Part 2 of the initiative to influence UK politicians about the ‘Cost of Dyslexia’ with a focus this time on the cost of dyslexia on our education system.

Readers of this article will be familiar with the Human Cost of Dyslexia work that was used to influence politicians in London. On Monday 14th October 2019, the British Dyslexia Association held the second All Party Parliamentary Group for Dyslexia focusing on the cost of dyslexia on our education system chaired by MP Sharon Hodgeson.

Some of my readers will know how much I value clear statistics that highlight the needs that we need to address for young people with dyslexia here in the UK. On Monday I was presented with the following:

Given the recent ‘Human Cost’ work that was delivered to politicians I am sure that you are as shocked as I am about how high that percentage is.

The first speaker at the APPG was Dr Amanda Hipkiss who is a researcher (University of Manchester) and former SENCO.

Amanda gave a clarification on how exams are marked for spelling, punctuation and grammar often being referred to “SPaG Marks”.

Given that spelling, punctuation and grammar can be challenging for many dyslexic pupils, pupils with dyslexia will potentially be excluded from getting a certain level of attainment even if they can expertly demonstrate their knowledge of a given topic.

Added to this, SPaG marks are not consistently awarded across a whole exam paper with a preference being to award them for more essay type questions. Equally they are not consistently used across the whole curriculum.

Other considerations for dyslexic pupils are that if they use assistive technology or human scribes to provide answers then depending upon how they use these services the awarding of SPaG marks is further complicated often resulting in delivering lower exam marks.

The conclusion from Amanda was very much that SPaG marks can cause unnecessary anxiety for a student who will be faced with having to make decisions about how they want to take part in an exam taking into account how many SPaG marks that they want to try and get awarded to them.

The feeling is that for someone who is good at spelling, punctuation and grammar, they will have an advantage over someone for whom this is a weakness even if both pupils have exactly the same attainment in knowledge of a given topic. This is an unfair advantage.

For some exams, for example, Level 1 Functional Skills, SPaG marks can constitute 40 to 50% of the exam result and so for a dyslexic student this could have a devastatingly negative impact on them and their future.

The next speaker was Rachel McMullen, Head of Education at the British Dyslexia Association.

Rachael gave and overview on the level of training that teachers in general have on dyslexia and other SEN which amounted to, at most,one day of awareness training. Teachers do not get trained in identifying signs of dyslexia or indeed in what to do to support a dyslexic child. Given that 10% of our population is thought to be dyslexic, our teachers, mostly, are ill-equipped to support the learning of 10% of their pupil population.

Rachael explained that there were three key levels of training that the BDA provide that can help:

Accredited Level 3 - Practical Solutions for Dyslexia Plus

This programme is designed for Teachers and TAs working with children and young people who want to be able to support dyslexic pupils within the classroom and is intended to provide a greater understanding of the problems that dyslexic learners face, and appropriate methods and resources to help support them within the context of their learning environment.

It is thought that most English teachers should have this level of training.

Accredited Level 5 - Certificate in Dyslexia; Literacy, Support and Intervention

The BDA Level 5 Certificate in Dyslexia; Literacy, Support is the first step toward becoming a dyslexia specialist and is often regarded as the first step towards a Level 7 AMBDA approved programme. Candidates who have completed the Level 5 certificate will have enough knowledge to deliver specialist tuition to individuals requiring support with dyslexia.

Accredited Level 7 - Diploma in Dyslexia Assessment and Intervention

The BDA Level 7 Diploma in Dyslexia Assessment and Intervention (AMBDA and AMBDA FE/HE) provides you with a critical appreciation of assessment and teaching. It will enable you to formally diagnose dyslexia and will lead to you gaining an AMBDA and/or an APC. In addition, candidates who complete this course will have the knowledge to build on their specialist teaching skills and carry out exam access arrangements.

Rachael clarified that for the 10% of the school population who are dyslexic, there should be a Level 7 trained teacher available and the BDA estimates that a full time trained equivalent would suffice for primary schools of 500 pupils or secondary schools of 1000 pupils.

The BDA is lobbying for every school to have a Level 7 trained teacher and estimates that the cost to the Education system would be approximately £500m which would deliver roughly 15000 specialist teachers.

Adding to the meeting we also had SENCO Kristen Kass from the Barton Hill Academy talk us through their SEN good practises and what worked for them.

We also had Karen Wespeiser who is the Chief Operations Officer for the Drivers Youth Trust who shared a range of statistics that indicated just how unprepared our teachers are for supporting children with dyslexia and other SpLDs.

The statistic that really struck me was that 75% of SENCOs feel that they do not have enough time to support the needs of the children in their care and as a result have absolutely no time to support their colleagues either.

This meeting was fascinating as well as saddening. It really highlighted for me how important it is to get that systemic support in place for children with dyslexia so that those children can feel like they can comfortably learn and reach their potential.

The meeting has resulted in a report that has been circulated to MP’s across the country and I would like to share this with you.