One of the most overlooked challenges in early literacy is variation in how children speak.
 

All children arrive at school with their own way of saying words. This reflects accent, but it can also reflect speech and language development. These differences are not errors in thinking. They are part of each child’s Personal Pronunciation Code, the internal system they use to connect speech and print.
 

In classrooms, phonics is often taught as though there is one stable set of sounds that all children can access and use in the same way. In reality, this is not the case.
 

For some children, the difference is subtle. For others, it has a significant impact on their ability to connect sounds to letters.

For example, a child may say “burfday” instead of “birthday”, or “free” instead of “three”. These are not random mistakes. They reflect how the child is currently producing and hearing speech sounds.
 

If a teacher does not recognise these patterns, it becomes difficult to understand how the child is mapping speech to print.

When the child is asked to identify sounds in a word, they will do so based on what they hear and say. If their pronunciation differs from the model being used in teaching, there is an immediate mismatch.
 

In many homes across England, children may be told to say words “properly”, although less so now than in the past. Historically, a “proper accent” has been associated with Received Pronunciation, carrying assumptions about correctness, education and social status.

Teachers are expecteds to model word mapping in practice to align with the Phonics Pronunciation Code, which tends to reflect Received Pronunciation. For children whose speech differs, this can create additional confusion, as they are being asked to adjust their spoken form while also trying to understand how sounds connect to letters.
 

A child whose speech already aligns with this model may find it easier to access the code, while others must first navigate the differences between their own pronunciation and the expected model. This creates an uneven starting point.

This also creates inequality for teachers. Teachers whose own accents differ from the model may feel pressure to adapt how they speak in order to teach phonics “correctly”. This is rarely acknowledged.

As one teacher shared, “I have no idea how I would teach phonics in England as I have such a strong Scottish accent.”

This can lead to:

• difficulty articulating or identifying phonemes accurately

• confusion when linking sounds to graphemes

• errors in reading and spelling that are misunderstood

• increased cognitive load, as the child tries to reconcile competing versions of the word

Importantly, these children are not going to change their accent or their speech patterns simply because they are learning to read and write. They still need to be able to access the written code and become fluent readers and accurate spellers.

This means the responsibility cannot sit with the child alone.
 

Teachers need support to recognise and understand variation in speech, and to respond to it effectively. This requires more than following a phonics programme. It requires knowledge of how speech sounds map to print, and how this mapping may differ for each child.
 

At present, this places a significant demand on teachers.
 

They are expected to:

• identify the sounds in words

• model those sounds clearly

• respond to children whose pronunciation may differ

• and make decisions about how to represent those sounds in print
   

For many, this is difficult to sustain across a full class, particularly when children’s speech patterns vary widely.

Without the right tools and support, it becomes challenging to navigate these differences and resolve them in a way that supports learning. 
 

This is why making speech–print relationships visible is so important.
 

When the structure of words can be seen and heard, teachers and children can work together to understand how the spoken form of a word connects to its written form, even when pronunciation varies.
 

This allows:

• the child’s Personal Pronunciation Code to be acknowledged (and respected)

• the target structure of the word to be made clear

• and the connection between the two to be supported
   

By recognising and addressing variation, rather than ignoring it, we can reduce confusion, support accurate word mapping, and ensure that all children are able to access reading and spelling successfully. This is a key aim of Phonics Reform England.