GCSE: Dyslexia

Effective early identification and intervention is critical to improving outcomes for children and young people with special educational needs (SEND), including those with dyslexia.

To ensure that all teachers, teaching assistants, support staff and leaders across early years, schools and post-16 settings can be trained to support pupils with dyslexia and other types of SEND, the department is investing £200 million of new funding to upskill staff.

In addition, the department is providing £1.6 billion of additional funding to mainstream settings through an Inclusive Mainstream Fund to help settings identify commonly occurring needs and take meaningful steps to improve everyday support. Settings will also be able to spend the funding to develop targeted support for those who need it, such as group interventions, without formal assessment or diagnosis.

Clear statutory duties for schools will also be introduced, including identifying and meeting needs as early as possible and ensuring that they monitor children and young people’s progress to ensure timely and effective interventions.

We are strengthening inclusivity in mainstream schools by giving teachers better tools to identify and support needs early while ensuring specialist settings meet the needs of pupils with the most complex needs.

We will support schools to respond to pupils’ learning and development needs with evidence‑informed resources, helping make mainstream education more inclusive and improving outcomes.

This aligns with our commitment to deliver a high‑quality, ambitious curriculum for every child, including those with SEND. The department has engaged with a wide variety of organisations as we consider the SEND system, and this has included engagements with representatives of the British Dyslexia Association.