ASS142-3 SASS Change Maker Research Dissertation Assignment Sample

Introduction

The following proposal will discuss the challenges faced by staff, particularly in mainstream schools supporting children with dyslexia. The relevant background context is discussed in this proposal along with the research evidence, theory and literature review involved. The methodology section will be discussed to state the particular tools and techniques involved.

Relevant background context

Dyslexia is a mental constraint that harms the capability of a pupil to read and write despite being guided through proper teaching guidelines, adequate help according to social standards and knowledge about the curriculum. In other words, dyslexia can be also considered as an inability to properly understand educational outcomes and particularly problems exists in terms of reading and spelling, particularly along with sometimes difficulty in oration. Processing spoken language and simultaneously balancing it with motor skills is a big challenge for such individuals. This inability can also be highlighted as a difficulty of cognitive nature which restrains the language skills for writing, spelling and reading (Nevill and Forsey, 2022). Having recognised the whole system of difficulties that such students face in the early years of their childhood right from receiving preliminary education, it is important to understand the challenges that are prevailing in catering to their special needs so that their learning experience becomes easier than it is normally.

Literature review

Staff and teachers in both mainstream and special schools are required to have specific knowledge of how to treat pupils and what to do with making their learning experience better based on the potential of the guides. The learning and psychological development of such children is focused largely on how staff who manage their teaching behave with them and understand their limitations. The knowledge of the teaching staff and how they perceive dealing with the added burdens of responsibility is an important factor and it influences how these pupils’ cognitive behaviour is developed (Bugaian and Turcan, 2020). Negative ramifications are quite potent in terms of their future life in case they had staff in their school who disregard them and put them in the wrong hindsight. Right from childhood such adversities have to be properly addressed in order to avoid the pupil being disenfranchised and alienated from social norms than they inherently are.

All these factors have higher chances of putting dyslexic pupils at higher risks and adding fire to the fuel by making society more uncomfortable than it already is. Dyslexic pupils may become prone to clinical depression or even cooped up in their confinement and become socially anxious. Teachers working in special schools have to take special training to solely cater to the dyslexic student’s needs. In the case of mainstream schools, the training becomes difficult as the number of students increases. The interaction is not only limited to imparting lessons but only cooperation with parents as well as assessing students and their progress on an overall basis, not just education (Abegglen et al., 2021). Staff who have a proper grasp of self-efficacy are regarded as more open with respect to exploring new ideas for encouraging dyslexic pupils to embrace their condition and look at it from a fresh perspective. They are properly invested in trying trial and test methods and invest their time in experimenting so that their pupils get the maximum benefit from the learning system.

Research supports that when staff have compromised access to training, knowledge and current updates on how to train and support dyslexic pupils a feeling of helplessness is strong and it reflects in the poor level of teaching that affects both the students and their careers too. The infrastructure for providing support is also compromised in this situation. The teachers must recognise the dyslexic symptoms and the variety of the same in detail. This would make them more likely to detect occurrences of it and the same can be useful in terms of catering to their specific needs. Dyslexia should not be a hindrance to a possible standard learning experience and also not an obstacle for the staff to deliver the true quality of teaching. But according to the research done by the UK’s Dyslexia Foundation, more than 34% of staff in mainstream schools have little to negligible knowledge about the understanding of dyslexia and its implications consequently (Nicu, 2019).

A study by Mental Health Viability in the UK provided a revelation that the majority of teachers were not confident about teaching dyslexic pupils as they regarded not enough training to navigate such situations and also no scope of differential training in terms of a variety of dyslexia including visual, audio and mixed problems. Such staff also reported not having enough information about the involved signs of dyslexia followed by the occurrence of the same through possible symptoms (Mihailov et al., 2019). Research also showcased that there was a lack of initiative on the part of these learning institutions in arranging extra seminars, talk shows or programmes alike to make the schools more aware of the difficulties of these special students. It could easily be deduced that pupils with dyslexia faced poor learning experiences due to the inability of teachers to have complete knowledge about their conditions and thus no initiative could be taken to ensure proper training in making the condition better.

Theoretical framework

Multiple deficit model of dyslexia

Dyslexia is undoubtedly co-occurring with certain other cognitive disorders like dysgraphia and dyscalculia. The same has a role to play in terms of developed behavioural disorders like ADHD. The basis of this interrelationship is the foundation for the multiple deficit model. The main aim of this model is to derive dyslexia as a matter of correlation considerations. The theory is opinionated about the requirement of cognitive functions that are a part of the reading underlines. Thus it can be widely regarded that a disorder such as dyslexia is based primarily on the challenging interaction between the variables. Dyslexia is related to many causes that this theory supports and is not limited to memory recognition, reasoning power and even lack of potential working memory. This working memory’s potential is very effective currently as the same is directed in terms of continual development through the process of treatment of dyslexia. All these factors are supposedly associated with the contribution in a probabilistic way for a disorder of this complex kind.

