St Mary’s University College Belfast hosted an All-Ireland conference on the theme of Dyslexia, Literacy and Inclusion on Friday 12th March 2010. Funded by the Standing Conference on Teacher Education North and South, the College provided a dynamic, multi-agency approach for policy-makers, practitioners, school leaders and researchers from across the island of Ireland to share their expertise and ideas on the provision of high quality, child-centred educational experiences to pupils who have dyslexia. The over-arching aim for the day was to complement the Every Child Matters Agenda in terms of identifying best practice in safe-guarding and promoting the well-being of learners with dyslexia so that ultimately they fulfil their potential and embrace adulthood with high levels of academic, social and emotional self-efficacy.

It has been almost ten years since the then Minister for Education, Martin McGuinness, raised the focus for policy development and public interest in dyslexia when he commissioned a regional task group that mirrored an existing model in the South of Ireland. The conference organisers, Senior Lecturer Louise Long and Research Officer Damian Knipe, brought together a rich array of speakers that would build on the strengths of this early pioneering work to help raise standards in literacy and inform the current inclusion debate. Louise Long commented that

“in a changing educational landscape that emphasises accountability, quality and effectiveness, our conference provides a timely opportunity to create a learning community of educationalists that will help build capacity to remove barriers to learning and provide well-targeted, child-centred support to pupils with dyslexia. This event is also building on the existing specialist teacher education on special educational needs here at St Mary’s where we offer undergraduate and Masters-level modules on dyslexia”.

Dr Sean MacBlain, Reader in Child Development and Disability Studies at University College Marjon, Plymouth delivered a challenging and poignant keynote speech on the ethics of assessing for dyslexia. This was followed by seminars on relevant topics including early screening and intervention; effective pedagogies and instructional packages at both primary and post-primary level; ICT paradigms in reading instruction; enabling pupil voice in learners with dyslexia; and early literacy development in Irish-medium education. The knowledge and skills acquired throughout the day should help to make a positive impact on the educational experiences of pupils in the island of Ireland and beyond.

The programme is available via this link.

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