Policy Dive - Reforming ITT

What should trainee teachers learn about dyslexia?

The current vacuum

Currently, neither of these frameworks include any direct reference to dyslexia or other specific learning difficulties. In fact, the CCF states that although “careful consideration has been given to the needs of trainee teachers in relation to supporting pupils with Special Educational Needs” it “deliberately does not detail approaches specific to particular additional needs” instead leaving it up to ITE providers to “tailor their curricula to the needs of their trainees” and focus on the “importance of high-quality teaching”.

And although both frameworks require teachers to learn how to ‘adapt teaching’ (Standard 5) ‘in a responsive way’ there is no guidance on how to do this, except that ‘working closely with colleagues, families and pupils to understand barriers and identify effective strategies is essential’.

As a result, ITE and ECF providers design their own curriculum with wide variation in what trainee and early career teachers are actually taught about special educational needs.

What trainee teachers are taught is completely dependent on the training provider and the resources and expertise it has access to.

Does Ofsted provide any clearer guidance?

The Ofsted ITE inspection criteria is equally vague:

“Trainees are taught to recognise signs that may indicate SEND and know how to help pupils overcome barriers to learning. They are taught to adapt their teaching, while maintaining high expectations, by working closely with expert colleagues, such as the school’s special educational needs coordinator and other special education professionals.”

We took a look at some recently published Ofsted reports for ITE providers to see how inspectors take SEND specific training into account in their judgement:

• In January 2023, the University of Sussex was judged ‘Good’ and ‘Outstanding’ across its ITE provision with inspectors praising evidence that: “Promoting and striving for inclusion is a golden thread that runs through both the management of the courses and the curriculum itself.”
• In May 2023, Middlesbrough College was judged ‘Good’ and praised for “inviting guest speakers to talk to trainees about topics such as supporting learners with dyslexia and neurodiversity…”
• In June 2023, the Basingstoke Alliance SCITT was judged ‘Good’ although it was noted that “not all subject curriculums set out what trainees need to know about how pupils, particularly pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities, learn within subject disciplines precisely enough.”

Why does it matter?

We receive roughly 600 calls a month on our national Helpline. These include teachers who enquire about our training because they want to know how to support their pupils, and parents who worry that their child’s needs are not recognised or met by their school. Teachers do a phenomenal job in increasingly challenging circumstances but should be well trained from the outset to provide the level of support to meet their learners needs.

In addition, the duty in the Equality Act 2010 to make reasonable adjustments is ‘anticipatory’. This means that teachers must make preparations in advance (and on an ongoing basis) for adaptations that learners might reasonably need.

Given that dyslexia and other specific learning difficulties affect approximately 15% of the population, teachers can anticipate that most classrooms will have pupils with dyslexia and they should be adequately trained and prepared for this. Our view is that every trainee and early career teacher should be given explicit training so they can anticipate the specific challenges facing these learners and have strategies to adapt teaching to support them. Without this training we are letting down our teachers, who are effectively being set up to fail, and letting down our learners, whose needs cannot be consistently recognised or met.

It gets worse…

And this astonishing failure to set and maintain an appropriate professional standard for special educational needs training for teachers is not the only problem. There is another glaring issue with the current ITT and Early Careers Frameworks…

Both refer to, and rely on, ‘mentoring and support from expert colleagues’ to ensure trainee teachers can meet the current teaching standards. These colleagues are defined as ‘professional colleagues, including experienced and effective teachers, subject specialists, mentors, lecturers and tutors’.

But we know that ‘expert colleagues’ are steadily vanishing from the workforce and are certainly not uniformly available in all schools. Experienced teachers are leaving the profession, there are insufficient funds to ‘buy’ experts in, and SENCo qualification standards are being lowered.

• There is a retention crisis in teaching. DfE data published this month shows that one in ten (9.7%) state school teachers are leaving the profession: 40,000 working-age teachers left the profession last year, the highest level since records began in 2010. Teacher vacancies have more than doubled since pre-pandemic levels.
• There is a funding crisis in education. There was a 9% cut in real terms spending in the 2010s decade. In 2022, the Government spent just 4.2% of GDP on education compared with 5.6% in 2010. High income countries spend an average of 5% of GDP on education.

“The Government ultimately must decide what type of country it wishes us to be – a low-wage, low-skill, low-investment economy, or a high-investment, high-skill, high-productivity economy, leading to high wages for its citizens.” Dr Mary Bousted, General Secretary, National Education Union

• SENCos will be less well qualified. The new NVQ for SENCos proposed in the SEND and AP Improvement Plan is a ‘dumbing down’ of the current level 7 NASENCo qualification and will mean that early career teachers may not have access to suitable ‘expert colleagues’ within their settings.

• There is a wider crisis in the specialist workforce supporting teachers in schools. Insufficient numbers being trained, a falling number who are failing to be retained, and an increased demand. Our charity is part of a coalition of charities calling for government to urgently address the gaps in the specialist workforce: #SENDintheSpecialists. The plans unveiled in the SEND and Alternative Provision Improvement Plan do not go far enough.  

We are grateful to the parliamentarians who highlight these issues in Westminster.

Advocating for our beneficiaries

So, the British Dyslexia Association responded to the DfE call for evidence for the ITT CCF and ECF review, pointing to relevant, high quality research published within the stipulated timeframe. We put the case for all teachers to be taught:

• The prevalence of dyslexia and other specific learning difficulties, typically estimated at 10%.
• The definition of dyslexia, as found here.
• That early identification is critical, and what the signs of dyslexia are, as found here.
• How to understand a dyslexic learner’s specific needs and how to adapt teaching appropriately. This is relevant across all subjects but is particularly important when teaching literacy and numeracy.
• That learners with dyslexia experience difficulty in becoming automatic in all aspects of their learning and therefore need more explicit teaching in order to reach the standards expected.

• That learners with dyslexia will often need support beyond systematic synthetic phonics to learn to read and spell.
• That learners with dyslexia experience a greater burden on their working memory.
• That learners with special educational needs or disabilities may find learning stressful which can cause anxiety. This in turn can shut down cognitive processing and further disable learning.
• That providing learners with access to appropriate assistive technology can improve educational outcomes.

Should we remain hopeful?

Nearly fifteen years ago, in his landmark (but largely unimplemented) report of 2009, Sir Jim Rose identified teacher training and access to specialist teachers as crucial: ‘every teacher should expect to teach children with special educational needs, and… they need to be equipped with the skills to do so effectively.’

In April 2023 Nick Gibb MP, Minister of State for Schools, responded to a written question from Sharon Hodgson MP, Chair of the APPG for Dyslexia and Other Specific Learning Difficulties, stating: ‘The Department is building on what we have learned from the first few years of CCF implementation and ECF delivery and this will include identifying opportunities to improve how the frameworks can support new teachers to be more confident in meeting the needs of pupils with SEND, including those with dyslexia.

Let’s wait and see. Here at the British Dyslexia Association, we believe change is possible and we are campaigning hard for inclusive education. Unless we train our teachers adequately, we will continue to fail new generations of learners.

The Government has confirmed that the review of ITT CCF and ECF is ‘aiming to conclude by the end of 2023’.

Chivonne Preston

June 2023

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