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Kathleen Clark
University of Strathclyde k.a.clark@strath.ac.uk
Abstract
This paper presents the findings of a two year national project which was funded via an innovation grant awarded to the Scottish Dyslexia Trust by the Scottish Executive Education Department. The project was conducted in two phases and phase one utilised a survey approach to canvass the perspectives on dyslexia held by final year student teachers, classroom teachers in primary schools and children and young people who are themselves dyslexic. All education authorities in Scotland were involved in the survey and good practice in a sample of schools across Scotland was identified. In Phase two of the project, the analysed findings from the survey informed the production of a package of materials aimed at raising and extending student and classroom teachers' awareness, knowledge and understanding of dyslexia in order that future intervention in the learning process used in schools can be based on a solid platform of understanding which utilises appropriate strategies, approaches and ideas. Key issues were explored and encapsulated within a video which is central to the package and which is complemented by additional hard copy materials.
Background
The "Count Me In" project was sponsored by a Scottish Executive Department (SEED) Innovations fund grant which was awarded to the Scottish Dyslexia Trust. A project team which represented the Universities of Strathclyde and Edinburgh, the Dyslexia Institute Scotland, East Renfrewshire, Fife and Highland Councils and parents' groups were brought together in a partnership which was supported in addition by Argyll & Bute, City of Edinburgh and Orkney Councils. The University of Strathclyde co-ordinated the project and the project director was also a member of the management/steering committee which was chaired by the Scottish Dyslexia Trust.
The bid was successful as it focused on the SEED key priority area of inclusion (SEED, 2002) and the project plan centred on partnership and collaboration which has also been identified by the Scottish Executive (2003) as essential to the process of inclusion. The Scottish Dyslexia Trust was eager that an opportunity should be provided for primary teachers, student teachers and parents to be supported in their understanding of dyslexia and in their endeavours to respond appropriately to the needs of pupils with dyslexia at a time when new legislation on pupils with additional support needs was being considered (Scottish Executive, 2003). The Trust was also mindful that the Disability legislation (SEED, 2002) determines that dyslexia is set within that framework and that primary teacher and student teachers might need more information on dyslexia to enable them to better understand how to provide appropriate access to the curriculum for pupils and what accommodations might be feasible within daily classroom routines.
Project Aims
The project aimed to create materials which would be of value to primary teachers and student primary teachers. Advice from parent groups indicated that parents would also welcome such materials and so the three sets of needs would be taken into account. The aims at the outset were:
Research Design
It was decided that the net for gathering the information required should be cast as widely as possible so a survey approach at the outset was utilised to provide a breadth of evidence that primary teachers and student teachers would value such a pack. In addition an opportunity was provided via the survey for these groups to outline what they perceived the contents of such a pack should include. Interviews with young people who are dyslexic were conducted to ensure that their perceptions of needs based on their personal experiences of school and the teaching and learning process were taken into account. Interviews with primary teachers, students and young people who are dyslexic, primary pupils and parents were also conducted. The students and young people with dyslexia were interviewed via an internal interview schedule and some primary teachers, parents and primary pupils were interviewed as part of the video production process.
All thirty two education authorities in Scotland were asked to take part in the survey of primary teachers. They were asked to identify two or three primary schools of varying size which represented urban, rural and island communities and to issue twenty questionnaires which had been piloted. This process was streamlined by initially making contact with an appropriate link person in each authority.
Student teachers were also asked to take part in the survey. Bachelor of Education (Honours) Degree (B.Ed.) students in their final year at the Universities of Strathclyde and Edinburgh and students studying the Postgraduate Certificate in Education (Primary) (PGCE (P) also at these establishments were the targeted groups. The questionnaire for these students was also piloted prior to the survey. Volunteer students and young people with dyslexia were recruited from the University of Strathclyde, the Dyslexia Institute Scotland and Dyslexia Scotwest. These young people were interviewed by members of the project team by utilising a semi-structured interview technique and information interview schedule. The range of information from the various groups would enable all participants to have a voice and afforded the opportunity to triangulate the results. Both quantitative and qualitative data was gathered.