This model is not only focused on the individual aspects but there is incorporation for overall visual-spatial attention, phonological processing, working memory, short-term, and long-term insights and working memory alike. This model creates a new scope of understanding that includes the way in which memory is perceived to be an understatement in causing dyslexia. But clear prospects suggest otherwise that it should be regarded as a fundamental skill. From another perspective, the model also approaches the role of mutualism. In this approach, there are considerations about cognitive abilities to sustain growth. There is no doubt that such dyslexic individuals are supposed to be more confident in case they are trained to improve their vocabulary. This will help in better comprehension of the reasoning ability. Non-verbal intelligence, vocabulary and working memory can be better to ultimately determine enhanced phonological awareness.

Phonological theory

The phonological theory postulates the evidence for dyslexic students to have a spectrum of impairment particularly through retrieval and reciprocation of vocational sound. Such a postulate is in correspondence with the reading impairment of the dyslexics which hindered their ability to learn to an alphabetic system. This learning system corresponds with a correspondence of grapheme-phoneme and possibly if the sounds of the alphabet are not received properly, it will not be possible for them to understand that word (Share, 2021). Although the theory represents different perspectives when it comes to agreeing on the cause of phonology, there is a strong chance that the same agrees upon the casual and central role of phonological impact on dyslexia.

Having a detailed knowledge of this phonological spectrum will be of great help to the staff even in the mainstream schools. Impairments with respect to sound, speech and hearing ability will not be mixed up (Bernhardt and Stemberger, 2020). They will be more understanding with the knowledge that dyslexic students have a general drawback in attending to tasks involving phonological awareness. Such understanding of the complications would guide them better in helping one dyslexic student having that shortcoming and handling another who does not have similar problems in a differential manner.

Research Aim

The aim of the research is to understand the challenges of mitigating special care for dyslexic students amidst the population of mainstream schools for staffs.

Research Objectives

To identify the main challenges faced by staffs in mainstream schools to handle dyslexic students in mainstream schools.
To compare the challenges in managing dyslexic students in mainstream schools than that of special schools.
To analyse the current situation in aiding staffs to mitigate such challenges.

Research question

What are the main challenges staff face in mainstream schools in the UK when supporting children with dyslexia?
How are the challenges different in the case of the mainstream to special schools for staff caring for dyslexic students?

Research Methods

The following section will discuss in detail the particular research techniques and tools that are adapted in order to find conclusive results to the research questions. The discussion highlights the techniques in order to ultimately involve precise data for research conduction along with its appropriate application.

Research Design is a part of the overall framework that is selected by the researcher to fit the requirements of the particular research. It can be regarded as a blueprint for following all the methodology tools and techniques in a systematic manner. The primary aim that is directed with research design is to address the obstacles faced during the research proceeding and to solve them.

This particular topic is from the perspective of staff in mainstream schools and what challenges they face in reaching a dyslexic student than a normal one (Bloomfield and Fisher, 2019). Thus, it incorporates a lot of variables to be considered including psychological and knowledge capacity for the staff to go out of their way to handle children in such a high population and also give special attention to dyslexic students. Due to the requirement of a lot of data to be collected for background research and analysis, descriptive research is the best option to analyse such an extensive amount of background data effectively.

The research approach was mainly directed at the procedure involved in the research findings that are selected by the researcher. It primarily decides how the research data has to be collected, analysed and published findings subsequently. There are primarily two types of research approaches namely deductive and inductive research approaches.

The research question involves a complex analysis of a number of factors including the psychological evaluation of the level of consciousness that caregivers of dyslexic students must possess (Ustun and Tracey, 2020). The challenges of the staff in maintaining so many factors simultaneously in order to provide the best interest to dyslexic students while attending to the population of mainstream schools are also stated in this topic. All these variables required detailed understanding and evaluation. For the same reason, extensive data is retrieved through descriptive design. The extensive data will then be conducted in a deductive manner in order to systematically determine all the subsidiary aspects systematically. The ultimate goal is to determine definite findings from such a cast set of data and for that same reason deductive approach is chosen for this research proposal.

Research philosophy can be considered as the system of researcher’s thought that is involved intuitively about how data and knowledge for the research findings should be retrieved. In simple words, it is the choice of doing research, particularly the research strategy. The basis of this philosophy is determined by the nature of the topic and

knowledge involved.

This philosophy is directed mainly through the realism type in this research topic. The research topic involves real data showing the challenges of staff managing dyslexic children and mainstream school responsibility (Stinson, 2020). Realism philosophy will help the researcher in separating his own biases from that showcased by data and actual knowledge of this topic.

