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Vera Southgate (10 March 1916 – 23 March 1995) was a British educationalist who dedicated herself to improving how children were taught to read English from the late 1950s to the mid-1980s, a period when many different methods were practised, including the initial teaching alphabet, phonics, and whole language.
Vera Southgate was a prolific author of academic papers, developed the Southgate reading tests, and even served on the Bullock government inquiry. She also evaluated the initial teaching alphabet on behalf of the British government. Her final major research project was a five-year study aimed at improving the reading skills of older children. The resulting publication, Extended Beginning Reading, won the UK Reading Association's Book of the Year award.
Vera Southgate wrote over fifty primers and reading books, often included in basal reading schemes. These books provided a structured, step-by-step approach to teaching children to read. She gained widespread recognition for the Well-loved Tales, a Ladybird-graded reading book series, which sold 80 million copies but reached a much larger audience through schools and libraries.
Thanks to her contributions, Vera Southgate was named the 7th president of the United Kingdom Reading Association and was posthumously inducted into the association's Hall of Fame.
Vera Pigg was born on March 10, 1916, in County Durham. Along with her sister Mary, she trained and became a teacher. In 1942, she married Arthur Southgate and stopped teaching to become a housewife. Unfortunately, Arthur died in 1948, leaving Vera a widow at the young age of 32. She returned to work and moved to Manchester, where she met Douglas Thomas Booth. They got married in 1961, and Vera became known as Vera Southgate-Booth. However, she continued to publish under her widowed name and was publicly known as Mrs Vera Southgate. Vera had no children, but she had a close relationship with her sister and her nephews. Her nephews often visited her at her holiday home in Llanbedrog, where she read to them from the Ladybird Well Loved Tales, which she had retold. In 1980–81, Vera retired to the coast with her husband at Sidmouth in Devon. After Douglas died in 1986, Vera returned to County Durham to be with her extended family. She eventually died on March 23, 1995, in Consett, County Durham.
After her initial schooling, Vera Southgate trained as a teacher and by 1939 had taken up a teaching post in Seaham, County Durham. From this start, Vera went on to teach at infant, junior, secondary, and special schools which provided her with a broad experience of teaching children.
Having established a base of sound teaching experience, Vera went back to furthering her education by attending Birmingham University where she initially studied for a Bachelor of Commerce (BCom) in social studies then followed up with a Master of Arts (MA) in Education. Vera also acquired a Diploma in Psychology (Dip Psych)
These qualifications enabled her to become the Head of the Remedial Education service which enhanced her experience and reputation even further allowing her entry into academia.
By 1957, Southgate had taken up a post as a lecturer in curriculum development at the School of Education at the University of Manchester, where she initially focused in the organisation of teacher training for teachers already in-service at Primary Schools.
Over her academic career Vera specialised in the pedagogy of reading, by 1969 her research had already been published in several books and over 70 papers in learned journals, the major works are listed below. Vera also extensively lectured on this subject both in the UK and abroad, including international conferences.
On her retirement in 1980, Vera Southgate donated her library of children's reading books, a collection of 2,589 books which Vera had accumulated over her two decades of study, to the John Rylands University Library of Manchester.[1]
Vera Southgate continued to be accredited in academic publications for work previously done and she also continued to publish and speak until 1986, as detailed: –
The major academic works authored or co-authored by Vera Southgate were: –
Vera Southgate prolifically published academic articles and papers in education journals with the more noteworthy listed: -
The major academic highlights of Vera Southgate's career were: –
Between 1957 and 1962, Vera Southgate developed the Southgate group reading tests, which were noteworthy for their ability to identify backward readers. The Southgate group reading tests consisted of the following: –
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.[29]
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.[30]
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,[31] as such Vera Southgate simply observed the progress of the experiment and wrote two papers on her thoughts: –
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, this was done in parallel to seventeen research studies which measured the performance of the i.t.a. 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. The evaluation took place from 1966 to 1967 and the report was compiled in 1968 and published in 1969. 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.
In 1970, Vera Southgate wrote a book in collaboration with Geoffrey R. Roberts,[32] to help teachers to select an appropriate method and reading materials to use in classrooms to teach children to read. The book compared the major methods available at the time: – Phonics, Look & Say & others such as the initial teaching alphabet. 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. 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.
In 1972, Vera Southgate published a collection of her most important articles and papers to-date in this book.[5] Half the original book (chapters 5–8) was dedicated to the topical initial teaching alphabet, with the remainder socialising the following papers: -[33]
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.[34] 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.
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. The study and final publication were noteworthy for its emphasis on the reading environment, comparing reading aloud with silent reading.
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.
As an academic expert on teaching children to read, Vera Southgate authored or co-authored primers and other books used by children to learn to read, these were often part of basal reading schemes. Vera Southgate would often collaborate with a children's author called John Havenhand who would write the storyline whilst Vera herself would systematically design the word sequence to enable a child to learn to read as easily as possible.
