Should spellings of some words be made easier?

A new proposal has been put forward by the The English Spelling Society, that the spellings of some words would be made a lot easier.

The society claims would help schools and  improve literacy levels, but others believe it os ''dumbing down.''

As part of the new proposed system, pupils would learn to spell some words - such as rhythm and cough - the way they sound.

Instead they would be spelled rithem and coff.

The English Spelling Society is behind say English spelling takes up to three years longer to master at primary school than other languages and that as many as 200,000 children leave primary school unable to read and write properly.

However Chris McGovern, from the Campaign for Real Education, is opposed to the idea. He says children should not be 'discriminated' against.

''They want challenges, they want to learn. They don't want to be discriminated against, they want the challenge. They don't want to be seen as the children doing the easy spellings. It creates some problems, those children need support but we are not going to sacrifice the vast majority because some children have some problems and those children should have support.''