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Writer's pictureJames Kenny

An Educational PhD Journey: Teaching is an Art, not a Science (Part 4)

“Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.” - Albert Einstein

I have a confession to make...

If you have read the first three blogs in this series, firstly, I would like to thank you for coming on this journey with me. The reason I wrote the previous posts was to give the reader an understanding of my thought process with regards to my research and what has inspired me to go on this journey to complete a PhD. Hopefully, over time, the themes will knit together and make perfect sense.

The chances that you are reading this (and involved in education in some capacity!) are very high, so you will be familiar with the processes teachers go through each year in September when they meet new classes. Part of my introduction process is to tell the class a story about myself, I believe it is important for me to be 100% transparent when I am in front of a class and my integrity is paramount as is my ability to be open and honest.

So I am now going to share it with you...

My Secret Confession...


"This may or may not surprise you, but I have a specific learning difficulty (SpLD)."


As the world becomes a more understanding and accepting place having a learning difficulty is not stigmatised or as uncommon as it once was. As the teacher standing in front of a class of pupils, one would assume that I am already a ‘successful learner’... to which I would beg to differ. When I reveal that I am Dyslexic to a class I can sense there is an uneasy atmosphere. The pupils do not really know how to react or respond to this surprisingly unexpected piece of information. I can also see they are challenged by the thought:


"How can I place my trust and faith in Sir's ability to teach me what I need to know if he has a barrier to learning himself?"

I was 35 years old when I was first identified as having a SpLD. This is a very late diagnosis, and suffice to say it was not picked up during my GCSEs, which is something I will come onto later in this article. It was recommended that I see a specialist by a colleague at a school who had been overseeing the writing of pupil reports. They had concerns with the quality of reports I had written. I did explain that the reports were only a ‘first draft’, but because at this particular school everything was digital or online, my colleague was able to see the early stages of my reports and gain a never before seen insight into how I build and construct my reports over a period of time. How I constantly go back over them, re-writing and correcting, until they make sense. In hindsight it was a very kind thing for this colleague to do, but at the time I was quite embarrassed and evidently so were they. I made it clear this is how I work and was confident that within the reporting window I would complete the comments to a high standard.

"Nonetheless, an SpLD appointment was made for me to be assessed."

Here I am a few weeks later, admittedly nervous, unsure about what to expect in a classroom with a Dyslexia specialist. The testing was comprehensive, thorough and took me through my paces. I was left feeling quite exhausted. Each test I sat became progressively more difficult and inevitably the more answers I got wrong, the quicker my confidence hit the floor. I was red-faced feeling very self-aware; I felt under extreme pressure, stumbling on my answers. The assessor was very professional and courteous throughout, however internally as I faltered my way through each test my stomach was in knots... I was metaphorically doing somersaults sitting in my chair.


I remember having difficulty with my words not being able to remember sequences, not being able to pronounce words, making a complete hash of the situation. The tests were really difficult and were proof that I had been painfully avoiding this for a very long time. The fact I was not able to complete them to any degree of satisfaction or “success” was devastating. I gave it my all in every task, but by the end I felt completely deflated and disheartened.


"When testing drew to a close I clearly remember putting my head in my hands, I knew I had badly failed the task."


Adrenaline pumping through my system, I did not need to be told that I had done badly; it was self-evident. I had a real sense of dread and was not looking forward to what was about to come next. In my head I was catastrophising - convinced that the assessor was going to say to me that no one could have failed as badly as I had! I was convinced I was about to be kicked out the room and told to leave.

As I lifted my head from my hands, I can still remember the look of absolute disbelief on the assessor’s face. There was a palpable sense of unease in the room and a very heavy pregnant pause. On reflection this is almost laughable because it was an assessment to diagnose my dyslexia, but in my head all I could think was how badly I performed during the test. I remember the assessor looking hard at me, and me feeling extremely uncomfortable. I could sense that they were not expecting what had just happened and they were about to deliver some difficult news. The first sentence that came out of their mouth was:


“How have you managed to survive so long without ever being diagnosed?” It was like a bomb dropping. I will never forget those words."


I felt an immediate sense of relief. Not only were they not going to kick me out of the room but, more importantly, they had identified something wrong, and something that had gone undetected for a seriously long time. But, how do you answer a question like that? I don’t really know. Maybe I have developed coping strategies and avoidance techniques, I suppose?



