Mike Styles is leading an exciting new initiative in New Zealand to implement a Dyslexia Friendly Quality Mark for tertiary education institutions. It is anticipated that the Quality Mark will be extended down to include primary and secondary schools over time and also to organisations in the wider workforce.
The history for people with dyslexia in New Zealand, along with many countries has been very sad in particular, the 10 to 15 percent of the population who have dyslexia have been discriminated against in education for a long time. This has led to underachievement in education, and many have been side-lined in the workplace.
Mike Styles was chosen to lead this project because of his earlier work in leading research projects exploring how best to support learners with dyslexia in tertiary education.
The Dyslexia Friendly Quality Mark (DFQM) is a standard that covers all the aspects of best practice in supporting learners with dyslexia and related learning differences. Organisations that meet the standard will be awarded the DFQM for a three-year period.
There will be many advantages to both the institution and the learners in that institution. Learners will be safe and have their learning needs met and the institution will know that it is following best practice and be able to promote itself as such.