Tim Lombard (Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State to the Chamber. It is great to have him here. I am raising the issue of mandatory training for teachers of children who are dyslexic. It is probably the most common learning difficulty that we have in our schools at the moment. It affects one in ten children, from a mild to an extreme degree. This equates to an amazing 100,000 children in primary and secondary school education today. The figure is an average of three per classroom. These children and young people have the right to receive a proper education. They have the right to receive reasonable accommodations when it comes to this issue. It is an issue that is very close to my heart. We need to see movement on it. In 2022 we have a scenario where teachers are going through training, and dyslexia as a module is not a mandatory part of the process. I am really concerned about that.

The Dyslexia Association of Ireland has done a survey regarding this over the last few years.A total of 90% of respondents indicated they had received minimal or no training relating to dyslexia when in teacher training college. It is unbelievable that in respect of 100,000 kids, most teachers have received minimal or no specialised training. In the case of those who had received training, they believed it was inadequate.

This issue relates to how we can decode the English language. If this was French, Italian or anything else, we would be able to teach our children how to learn it. Because it is English, however, and because that is processed in a slightly different way by dyslexic students, children are not being taught the appropriate way to learn it. The knock-on effect is that, unfortunately, people turn in on themselves and experience mental health issues and confidence issues throughout life.

Nevertheless, I must acknowledge that a cohort of teachers have done something special in this regard. They have thought outside the box and worked with organisations such as the Dyslexia Association of Ireland to undergo their own upskilling and training. That is a testament to how some teachers have engaged in this process. Even so, that teacher training colleges have no mandatory module dedicated to the matter is a big issue for the cohort of society that needs the support.

Dyslexia is recognised as a disability and reasonable accommodations need to be made for children who have it. This relates to a fundamental right. Without this core skill, not only reading but engaging in other subjects will be a greater challenge and the student will be set back in society. Article 24 of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities provides that persons have a right to be educated irrespective of whether they have a disability. We are again ignoring that by not giving these children the opportunity to reach their full potential.

We need a few things to happen. The module in respect of dyslexia in the initial teacher training courses has to be made mandatory. Imagine that in 2022, a student teacher in college will learn everything about how to teach a primary or secondary student, yet a module that affects 10% of any given class is not mandatory. It is unbelievable in many ways. Second, there needs to be in-service training for teachers who are in post. They need to be brought up to spec in the same way that some of them have worked so hard to be in order that they will understand the decoding required by someone who is dyslexic. Third, there needs to be a specified role for a teacher with special responsibility for dyslexic pupils in every school.

This affects 10% of the population, not only the schoolgoing population. We need there to be mandatory teacher training in this context or we will continue to face this big issue.

Malcolm Noonan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Green Party)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I am also taking this matter on behalf of the Minister for Education. I thank the Senator for making his points so well. I pay tribute to all schools that are adapting and consistently implementing best practice in teaching and integrating children with additional needs in school. Some very impressive work in that regard is going on throughout the country.

This year, the Department of Education will spend in excess of €2 billion, or more than 25% of its budget, on providing a wide range of schemes and supports for children with special educational needs. Through the initial teacher education programmes, providing inclusive education to children with special educational needs, including those with dyslexia, is a fundamental principle of the Department's education and training system. Under section 38 of the Teaching Council Act 2001, all initial teacher education programmes must be accredited by the Teaching Council for registration purposes. The first cycle of the review and accreditation of the programmes was completed by the council in 2015. In preparation for the next cycle of the review and accreditation process, the council reviewed its policy on standards for programmes of initial teacher education and published updated standards in November 2020. Inclusive education has been strengthened in the revised standards, which recognise the diverse range of needs teachers encounter in the course of their teaching, regardless of setting, and refer specifically to additional learning needs such as autism, dyslexia and dyspraxia in this context. As part of the review and accreditation process, all programmes of initial teacher education will have to provide evidence of how the core elements are explored and examined with student teachers during their programme, which should offer some promise in respect of what the Senator raised.

In the context of continuing professional development, the Department provides a range of placement options and supports for schools that have enrolled pupils with special educational needs, including pupils with a specific leaming disability, such as dyslexia, to ensure that wherever a child is enrolled, he or she will have access to an appropriate education. The National Council for Special Education, NCSE, a separate statutory agency, is responsible, through its network of local special educational needs organisers, for the provision of special educational needs supports to schools. The NCSE supports schools to build their capacity to support the inclusion of all children through a suite of professional learning opportunities. Each of the seminars and resources, designed within the council, has been aligned with Cosán, the national framework for teacher learning. This year, for example, the NCSE is offering the following seminars and workshops for teachers in the area of dyslexia: supporting dyslexia through the use of apps for primary teachers; teaching students with literacy difficulties, including dyslexia, for primary and post-primary teachers; assistive technology freeware for dyslexia; and literacy for students with autism. The Professional Development Service for Teachers, through its primary language, literacy, reading recovery and Gaeilge supports for teachers, promotes inclusive pedagogies and approaches that benefit all learners, including early literacy intervention models. The new primary language curriculum and support materials are based on best practice grounded in research for language and literacy for all learners in all contexts.

Tim Lombard (Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

This is about ensuring not only that teachers who are going through teacher training college will be able to undertake this module but that they will be required to do so. At the moment, it is not mandatory. Given this affects 100,000 kids in the system and the teaching of dyslexic children is so significant a responsibility, the module needs to be mandatory. We need to get together the management groups of the teacher training colleges before September next and make it mandatory. Otherwise, yet another cohort of society will be left behind. We need to change fundamentally our approach regarding education and dyslexia. We have forgotten about it and it has been left continually on the hind teat. As for those teachers who are in post in schools, we need to encourage them to get involved to a greater degree. A cohort of them have got involved but others have not. Unless we get everyone into the circle, 100,000 kids in each generation, or 10% of our society, will be left behind.

Malcolm Noonan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Green Party)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

The module is, in effect, mandatory. The Céim standards, the standards for initial teacher education published by the Teaching Council in November 2020, have strengthened the definition of “inclusive education” to include “any aspect of teachers’ learning aimed at improving their capacity to address and respond to the diversity of learners’ needs; to enable their participation in learning; and remove barriers to education through the accommodation and provision of appropriate structures and arrangements to enable each learner to achieve the maximum benefit from his/her attendance at school.” They go on to state, “The Council’s view of a truly inclusive approach to professional practice recognises that teachers encounter a diverse range of needs in the course of their teaching, regardless of setting.”

Tim Lombard (Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

The module is not mandatory.

Malcolm Noonan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Green Party)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

If I could just finish quoting from the passage, it states:

This will include additional learning needs (e.g. autism, dyslexia, dyspraxia) ...

[...]

[In addition, and in accordance with the stated standards] During every module of school placement and as appropriate to the student teacher’s stage of development, the student teacher shall, through the use of their Taisce:

Demonstrate an understanding of inclusive education as applicable to that context ...

In my view, that reflects a strong approach by the Department to that continuing professional development.

Tim Lombard (Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

The module is not mandatory.

Malcolm Noonan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Green Party)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

We will take on board the points the Senator made, although there is a strong approach on the part of the Department.

Fiona O'Loughlin (Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State, and the Senator for raising the matter. This is a really important subject and I fully support the Senator's efforts to make the module mandatory. That is very important, from both a teaching point of view and, of course, that of the students and their families.