Contained in the proposals are powers for either a council or a Minister to issue statutory guidance to a school where they feel that their method of teaching - say, reading - is not consistent with best practice and cannot be shown to be delivering appreciable results.

BBC: Taking ministers out of the loop

Teaching-learning materials are designed to help facilitators to develop the reading and writing skills of their learners through a highly instructive teaching-learning process as well as guided practice by the learners (see pictures below).

UNESCO: Kha Ri Gude (Let Us Learn) Adult Literacy Programme (KGALP)

But look who it has appointed to carry it out: Jim Rose, former Deputy Chief Inspector of Schools in England - knighted this summer following his 2006 report into the teaching of early reading, with its emphasis on synthetic phonics.

BBC: ANALYSIS

Most ominously, both Mr Gove and the Tories' leader, David Cameron, are fond of party-pleasing prescriptions, including policies for which proof of effectiveness is non-existent (school uniforms) or limited (insisting on synthetic phonics for teaching reading).

ECONOMIST: The Conservatives on education