Findings
The teacher and student teacher survey questions elicited information which included:
The survey of teachers resulted in a return of 339 questionnaires from 27 of the 32 authorities. The student survey yielded 91 returns which was low compared with the total number of students (approx 450) but this took place in the summer term when students were returning for exam results only. Nevertheless, there was a good mix of B.Ed. and PGCE (P) students and this was a representative sample. In total, 37 young people with dyslexia were interviewed.
Teachers
The experience of teachers in the survey ranged from those who were probationers to those who had been teaching for 35 years. The vast majority of teachers said that they did have experience of working with pupils who are dyslexic. In contrast there were several who claimed that they had had no experience of working with such pupils and this even in the case of one teacher who had been teaching for 26 years. Some teachers didn't know if they had taught pupils with dyslexia and one teacher who had been teaching for 24 years said that he/she had "possibly" taught a pupil with dyslexia.
Knowledge and understanding of dyslexia was an interesting category. The vast majority of teachers claimed to have some knowledge and understanding whereas others claimed to have fairly good or very good knowledge. In the case of the latter, this was only five teachers whose length of service varied. Several teachers including one with 20 years experience claimed to have no knowledge and understanding of dyslexia.
More teachers believed that they could identify a pupil with dyslexia than those who believed that they could not but in terms of their feelings of confidence in respect of supporting pupils with these difficulties the majority declared themselves to be not very confident and some felt not at all confident. At the other end of the spectrum there was a minority who felt confident and a few who felt very confident about this process.
All but one of the 339 teachers welcomed the idea of the package regarding it as very useful or useful.
Students
The picture of student teachers in contrast to the teachers showed that the majority had no experience of teaching pupils with dyslexia and 14 of the 91 who did not know if they had worked with a pupil who had dyslexia. Their knowledge and understanding of dyslexia varied but like the teachers, the majority claimed to have only some knowledge and understanding and 15 claimed that they had no knowledge and understanding of dyslexia. With regard to this category, this was a higher incidence than that indicated by teachers.
In terms of their ability to identify pupils who are dyslexic, the vast majority of students said that they would not be able to do this. This contrasted with the teachers, the majority of whom felt that they would be able to do this. Students' feelings of confidence about teaching and supporting pupils with dyslexia, like the teachers, was in the main a declaration of feeling not very confident with 16 of the 91 stating that they were not at all confident to teach and support these pupils. The students unanimously endorsed the need for the pack of materials.
Both teachers and students were very helpful in identifying what they felt should be included in the pack. Once categorised all the suggestions were grouped into the following sections:
Permeating the responses was a very clear message that teachers and student teachers would welcome case study materials and exemplars and advice on how best to respond to dyslexia.
Young People
The young people involved in the interview provided a very useful list of do's and don'ts for teachers and shared their own experiences of school. The following set of do's and don'ts give a flavour of some of the tips.
"Don't expect correct spelling and neat writing if that is the area affected by the dyslexia."
"Don't just accept problem and say, 'She'll grow out of it.'"
"Do mental maths and mental organisation."
"Instead of copying from the board, give handouts and charts expressing the subject plan."
Some of their experiences highlighted teachers' lack of knowledge and understanding.
"My dyslexia was first identified at the end of third year at University."
"It was never recognised at school."
"The level of support depended on individual teachers. Attitude wasn't forced on teachers."
"School did not accept the existence of dyslexia."
A Way Forward
The results were interesting and clearly highlighted the checkered experience of dyslexia within the primary teaching profession and within the population of student primary teachers. There are clear indications that the majority of primary teachers and students felt a lack of confidence in their ability to teach and support pupils who are dyslexic and a majority of student teachers who felt that they would not be able to identify pupils with dyslexia. Knowledge and understanding across both of these populations was low, with the majority claiming to have some and a minority claiming to have none. Perhaps even one teacher with no knowledge and understanding of dyslexia is one too many. In the case of teachers who claim to have had no experience of working with pupils who are dyslexic despite long service, perhaps this can be attributed to such lack of knowledge and understanding of dyslexia. It is inconceivable that a teacher in the course of a career will not have taught a pupil who has dyslexia. The incidence of dyslexia as highlighted by BDA (1996) Crombie (1997), Orton (1989) and Neanon (2002) suggests that this is unlikely.
