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very straightforward with good instructions. The layout was easy to follow and it quickly identified areas of difficulty.' HT8WI. 'I think the more you do it the more au fait you are with it.' SfL14WI.

Some teachers commented on pupils reactions to the test; 'The children didn't seem at all bothered by it anyway. They were absolutely fine with it - they didn't feel under any pressure' CT7WI. 'The children thoroughly enjoyed doing it. They didn't think that they were doing a test at all. They weren't aware of testing.' CT1H.

While interviewees found the test itself straightforward enough to administer, there were also comments that made reference to the time required to administer the test to the children. These have been recorded below together with the responses from the questionnaire on test length.

In the questionnaire, 85% of teachers agreed that the length of the test was good. Comments written included: 'It was of the right length.' CT17O 'Length was fine as I only had 4 children in P2 to test.' CT25aWI. 13% stated that the length of the test was alright to some extent. No teachers disagreed with the length of the test and 2% gave no response (See Table 18). 'It was time consuming but worth doing.' PT41O. 'Easy to administer, but time consuming' CT45H; 'I found it quite difficult time wise.' PT11O. One principal teacher explained how she managed to administer the test to a large number of pupils: 'I was fortunate to have a student, which enabled me to take children out individually. Otherwise it would have been very difficult to find the time to administer.' PT44O.

In contrast to some previous comments on pupil reactions to the test, one teacher commented that 'because children had not been tested in this format before they were worried about giving an incorrect answer. Therefore it took longer to administer.' CT35O. Another class teacher thought that 'the length was alright - it was difficult to administer in a multi-composite class - because it had to be done individually.' CT8H 'It took quite a long time to do. I suppose if you were only doing one or two children it would be OK.' PT6O One teacher commented 'It would have been easier to administer the test if I had been given time out of class.' CT30H.

19 respondents added further comments in answer to the second question - What would make it easier? These ranged in theme from time allotted to administer the test to:

Which items would you exclude or add?

What other subset would improve the test?

In the questionnaire, 16% of teachers thought that they would like to see changes made to the screening test. 9% said they would like to see changes made to some extent. 49% of teachers said that they did not want to see any changes made to the test. 26% of teachers declined to make a comment.

What else would help identify future difficulties with reading?

There was no consensus between the interviewees about when it would be best to administer the test. Table 26 gives a brief summary of the preferences of the interviewees by teaching position. Only two thought that Primary 1 would be a suitable time to screen the children stating that they would have covered all the sounds in the phonics scheme Facal is Fuaim by the end of January.

Views were divided as to who would be best to conduct the test amid the interviewees although