Theorising dyslexic student discussion/action groups in UK higher education: research in practice

Abstract

This research in practice analyses the experience of operating discussion/action groups with dyslexic students in higher education in three British universities which reflects a shift from the practice of developing ‘support groups’ to a more developmental, proactive stance. It does so in the current UK legislative context which requires higher education institutions to involve disabled students in creating practices which promote equality. The students in these particular groups learned more about their own dyslexia and about dyslexia in general. They also learned about processes of institutional change and devised actual changes in systems and practices. They provided new descriptions about dyslexia in higher education which could be used within staff development processes. The significance of these developments can be recognised with the help of current theories about learning as a situated social activity, about academic literacies as social practice and about social models of disability.

Keywords:

• dyslexia
• promoting equality
• learners as co‐investigators
• institutional and curriculum change

Notes

1. The system for supporting disabled students in UK higher education involves the identification of the disability, an assessment of the support needs which students have in relation to their courses and the supply of individual support packages. Disabled students are eligible for individual Disabled Students Allowances (DSAs) which pay for the assessment and the package.

2. The term ‘visual stress’ is used increasingly but the authors prefer the more generic term ‘disturbance’.

3. Given the dearth of written accounts, we cannot assume that all the early developments were narrow in scope. Note the Staff Guide compiled by Hinton with the help of dyslexic students at Loughborough University in the early 1990s (Hinton 1993) which suggested a group pro‐activity.