Dr David Pollak, National Teaching Fellow and Principal Lecturer in Learning Support at De Montfort University, responds to Melanie Newman's article "Rise in dyslexia support sparks fairness concern" (17th January 2008 Times Higher Education).
"Melanie Newman's article about dyslexia raised several important issues. Knowing the work of Sheila Riddell and her colleagues, I would guess that the selection of that quotation about 'unfair advantage' being given to disabled students results in a distortion of the article concerned. However, equity is indeed at the core of this.
The vast majority of students identified as disabled are dyslexic, as Newman points out. The problem is not that dyslexia is 'difficult to assess reliably' - it is a clearly identifiable type of brain. An area of inequity which Newman fails to mention is that because most Educational Psychologists use an out-dated IQ/attainment discrepancy model of dyslexia, large numbers of students who need learning support are denied access to the Disabled Students' Allowance because they fail to demonstrate the magic set of psychometric test results. That fact does not invalidate the concept of dyslexia.
If inclusivity and openness to student diversity are to mean anything, we need to abandon the practice of pathologising large numbers of students by labelling them. This does not mean 'dumbing down', but it does mean questioning the assumption that (for example) HE means linear thinking, course delivery via lectures and assessment by conventional exams. The social model of disability and learning difference challenges us all to avoid disabling students by our practices. It also invites us to move away from separating learning support into provision for 'specific learning difficulties'/disabilities and 'normal' study skills. The social model does not deny the existence of impairments, and some aspects of the kind of brain we currently label dyslexic can be problematic for the individual. Part of the answer lies in improving admissions processes so that some students do not enrol for the wrong type of course; another part is that the legitimate concerns of some academic colleagues quoted by Newman can be alleviated by the 'mainstreaming' of accessible learning and teaching. A recent book co-written by Riddell stated that there are lessons to be learnt from institutions "where support for learning is likely to be regarded as part of mainstream provision rather than an add-on extra".
I am involved in a collaborative project called 'InCurriculum'. It is funded by the HEA's National Teaching Fellowship Scheme and includes De Montfort, Westminster University and Norwich School of Art. Over three years, we are carrying out action research and developing and disseminating innovative methods of learning and teaching which will point the way towards a whole-institutional approach to inclusive practice. The lesson of delivering courses in a truly inclusive manner is that most students do better." Dr David Pollak, 6th February 2008.
