Reading For ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ newsletter. Mondays at 7am BST - https://tdape.beehiiv.com/subscribe ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠AI For Teachers⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ newsletter For maths curriculum questions contact us ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ or via support@alta-education.com Learn more about ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠The Story of Maths⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ - www.alta-education.com/tsom-overview and https://www.acel.pro Episode 301: What should teachers do when a child is still struggling to decode in Year 5? How much should reading intervention take priority over the wider curriculum? What can a reading age genuinely tell us, and when should teachers adapt a phonics programme rather than follow it exactly? In this episode, Christopher Such returns to answer some of the most difficult questions about teaching reading. We discuss phonics in mixed Year 1 and Year 2 classes, the compromises involved in supporting older struggling readers, the limits of reading ages, the meaning of fidelity and whether audiobooks can develop the language and knowledge needed for comprehension. A practical and thoughtful conversation about diagnosis, intervention and making better decisions for pupils who find reading difficult. ## Actions - request_transcript: `POST https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/thinking-deeply-about-primary-education-3470150/episodes/the-difficult-questions-about-teaching-reading/transcription-requests` — Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode. - read_markdown: `GET https://stenobird.com/podcast/thinking-deeply-about-primary-education-3470150/the-difficult-questions-about-teaching-reading.md` — Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource. A page view does not enqueue transcription. Agents should invoke `request_transcript` explicitly when they need this episode processed. ## Transcript Full transcripts are not published on public pages unless there is a clear rights basis.