The lack of neurodiversity training in initial teacher training is “striking” and “needs to change”, former health secretary Matt Hancock has told Tes.
Speaking ahead of the second reading of his Dyslexia Screening Bill in Parliament in March, the Conservative MP also said that “there clearly needs to be more support” for mental health in schools.
Mr Hancock has previously spoken of his personal struggle with dyslexia, which was not diagnosed until he was at university. He now wants all pupils to be screened for dyslexia at primary school to give them the best chances.
“Screening like this should help teachers to teach the pupils who are in front of them, because all teachers are teachers of dyslexic children,” he said.
The West Suffolk MP also stressed the importance of core teacher training, adding: “It is striking that in initial teacher training, there’s so little about neurodiversity, and that needs to change, too.”
Hancock calls for more focus on dyslexia in teacher training
Emma Hollis, executive director of the National Association of School-Based Teacher Trainers (NASBTT) , told Tes: ”In our experience, providers do focus on supporting pupils with a range of needs and this forms an important and prominent part of every ITT programme.
“This does need to form part of an incredibly crowded curriculum and providers constantly strive to find the right balance between competing aspects of the ITT year.”
Ms Hollis added that the minimum entitlement for trainees is set out by government through the Core Content Framework, and more recently through the expectations in the new quality requirements for ITT.
“If government feels that something is missing from ITT then it is within their gift to ensure it is part of the minimum entitlements as they specify this through the CCF,” she said.
Simon Knight, headteacher of a special school, said: “The variability of opportunity regarding SEND-related content, in both ITE and post-qualification professional development, desperately needs addressing if we are to serve the specialist sector effectively and raise the complexity threshold in mainstream [provision].”
As well as working with the Department for Education to persuade it to “tackle this properly” in the upcoming schools White Paper and SEND review, Mr Hancock said he wanted to “change the culture” around dyslexia, because “people should be proud of who they are”.
Anita Devi, SEND specialist and founder of #TeamADL told Tes that while she respected Mr Hancock’s personal experience, schools have been “promoting inclusion through dyslexia-friendly classrooms” for more than two decades now.
She added that “identification methods” had also evolved to “discern learning difficulties from dyslexia”.
However, Ms Devi added: “The [former] minister seems to be implying that inclusion (within a high-stakes accountability culture) occurs when all children and young people achieve the same set of standards and we label some children with defined symptoms, so they can access additional resources.
“In other words, we single children out to include them. This is the paradox of the current system and lacks any coherent underpinning framework.
“Since the Carter Review in 2015, many ITT/ITE providers have incorporated a more structured SEND training programme for trainees and those new to the profession (early career teachers). This training enhances high-quality teaching, first and foremost to promote inclusion.”
How does a dyslexia diagnosis work?
Mr Hancock wants all primary school pupils to be screened for dyslexia. However, while a screening can detect dyslexia, a formal assessment must be carried out in order to receive a diagnosis.
With this diagnosis, pupils can receive an education, health and care (EHC) plan, and it will also support an application for exam access arrangements.
The former health secretary agreed that the formal assessment after the initial screening was important, but added that he would like to see the costs of these assessments coming down because “there’s no good reason that they should be more expensive than they were”.
What would the screenings look like?
There are currently multiple online dyslexia screening tools that schools can access.
When asked whether the tools schools would be able to use would change under the passing of the bill, Mr Hancock said it would be reasonable for the DfE to ”set out what good looks like and then have expectations of what a good screening is”.
As part of the bill, Mr Hancock wants to see a policy for specialist support in each school and hopes that the data from the screenings could be used to support each pupil in the way they need.
Funding for SEND
When asked about funding for SEND, Mr Hancock said: “Obviously, the more money that’s available, the better.”
He added that this was something he has been campaigning for in his constituency.
Ultimately, Mr Hancock wants to persuade the government that identification is a “good thing”.
“The funding question is a very important one. I don’t deny it’s important. But the focus of my campaign is on getting the screening, the teacher training and changing our mindset, which actually embraces neurodiversity rather than trying to hide it,” Mr Hancock said.
“What I think is the right amount should be allocated to SEND and I think that there are also, if we get this right earlier, there’s actually then less that’s needed in terms of remedial work.”
Having undiagnosed dyslexia made Hancock feel ‘inadequate’
While the former health secretary did well in maths and science subjects at school, he found essay-based subjects hard. He said: “I felt rubbish and inadequate in those subjects.
“I also want to change the culture because people should be proud of how they are.”
“I think the big change in attitude that is needed is ultimately one for us dyslexics, which is to see our neurodiversity as something to be proud of.”
Mental health in schools needs ‘more support’
When asked about the mental health situation in schools, especially in the context of the pandemic, Mr Hancock said “there clearly needs to be more support”.
He referred to the policy he announced pre-pandemic, addressing the need for mental health coordinators in schools. He said the need for this policy had been made “more important” by the pandemic.
“I think it is very important it is completed as fast as is reasonably possible,” he said,
He added that technology could be harnessed in supporting mental health service provision in schools.
Hancock knew the ‘huge costs’ of closing schools
Mr Hancock also reflected on the closure of schools during lockdowns.
He said that when the government took those decisions, “we took them knowing that there were huge costs, educational costs, costs in terms of mental health and huge challenges for teaching staff as well”.
“Unfortunately, the costs of inaction were greater and that’s why we had to take the action that we did,” he said.
“The rollout of having a mental health coordinator in all schools, which we started, is a project that clearly needs to be completed.”
A DfE spokesperson said: “All teachers are teachers of special educational needs and disabilities, and high-quality teaching is central to ensuring that pupils with these needs are given the best possible opportunity to achieve at school.
“Initial teacher training equips trainee teachers with the skills to teach and support all pupils, including those with special educational needs.”
