HC Deb 20 October 2003 vol 411 cc431-2W
Jonathan Shaw

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if he will make a statement on the delivery of the Raising the Achievement of Dyslexia Pupils: Dyslexia Teaching project that was funded in 2002–03. [132204]

Margaret Hodge

The Raising the Achievement of Dyslexia Pupils: Dyslexia Friendly Teaching project was one of 16 projects in receipt of grant under the Department's Special Educational Needs (SEN) Training and Development Fund 2002–03. The fund was established to provide one-off pump priming support to aid the creation of new, or extended, in-service training and development opportunities for teachers and other staff, both in mainstream and special schools. The aim was to help improve and reinforce skills in the area of SEN and disabilities.

This particular project is being delivered by the Institute of Education at Manchester Metropolitan University (MMU), working in collaboration with the British Dyslexia Association. It involves a validated module, targeted at new or recently qualified teachers and learning support assistants, and includes the creation of course materials and video case studies of successful practice in schools and classes. This material has now been completed and is in the process of being edited and transferred to a DVD format for the classroom and a CD-ROM covering the teaching methods and philosophies of the teachers involved. It is proposed that the material will be available via the MMU website.