Head teacher launches special needs campaign
14 May 2008
Top head teacher wants the Government to adopt a ‘personalised’ approach to learning to help millions of children suffering from learning difficulties
One of Britain’s top primary school heads will tell teachers that the Government must fully adopt a ‘personalised’ approach to learning if they want to help millions of children suffering from learning difficulties.
Following the Government’s announcement of a new study into the way children with dyslexia are taught, Trevor Davies, an Ofsted inspector and award-winning head teacher, believes that the real issue is that the majority of teachers are unable to identify learning difficulties in children.
The latest figures, commissioned by the charity, Xtraordinary People, suggest that two million British children suffer from dyslexia, which is in stark contrast to the Government’s census figure of 76,000. Meanwhile a study by NHS Quality Improvement Scotland found that 33,000 Scottish children could have ADHD but have yet to be diagnosed.
Trevor Davies, who will be addressing teachers, SENCOs and education experts in a series of conferences across the UK, believes that by taking advantage of the latest technologies and innovations in education, schools will soon be able to help every child reach their full potential, ensuring no one ‘slips through the gap’.
In his own school, Balsall Common Primary School in the Midlands, Trevor Davies has adopted many of these approaches, which have helped transform his school into an award-winning institution in the space of five years, achieving ‘outstanding’ grades in all areas in their latest Ofsted report. He believes the Government need to embrace such methods if they want to have a serious impact on helping those suffering from dyslexia, ADHD and dyspraxia:
‘In the last five years we have adopted many pioneering methods that have allowed us to take a personalised approach to learning – the impact these changes have had on the lives of hundreds of our pupils is unlike anything I have seen in 30 years of teaching’.
Trevor Davies will be speaking at Teacher Conferences in Harrogate on 24 June, Bristol on 26 June and Heathrow on 1 July.
