Vera Southgate

• 1966 – Vera Southgate was a speaker at the 1st International Congress on Reading in Paris held by the International Reading Association and UNESCO[35]
• 1968 – Vera Southgate was a speaker at the 2nd International Congress on Reading in Copenhagen held by the International Reading Association and UNESCO[35]
• 1971 – Vera Southgate was inaugurated as the 7th president of the UK Reading Association during its congress in Manchester in which the Education Secretary, the Right Honourable Margaret Thatcher M.P. gave a keynote speech[36]
• 1986 – Vera Southgate gave the plenary address at the World Reading Congress in the Institute of Education, London which was her last speech[36]

Between 1957 and 1962, Vera Southgate developed the Southgate group reading tests, which were noteworthy for their ability to identify backward readers.[37] The Southgate group reading tests consisted of the following: –

• Test 1 – Word Selection consisting of forms A, B and C and a manual of instruction[38][39]
• Test 2 – Sentence Completion consisting of forms A and B and a manual of instruction[40][41]

These were famously used in the National Child Development Study (a longitudinal study), where the tests were applied on the sample children born in 1958, when they reached age seven in 1965.[42]

Vera Southgate was a staunch advocate of testing and monitoring levels of attainment in reading and was accredited by the James report (1972) for her work in measuring incidents of reading failure, which had led to the Lord James's enquiry into teacher education and teacher training.[43]

When the initial teaching alphabet (i.t.a.) was launched, it was the London Institute of Education which spun up the "Reading Research Unit" under the leadership of Dr. John Downing to carryout the original studies, whereas Manchester University with its esteemed School of Education which Vera Southgate was a part had remained on the sidelines,[44] as such Vera Southgate simply observed the progress of the experiment and wrote two papers on her thoughts: –

• Augmented roman alphabet experiment an outsider's report, by Vera Southgate, article in Educational Review (1963 November)[20]
• Approaching i.t.a. results with caution, Vera Southgate article in Educational Research (1965 Feb)[21]

As the i.t.a. was initially a spectacular success, its usage expanded rapidly through the UK and across the English speaking world through the early 1960s,[45] this was done in parallel to seventeen research studies which measured the performance of the i.t.a.[46] By 1966, the Ministry of Education through the Schools Council, undertook an independent evaluation of the i.t.a. and all the published research to-date. As the London Institute of Education had been intricately involved in some of the major studies to-date, it fell on Manchester University to provide the independent & objective assessors, consequently Professor Frank (Francis) Warburton of Experimental Education and Vera Southgate were engaged to carryout the government assessment.[47] The evaluation took place from 1966 to 1967 and the report was compiled in 1968 and published in 1969.[48] Unfortunately Professor Frank Warburton died shortly after completing their assessment so leaving Vera Southgate as one of the pre-eminent independent academic authorities on the i.t.a.[49]

In 1970, Vera Southgate wrote a book in collaboration with Geoffrey R. Roberts,[50] to help teachers to select an appropriate method and reading materials to use in classrooms to teach children to read.[51] The book compared the major methods available at the time: – Phonics, Look & Say & others such as the initial teaching alphabet.[52] The authors argued that the choice of method was situational and dependent on factors such as the teacher's own style and philosophy on teaching.[53] The book defined a framework whereby a teacher could apply a set of criteria to assess the different methods & materials available including basal reading schemes and then choose the most appropriate.[53]

In 1972, Vera Southgate published a collection of her most important articles and papers to-date in this book.[15] Half the original book (chapters 5–8) was dedicated to the topical initial teaching alphabet,[54] with the remainder socialising the following papers: -[55][56]

1. Approaches to Beginning Reading in Great Britain[57]
2. Selecting an Approach to Teaching Reading[58]
3. The Importance of Structure in Beginning Reading[59]
4. Early Reading[60]
5. Formulae for Beginning Reading Tuition[25][61]

In 1972, Margaret Thatcher, the Education Secretary set-up a committee of inquiry into the teaching in the schools of reading and the other uses of English under the Chairmanship of Sir Alan Bullock. Vera Southgate as one of the leading British experts in the field was invited to join the committee. She sat on the committee from 1972 until 1975 when the final report was published and presented to Reg Prentice.[62] The recommendations included systematic testing to monitor levels of literacy attained, substantial improvements to teacher training with the opportunity of more advanced new courses and qualifications in English and intervention programmes to help failing pupils.[62]

In 1973, the Schools Council funded Vera Southgate to lead a team of four researchers at the School of Education in the University of Manchester, to help children of seven years and older improve their reading skills. The research team took half a decade and completed their work in 1977, publishing in 1981 and in so doing won the UK Reading Association book of the year. During the study, Vera used her own Southgate group reading tests to measure the performance of different cohorts of children.[16] The study and final publication were noteworthy for its emphasis on the reading environment, comparing reading aloud with silent reading.[63][64]

Between 1970 and 1971, Vera Southgate held the prestigious post of the seventh president of the United Kingdom Reading Association, now known as the United Kingdom Literacy Association. In 1998, Vera was posthumously elected to the associations hall of fame.[65]

In 1959, Vera Southgate collaborated with John Havenhand to produce an initial six book reading scheme called Sounds and Words: –

The book series was originally published in 1960 by University of London Press then re-published in 1974 by Hodder & Stoughton Educational of Dunton Green[73]

Subsequently, in 1968, Vera Southgate wrote some further supplementary readers for the scheme: –

• The Five Fat Sisters[74] (1967)
• The Biggest Meat Pie[75] (1967)

The majority of Vera Southgate's work was published by Ladybird Books, between 1962 and 1974, in the easy reading series given the reference 606 by Ladybird Books.[76]

Between 1962 & 1965, Vera Southgate wrote four books of the initial nineteen in the people at work easy reading series (606D) to encourage reading practice prior to a child attaining fluency.[77][78]

In 1964, Vera Southgate wrote both books of the Sports (aka Games) easy reading series (606C)[83]

In 1964, Cinderella was the first story Vera Southgate retold in the Well Loved Tales series

Vera Southgate is most famously remembered as the re-teller of the Ladybird Books graded reading scheme; – Well Loved Tales which had global sales of upwards of 80 million, albeit the true readership was larger because such books were often present in libraries and schools. This popularity made Vera Southgate a household name in the second half of the 20th century. Vera wrote the original 27 retold tales between 1964 and 1974, but the series was such a success that Ladybird then extended the series with 19 additional books between 1979 and 1988, but the extended series used different authors to Vera Southgate.[86]

In order to develop reading abilities in children, Vera often picked old fables and cumulative tales whose repetitive nature helped early grade 1 readers to learn before moving onto more complex fairy tales for grade 2 and 3 readers.

The books in the well loved tales series retold by Vera Southgate are listed below: -[86]

In 1964, Vera Southgate again collaborated with John Havenhand to write five of the six books in the "Penny the Poodle" series of children's fictional reading books which was published by E.J. Arnold & Son in Leeds and illustrated by Patricia McGrogan.

In 1968, Vera Southgate wrote a series of twelve illustrated books with brief captions intended to teach kindergarten children to read their first words, the series was published by Macmillan[120]