Eastwood MP leads call for a national dyslexia dtrategy during debate in Parliament

During the debate, Ms Campbell called for urgent reforms including modernising the teacher training curriculum to ensure educators are equipped to recognise and support dyslexic learners, standardising dyslexia identification and interventions across schools, and prioritising early identification to give dyslexic pupils the support they need as soon as possible.

Ms Campbell shared her own experience as a parent of a dyslexic child after her son was diagnosed as dyslexic at 14, leading to her starting a not-for-profit to raise awareness of dyslexia, training educators and giving families of dyslexic children the support her family did not receive.

This debate marked a key moment in the fight for dyslexic pupils, following Jamie Oliver’s new documentary Jamie’s Dyslexia Revolution – which Ms Campbell featured in – earlier this year, which focussed on the need for improved teacher training on dyslexia and mandatory early screening.

Ms Campbell outlined the four pillars of social inequality that dyslexic people face in their daily lives, including educational attainment, career progression, over-representation in the criminal justice system and the high proportion of dyslexic people using mental health services.

And she emphasised the need to embrace the strengths of dyslexia.

She said: “People with dyslexia often shine in creativity, problem-solving, verbal reasoning and have excellent entrepreneurial skills.

“A strategy will call on the Government to set out how they can improve the life chances of dyslexic people, supporting schools and workplaces, and in that way also benefit our health and criminal justice system.

“It would focus on early identification, consistent standards in the classroom, greater teacher training in kinaesthetic and adaptive teaching methods and it will ensure that those born with a learning difference are not socially excluded.

“This is about investing in our children and young people.”

Addressing schools minister Georgia Gould MP (Lab), Ms Campbell added: “I ask the minister to commit to a national dyslexia strategy so we begin to process the changing of so many people's lives.”

At the end of the debate, Ms Gould said: “The honourable member for Broxtowe has huge experience in their previous life in training teachers and parents and has brought that into their work in the APPG.

“This is such a critical issue for so many young people around the country.

“I have seen the huge challenges in the system and am deeply motivated to change it.”