The fact that the majority of teachers in the study felt that they could identify a pupil who is dyslexic was encouraging and suggested that more awareness-raising of this set of difficulties has taken place for them following their initial teacher education. First line responsibility in the identification process for all children rests with the classroom teacher. This principle has been endorsed by SOED (1994) SOEID (1998) which further suggests that teachers should have a basic understanding of dyslexia and other difficulties as part of their pre-service and postgraduate professional development. Crombie (1997, 2002) and Ott (1997) firmly believe that all teachers should be able to recognise the characteristics of dyslexia and at a minimum level be able to refer the pupil for assessment.
Most of the teachers in the survey who claimed to have good knowledge and understanding of dyslexia attributed this to awareness-raising sessions of inservice, to reading and to postgraduate study. It is encouraging to note that continued study helps to raise levels of awareness but clearly if most teachers in the survey felt that they lacked confidence to teach pupils with dyslexia and had only some knowledge and understanding then the opportunities mentioned above are perhaps not taken up by or provided for by all teachers. Early identification of difficulties including dyslexia is of vital importance. This view is supported by Bradley (1989), Gardner (1994), Neanon (2002) and Reid (2003) and interestingly a model of training suggested by Pumphrey (1990) was identified in order to aid the process of early identification. Training, which provides the knowledge and understanding must be the key to teachers' confidence and competence in the identification of and responses to dyslexia. This insight into the range of experience and ability of teachers and students to identify, teach and support pupils with dyslexia highlighted gaps in the system so that what the young people with dyslexia had recounted as being their experiences of school had resonance with the range of understanding across the population of primary teachers.
Next Steps
The project team had elicited from the information that there was indeed a need for the materials which they would produce and that the video would serve to provide examples of good practice which would be framed around the key aspects of:
The paper materials would also have a section on further reading and sources of advice and would include a list of resources. It was decided that the pack would be for flexible use. At a minimum level it would provide more information about dyslexia for teachers but it could be used to best advantage by a whole school staff for staff development purposes and as such could be overseen by staff development co-ordinators.
Although at the outset the pack was to target primary teachers, it evolved to become one which also brought nursery teachers into the frame in an attempt to ensure that the earliest possible identification of the difficulties which can be attributed to dyslexia can be made. This is of particular importance in Scotland where a strong emphasis on early intervention has been ongoing since 1997. The pack will be launched on 22nd April 2004 and student and parent versions of the materials will be available thereafter.
Reference List
Bradley, L. (1989) Specific learning disabilities predictive-intervention-progress. Paper presented to the Rodin Remediation Academy International Conference on Dyslexia. University College of North Wales. Bangor. September
British Dyslexia Association (B.D.A.) (1996) in Crisfield, J. (ed) (1996) The Dyslexia Handbook. B.D.A.: Reading
Crombie, M. (2002) Dyslexia: A new dawn (unpublished PhD thesis) Glasgow: University of Strathclyde
Crombie, M. (1997) Specific learning difficulties (dyslexia) a teacher's guide. Glasgow: Ann Arbor
Gardner, P. (1994) Diagnosing dyslexia in the classroom: a three stage model in G. Hales (ed) Dyslexia Matters. London: Whurr
Neanon, C. (2002) How to identify and support children with dyslexia. Wisbech: LDA
Orton, S. T. (1989) Reading, writing and speech problems in children and selected papers. Austin, T.X. Pro-Ed.
Ott, P. (1997) How to detect and manage dyslexia. Oxford: Heinemann
Reid, G. (2003) Dyslexia: a practitioner's handbook (third edition) Chichester: Wiley
Scottish Executive Education Department (2002) National priorities in education support pack for primary schools. Edinburgh: The Stationary Office
Scottish Executive (2003) Moving forward! Additional support for learning. Edinburgh: The Stationery Office
Scottish Office Education Department (1994) Effective provision for special educational needs. Edinburgh: HMSO
Scottish Office Education and Industry Department (1998) A manual of good practice in special educational needs. Edinburgh: HMSO
Scottish Parliament (2002) Education (Disability strategies and pupils' educational records) (Scotland) Act. Edinburgh: The Stationery Office
Disclaimer: all the abstracts presented here have satisfied the academic committee as appropriate for presentation at an international conference. However, the material reflects the views of the authors, not necessarily those of the academic committee or the BDA. No endorsement of any approach, product or service is intended or implied.
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