Precision Teaching (PT) is an evidence-based intervention, which research indicates is frequently not implemented following training, with few teachers using it in schools after training events. The web-based programme in this research focuses on word-level reading skills and targets blending and segmenting skills rather than whole word reading.…

This article describes an investigation into the outcomes of a school-based initiative to improve the word reading skills of a group of secondary school students (n = 77). The project involved the delivery of an enhanced precision teaching (PT) programme across two cohorts of students by teaching assistants (TAs) in each school who themselves…

Two previous articles in this journal advocate the greater use of a behaviourist methodology called "Precision Teaching" (PT). From a position located within virtue ethics, this article argues that the technical feat of raising narrowly defined performance in mathematics and other subjects is not sufficient justification for the…

In this study, teaching assistants (TAs) were trained to spend 4 min each day on a precision teaching programme with selected pupils, whose progress in word recognition was a cause for concern. Words were taken from "The National Literacy Strategy Framework for Schools". The sessions were set up to be "fun" times. All the…

The Department of Education in the United Kingdom established ambitious targets for achievement in the three core areas of English, maths and science measured by national curriculum testing. Annual results of the assessment for 2005 indicate that the government is some way off achieving these targets, currently 85%, for the academic years…

Mathematics is a core subject in the UK curriculum, with high standards achievement a policy of the UK government. Innovative approaches and strategies have been advocated to achieve these high standards. One approach that has been advocated is Precision Teaching, supported by its successful application in schools in the United States. For this…