31/05/2026
Another event with excellent presentations.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QLXprgavAJA&feature=youtu.be
Reflections on Carl Hendrick's presentation and TransformEdI:
Access to Knowledge
One of the most powerful themes from Carl Hendrick’s discussion was the idea that access to knowledge is a matter of equity.
Great Teaching and the Science of Learning
Across Northern Ireland, teachers are making a difference to pupils every day. Carl suggested that the Science of Learning helps explain and articulate many of the practices that effective teachers have long used.
Long Before TransformEd NI
Long before the Department of Education NI began promoting evidence-aligned practices informed by the Science of Learning, great teachers were building knowledge-rich classrooms, checking for understanding, addressing misconceptions, and ensuring important learning was revisited and retained.
The Science of Learning does not diminish this expertise. It helps explain it, strengthen it, and make it more accessible across the profession.
Northern Ireland's Opportunity
Carl highlighted Northern Ireland’s opportunity to become an international model for evidence-aligned practice through collaboration, reflective practice, and subject-specific pedagogy. Success would be measured not simply by the proportion of high-performing pupils, but by the system’s ability to improve outcomes for all learners.
Key points from Dyslexia Awareness NI:
Neurodiversity and Equity
For neurodivergent learners in particular, this is a social justice issue. For many pupils with dyslexia, difficulties with reading, spelling, and written language can limit access to learning long before their intelligence, creativity, and potential are recognised. Structured Literacy provides an evidence-aligned approach that is beneficial for all learners, but essential for those with dyslexia. Through explicit, systematic, cumulative, and diagnostic instruction, it helps pupils develop the foundational skills needed for successful reading and writing. By ensuring that support is guided by an understanding of each learner’s strengths and areas of need, rather than their background, circumstances, or ability to compensate for difficulties, Structured Literacy helps create more equitable access to education and opportunity.
The Capacity Challenge
Meaningful change requires more than evidence alone. Many teachers are already navigating significant workloads, including extensive paperwork to access support for pupils with additional needs. The challenge is not recognising the value of evidence-aligned practices, but finding the capacity to engage with them.
The Cost of Unmet Need
When literacy difficulties are not identified and addressed effectively, attainment gaps widen, access to the curriculum narrows, and learners are prevented from demonstrating what they know and can do. Much of the discussion centres on the cost of support, but far less attention is given to why those costs continue to rise. A system that relies on creating policies with strict criteria for identifying failure, producing reports, and triaging need will always be more expensive than one that consistently implements evidence-aligned practices to prevent difficulties from becoming entrenched. As inequalities deepen, Northern Ireland bears the long-term social and economic costs of low attainment. Evidence-aligned practices offer a different path, one that focuses on strengths, removes barriers, and helps more young people participate fully in education, employment, and community life while unlocking untapped potential. the challenge now is not whether we know what works, but whether Department of Education NI is willing to create the conditions to implement it consistently and at scale.
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