In 1959, Vera Southgate collaborated with John Havenhand to produce an initial six book reading scheme called Sounds and Words: –
| 1959 | Sounds & Words – Book 1[35] | Vera Southgate & John Havenhand | |
| 1959 | Sounds & Words - Book 2[36] | Vera Southgate & John Havenhand | |
| 1959 | Sounds & Words - Book 3[37] | Vera Southgate & John Havenhand | |
| 1959 | Sounds & Words – Book 4[38] | Vera Southgate & John Havenhand | |
| 1959 | Sounds & Words – Book 5[39] | Vera Southgate & John Havenhand | |
| 1959 | Sounds & Words - Book 6[40] | Vera Southgate & John Havenhand | |
| 1959 | Sounds & Words – Teachers Book[41] | Vera Southgate & John Havenhand |
Subsequently, in 1968, Vera Southgate wrote some further supplementary readers for the scheme: –
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.
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.
| Easy Reading |
| 1962 | The Fireman[45] | Vera Southgate & John Havenhand | |
| Easy Reading |
| 1962 | The Policeman[46] | Vera Southgate & John Havenhand | |
| Easy Reading |
| 1963 | The Nurse[47] | Vera Southgate & John Havenhand | |
| Easy Reading |
| 1965 | The Postman and the Postal Service[48] | Vera Southgate |
In 1964, Vera Southgate wrote both books of the Sports (aka Games) easy reading series (606C)
| Easy Reading |
| 1964 | The Story of Cricket[49] | Factual | |
| Easy Reading |
| 1964 | The Story of Football[50] | Factual |
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.
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: -
| Grade 1 |
| 1965 | The Elves and the Shoemaker[51] | Fairy tale | |
| Grade 1 |
| 1965 | The Three Little Pigs[52] | Fable | |
| Grade 1 |
| 1966 | The Gingerbread Boy[53] | Folk tale | |
| Grade 1 |
| 1966 | The Little Red Hen[54] | Fable | |
| Grade 1 |
| 1967 | The Princess and the Pea[55] | Fairy tale | |
| Grade 1 |
| 1968 | The Sly Fox and the Little Red Hen[56] | Fable | |
| Grade 1 |
| 1968 | The Three Billy Goats Gruff[57] | Fable | |
| Grade 1 |
| 1969 | Chicken Licken[58] | Fable | |
| Grade 1 |
| 1970 | The Enormous Turnip[59] | Folk tale | |
| Grade 1 |
| 1971 | Goldilocks and the Three Bears[60] | Fairy tale | |
| Grade 1 |
| 1971 | The Magic Porridge Pot[61] | Fairy tale | |
| Grade 1 |
| 1972 | The Big Pancake[62] | Folk tale | |
| Grade 1 |
| 1973 | The Old Woman and her Pig[63] | Nursery Rhyme | |
| Grade 2 |
| 1965 | Sleeping Beauty[64] | Fairy tale | |
| Grade 2 |
| 1966 | Dick Wittington and his Cat[65] | Folk tale | |
| Grade 2 |
| 1967 | Puss in Boots[66] | Fairy tale | |
| Grade 2 |
| 1968 | Rumpelstiltskin[67] | Fairy tale | |
| Grade 2 |
| 1968 | Rapunzel[68] | Fairy tale | |
| Grade 2 |
| 1969 | The Wolf and the Seven Little Kids[69] | Fairy tale | |
| Grade 2 |
| 1972 | Little Red Riding Hood[70] | Fairy tale | |
| Grade 2 |
| 1974 | The Musicians of Bremen[71] | Fairy tale | |
| Grade 3 |
| 1968 | Beauty and the Beast[72] | Fairy tale | |
| Grade 3 |
| 1964 | Cinderella[73] | Folk tale | |
| Grade 3 |
| 1965 | Jack and the Beanstalk[74] | Fairy tale | |
| Grade 3 |
| 1973 | The Princess and the Frog[75] | Fairy tale | |
| Grade 3 |
| 1969 | Snow White and Rose Red[76] | Fairy tale | |
| Grade 3 |
| 1969 | Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs[77] | Fairy tale |
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.
| 1964 | Penny in the Pet Shop[78] | Vera Southgate & John Havenhand | |
| 1964 | Penny's New Home[79] | Vera Southgate & John Havenhand | |
| 1964 | Penny in Trouble[80] | Vera Southgate & John Havenhand | |
| 1964 | Penny at the Poodle Parlour[81] | Vera Southgate | |
| 1964 | Penny at the Seaside[82] | John Havenhand | |
| 1964 | Penny at the Dog Show[83] | Vera Southgate |
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[84]
| Volume 1 | 1968 | First Words: Martin's Toys[85] | Vera Southgate | |
| Volume 2 | 1968 | First Words: Jill's Toys[86] | Vera Southgate | |
| Volume 3 | 1968 | First Words: Martin & Jill[87] | Vera Southgate | |
| Volume 4 | 1968 | First Words: Boys & Girls[88] | Vera Southgate | |
| Volume 5 | 1968 | First Words: People[89] | Vera Southgate | |
| Volume 6 | 1968 | First Words: School[90] | Vera Southgate | |
| Volume 7 | 1968 | First Words: Dogs[91] | Vera Southgate | |
| Volume 8 | 1968 | First Words: Pets[92] | Vera Southgate | |
| Volume 9 | 1968 | First Words: In the Country[93] | Vera Southgate | |
| Volume 10 | 1968 | First Words: The Street[94] | Vera Southgate | |
| Volume 11 | 1968 | First Words: Clothes[95] | Vera Southgate | |
| Volume 12 | 1968 | First Words: Colours[96] | Vera Southgate |