A staggering 20 per cent of children leave primary school unable to read well. So what's the answer - and how can parents help? Susan Elkin reports. Information provided by my child magazine

Reading is the key to all other learning. Books, labels, notices, instructions, magazines, newspapers, film subtitles, computer screens - wherever you look for information you need to be able to read fast and fluently. You cannot get on in other subjects unless you can read. So how is your child being taught to read and what can you do to help?

Experts don't agree on what works best. Ruth Miskin, former head teacher of Kobi Nazrul school in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets and author of a series of books called Superphonics, is convinced that the system known as 'synthetic phonics' should be systematically and quickly taught to every five-year-old in the first Reception term.

Synthetic phonics recognises 44 variously spelled sounds, known as phonemes. Children learn for instance that 'oa' (in oats and foal), 'ow' (in mow and below) and 'ough' (in dough and though) all make the same sound, as does the 'sh' part of 'shell', 'splash' and 'dashed.' They are taught to combine phonemes to make and read words. 'It's fun,' Ms Miskin says. 'And it works, even for the three in every class who usually trail and fail.'

A group of 300 11-year children in Clackmannanshire, Scotland was taught this way six years ago. They are now reading three years ahead of children in other schools where different schemes were used.

Another system is called 'analytic phonics.' That means breaking words down phonetically and making links through rhyme, for example. If you can read 'crate' you can be helped to work out 'mate', 'date', 'plate' and so on.

Then there's 'whole word recognition'. If your name is Phoebe or George and you live in Wellingborough or Shrewsbury then phonics aren't going to help you much (Answer: Call your children Jack or Beth and live in Bristol or Kent?) Children are bound to do some whole word spotting from an early age, but some literacy experts now think you shouldn't encourage this because it's haphazard, often relies on guesswork and doesn't give the child a proper strategy - although for many years this was the accepted method in schools.

The literacy strategy, part of the primary curriculum, which the government introduced in 1998, uses a mixture of the above methods - but 20 per cent of eleven-year-olds still cannot read well. That is why the government has commissioned a major report on methods of teaching reading. It's due in November 2005.

Meanwhile, the government and charitable trusts are spending £10 million to put special teachers into schools in 20 urban areas to help 4,000 backward readers by using a one-to-one scheme called 'Reading Recovery.' And a £27 million initiative to give every child aged between two and four a bag of books to promote home reading was announced in July.

Part of the difficulty, according to school inspectors, is that many teachers still do not teach phonics thoroughly enough. Because most were not taught this way themselves they are not steeped in the method and have a resistance to it.

Look carefully at the books your child brings home to see what approach is being taken. Talk to teachers about it and make sure that you help by hearing Ella or Henry read as the school requests. If you have time you might also consider volunteering to help hear reading at your child's school - you will learn a lot about teaching methods.

Reading dos and don'ts

DO

• Read to your child every day at least until the end of primary school
• Listen to your child reading daily as soon as he or she starts to read
• Play word games in the car and elsewhere (eg 'let's think of 'fr' words...')
• Let your child see you engrossed in books - it teaches that reading is exciting and important
• Point out words on notices, hoardings, shop windows, etc.

DON'T

• Stop reading aloud to your child as soon as he or she can decipher a few words
• Write in capital letters for a child - it blocks out the natural shape of a word like 'elephant' or 'happy'
• Try to apply phonic rules to non-phonetic words. You cannot sound out 'Charlotte' using the 'c' 'h' 'a' method as you can 'Elena'

TALKING POINT: Are books on the way out?

Schools often use computer generated activities and worksheets instead of books. It is cheaper and, in some ways, more convenient. Many schools now have a book budget of less than £10 per child per year.

TV and DVDs provide fictional entertainment (although so, to millions, do children's authors like JK Rowling, Jacqueline Wilson and Philip Pullman). The internet is an all-encompassing source of information.

Are we going to need books at all in ten years time?

Michael Morpurgo, Children's Laureate 2003-5 and author of over 90 books such as Kensuke's Kingdom and Private Peaceful, is worried that books and reading for pleasure are being sidelined in schools. He wants much more money to be spent on school books and for teachers to read aloud to children for at least half an hour every day. 'There is clear historic evidence that those who read are more likely to achieve and fulfil their potential,' he says.

my child - www.mychild.co.uk - is a new magazine for parents. Every issue gives the latest on what is being taught in schools, tips on how parents can help their children at home, expert and parent reviews on books, DVDs and toys, plus FREE SATs software and other family titles worth over £250.