Stranmillis University College

SEN CPD Literacy

Continuing Professional Development Literacy Project

with a focus on children with special educational needs

Course fully funded for the school year 2012-2013

This course will help teachers to build on their understanding of literacy development in primary age children. It aims to develop each teacher’s competence and confidence in the ability to identify individual learning profiles, matching evidence-based interventions to individual learning needs.

It is based on the recognition that:

teachers are the most valuable resource in a school;
there is no simple approach to reading that works for every child;
children experiencing difficulty may have different learning profiles;
good schools are learning communities where children and staff learn together and work effectively as a team;
teachers’ professional development involves critical reflection on their own experience viewed in the context of the latest research;
each school can benefit from having a specialist teacher and from building expertise in literacy development among the whole teaching staff.

This is a substantive course being offered to teachers in Northern Ireland by Stranmillis University College and St Mary’s University College. There are places for 180 schools commencing 24th September 2012. These places are fully funded. The funding also extends to allow one teacher from each school to obtain an M-Level qualification in teaching pupils with specific literacy difficulties. (Funding is guaranteed for this M-Level qualification for the year 2012 - 2013)

The Course	Online element of the course for all teachers	Specialist element of the course
	The session listed in the course programme will consider each of the areas and the implications for pupils experiencing difficulties in literacy development.	Tutor led seminars will be held in Stranmillis University College, St Mary’s University College and other locations across the region. There will be one seminar per month during the school year, excluding December and January.
Who will Participate?	To obtain a place on this course a whole school commitment is encouraged to achieve full benefits from the course. This online element of the course will be completed in your own school and the materials will be accessed remotely. The teaching staff in your school will be required to view the online presentations in a whole group session to enable follow up discussion.	The SENCO plus one other teacher from each school will attend seminars (8 sessions of 3 hours) from 3.30 – 6.30pm and also the RTU summer school in August 2013 (4 days). One of these teachers will be required to submit coursework for the award of two Masters Modules. This is to allow each participating school to have a specialist teacher with a recognised qualification.
Assessment requirements	There is no assessment requirement for this online element of the course. There is a requirement to attend all of the Presentations and follow up discussion to enable a teacher to obtain a Certificate of Attendance. The materials for each topic will be released on the start dates listed on the back of this flyer and must be completed by the end date for each topic (2 hours will be required for this). There will also be examples of good practice to support the course which can be viewed online (6 hours).	One teacher from each school will complete the coursework for two Masters modules. Successful candidates will receive a Certificate in Education: Teaching Pupils with Specific Learning Difficulties (Dyslexia) OR they may continue on for the award of Master of Education by completing further modules. (This further study is not part of the funded course.)