Data collection is regarded as the actual process involved in gathering and collecting data depending on the interest of the concerned research topic. The process follows a systematic manner for collecting, retrieving and interpreting the retrieved data for performing conclusive findings. The findings must be potential enough to derive significant solutions to the research questions. Most importantly, the research findings obtained from the processes directed by data collection will be testing the hypothesis and evaluate the results. The accurate data from various sources are analysed precisely to find solutions to why the research was performed in the first place.

The research topic is relatively new in case of understanding from the perspectives of staff who are not only catering to children in mainstream schools but also looking after dyslexic students. The challenges are quite significant in that respect and so secondary data collection will be chosen for this research purpose (Johnson et al., 2020). The extensive secondary research will provide scope for understanding the exact data that has been proposed or done with respect to understanding the background. Since much research is not done on this topic, the relevance of extensive background research is required.

The actual process through which data retrieved for research analysis is actually transformed such that valuable data could be retrieved from the same. The goal of retrieving data includes the process through which productive knowledge can be retrieved from the raw data set (Enders, 2022). The systematic process through which statistical or logical data is presented in a manner such that raw data is evaluated could also be defined through data analysis.

The research topic involves how the staff of mainstream schools in the UK are challenged in caring for dyslexic pupils. The topic is expected to not require extensive numerical analysis but analysing from a literary point of view. The preferred method of data analysis is thus qualitative data analysis. Qualitative data will help in the development of analysis based on data that focuses primarily on the previously done research. The data is extensive and each requires specific attention. For the same reason, qualitative data is chosen to help in deriving a precise understanding of this extensive data. The detailed analysis will help the researcher in getting in-depth knowledge of the highlighted topics such as the subject matter’s thematic analysis. The repetition of challenges and the relevant traits that contribute to the hardships of the mainstream school staff can also be considered better with this particular data analysis.

Ethical considerations

The researcher will have certain limitations even though he is explicitly using particular research findings from different authors and having based their opinions on the same. Just because the foundation of this research is based on secondary work that is already published, the researcher has no authority over passing over someone else’s work entirely as their own. In terms of consent for study subjects, the same can be presumed largely (Burkholder et al., 2019). Legal considerations like plagiarism and copyright laws are also considered a significant burden. Cases of plagiarism ruin the entire reputation of the paper and in the academic community, it is a huge thing of defamation.

Conclusion

The research question stated how to understand the challenges of staff working in mainstream schools to cater to the interest of dyslexic students. The relevant literature review corresponds to the following research questions. The methodology section is also discussed to state the standard methods and tools involved in the analysis of the research topic and its subsequent questions. Thus, the findings of the research in question to the research queries are highlighted in this particular proposal.

References

Abegglen, S., Burns, T. and Sinfield, S., (2021). Supporting student writing and other modes of learning and assessment: A staff guide. PRISM Open Access.

Share, D.L., (2021). Common misconceptions about the phonological deficit theory of dyslexia. Brain Sciences, 11(11), p.1510.

Bernhardt, B.M. and Stemberger, J.P., (2020). Phonological development (Vol. 10, p. 223). John Benjamins Publishing Company.

Bloomfield, J. and Fisher, M.J., (2019). Quantitative research design. Journal of the Australasian Rehabilitation Nurses Association, 22(2), pp.27-30.

Bugaian, L. and Turcan, R., (2020). PBL Benchmarking Studies.

Burkholder, G.J., Cox, K.A., Crawford, L.M. and Hitchcock, J.H. eds., (2019). Research design and methods: An applied guide for the scholar-practitioner. Sage Publications.

Enders, C.K., (2022). Applied missing data analysis. Guilford Publications.

Johnson, J.L., Adkins, D. and Chauvin, S., (2020). A review of the quality indicators of rigor in qualitative research. American journal of pharmaceutical education, 84(1).

Mihailov, E., Wangmo, T., Federiuc, V. and Elger, B., (2019). Contemporary debates in bioethics: European perspectives (p. 186). De Gruyter.

Nevill, T. and Forsey, M., (2022). The social impact of schooling on students with dyslexia: A systematic review of the qualitative research on the primary and secondary education of dyslexic students. Educational Research Review, p.100507.

Nicu, A., (2019). INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY FOR INCLUSIVE EDUCATION–THE EVALUATION OF A TEACHER TRAINING. Educația Plus, 24(SI ISAT), pp.201-210.

Stinson, D.W., (2020). Scholars before researchers: Philosophical considerations in the preparation of mathematics education researchers.

Ustun, A.B. and Tracey, M.W., (2020). An effective way of designing blended learning: A three phase design-based research approach. Education and Information Technologies, 25(3), pp.1529-1552.

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