Meeting the academic expectations of the "Bell Curve"

Looking at a bell curve... in the middle you have the mean or median score. In the case of education, it is equivalent to the "so-called" average person. So, if you are 25% above the middle of the bell-curve you are in the high average and the opposite if you are 25% below the middle (you are in the low average).


If you move to the right of the distribution curve - at the lowest part of the cure - you have people like William Shakespeare who will be in the top 1 or 2% of all people. Then at the opposite left-hand side there are people (like me) who are in the bottom 10th percentile.


"This means (as far as the ability to read and write goes), 90% of the population are more able than I am."

Now that fact probably explained the stunned look on the assessor’s face. It also explained why I found the assessment so challenging. I had managed to go undetected for my entire academic career! Up until this point I had sat:

  • GCSEs

  • A-levels

  • completed a Foundation in Art and Design

  • achieved a B.A (hons) in Graphic and Media Design

  • trained and qualified as a Secondary School Teacher

...and now in the final stages of writing my dissertation for my post graduate Masters in Education Management I had been identified and diagnosed with dyslexia!


I will give you a moment to just ponder that thought...

The Neuroscience of Dyslexia

Dean Bragonier in his TED talk suggests that 1 in 5 people are Dyslexic. He explains the neuroscience of dyslexia. How the outer layer of our brain called the cortex is covered in axons or a simpler way to imagine them is ‘mini-columns’. In his analogy he explains these ‘mini-columns’ are like telephone poles and they are key to understanding how the Dyslexic brain works.


For people who are Autistic their "telephone poles" or axons are extremely closely packed together and the length of their wires is very short. Alternatively, for the Dyslexic brain the "telephone poles" are further apart so the length of their wires is longer making the result of a Dyslexic brain better suited to seeing the ‘big picture’, where as the autistic brain is better suited to incredibly detailed behaviours and skills.


"I performed poorly at school – when I attended, that is – and was perceived as stupid because of my dyslexia. I still have trouble reading. I have to concentrate very hard at going left to right, left to right, otherwise my eye just wanders to the bottom of the page.” - Tommy Hilfiger

The Equality Act 2010 requires schools, colleges and higher educational institutions (HEIs) to provide reasonable adjustments to enable disabled students to access the curriculum, including examinations.


"Dyslexia and dyspraxia are specific learning difficulties recognised as disabilities under the Act (Equality Act 2010 Guidance, Part 2, section A5)."


Institutions should not treat a disabled person less favourably than others, for a reason that relates to their disability, without justification. When I was at school obviously I was dyslexic, but it wasn’t "picked up on", so I was made to read out in class during English lessons, my spellings and punctuation would always be erratic and inconsistent (classic signs of dyslexia!), but I was never given this ‘label’, instead I feel the label that I was given was ‘stupid.’


“I was called stupid. Not only could I not read, but I couldn’t memorise my school work. I was always at the bottom of the class. I became very depressed.”

- Richard Rogers


My Dyslexic experience is shared with many others not just Richard Rogers or Tommy Hilfiger. There is a real danger when pupils are given an informal label, such as "stupid" and people stop believing in them, the negative and knock-on effect is that they stop believing in themselves.


"I remember I was 7 years old and not able to recall the alphabet. At 11 years old, I had a reading age 2 years below my chronological age."


There were many indicators, but none of these were ever picked up. Even today I still have negative experiences where colleagues are unsympathetic towards my dyslexia and I can feel the same labels being attached to my back.


According to Dean Bragonier:

  • 35% of Dyslexics drop out of High School.

  • 50% of all adolescents involved in alcohol and drug rehabilitation are dyslexic.

  • 60-70% of all juvenile delinquents have dyslexia.

These figures are supported by British Dyslexia Association (BDA) with the Youth Offending Team (YOT) in Bradford. Their research suggests that over half of young offenders are dyslexic. In the same article they reference Wetherby Young Offenders Institution, where they estimate up to 70% of inmates are probably dyslexic.


It goes on to discuss that pupils with dyslexia are often mislabelled as having behavioural issues, rather than Specific Learning Difficulties. The study found that in non-dyslexic offenders there is a strong correlation between poor social circumstances and low reading and spelling scores. For dyslexic offenders the correlation was not significant. "For young people with dyslexia the significance of these social factors is dwarfed by the much greater disadvantaging factor of being dyslexic," the BDA report says.”*


The "bell curve world" seriously needs to rethink its approach to how we decide intelligence.


To learn more about James Kenny's PHD journey check out his regular guest blog HERE


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