TWO leading UK charities for people
with literacy difficulties are voicing joint concerns over the latest primary
school writing assessment.
Dyslexia Action and the British
Dyslexia Association (BDA) believe this year’s Key Stage 2 (KS2) English
grammar, punctuation and spelling tests
and the ‘interim’ teacher
assessment framework for writing could disadvantage pupils with dyslexia.
There are two main concerns:
·
Firstly, the overall mark for punctuation,
grammar and spelling will be combined from KS2 Papers 1 and 2, rather than spelling
being treated as a separate category.
·
Secondly, in a separate Teacher Assessment,
children will need to show they can spell ‘most’ of the words used in their
piece of writing correctly.
To be ‘working at the expected standard’, pupils will need
to meet a number of expectations listed including:
• spelling most words correctly* (years 5 and 6)
This will mean that dyslexic children
may produce excellent content in their writing but fail the writing standard
due to weak spelling.
The BDA is concerned at the ‘unprecedented’ amount of calls it
has consequently received from teachers, with some asking how they should teach
pupils with dyslexia to help them achieve the required standard. Helpline
Manager Sue Flohr says the charity receives around 20,000 calls and emails a
year on average from people concerned about various aspects of dyslexia. An increased number are now received from
teachers. “We can signpost them to a specialist teaching course but teachers
don’t necessarily have time to do additional specialist training”.
Research shows some 52% of teachers leaving teacher training
still receive no input on dyslexia in their courses (Fish in the Tree report,
2014). BDA Chief Executive Dr Kate
Saunders said: ‘There is a huge need for all teachers to be trained in initial
teacher training to be able to spot the signs of dyslexia, teach in a dyslexia
friendly way in the classroom and know when to signpost the child on for
further assessment and intervention. 1 in 10 pupils experience some level of
dyslexic difficulty, so all teachers are teachers of dyslexic children’.
The All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for Dyslexia and
other Specific Learning Difficulties (SpLDS), of which Dyslexia Action is the
Secretariat, will be voicing its concerns to Schools Minister Nick Gibb MP
following representations made by the BDA and concerned teachers that the
writing requirement could be creating a disadvantage for children whose ability
to learn to spell is impaired because of their dyslexia.
The KS2 Teachers Assessment Framework
van be viewed here in detail: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/473675/Interim_teacher_assessment_frameworks_at_the_end_of_key_stage_2_PDFA_V3.pdf