[senco-forum] RE: can't read in diagram form-another perspective

Hi Kitty

Regarding your friend's daughter. The problems of specific learning
difficulties and any subsequent reasonable adjustments, become very
interesting at the level of professional training and professional practice.
There is an inevitable tension between supporting learning and learners,
giving students equal access/preventing discrimination and the duty to
ensure that as practitioners they can practise safely and effectively i.e.
reaching required professional standards. Now in between the stages of
learning and practising comes, of course the inevitable
assessment/examination (s).

The questions I would want to ask are whether the examination is testing for
information that is crucial to demonstrate that the candidate reaches
appropriate professional standards, and whether the manner of
testing/assessing for that information is relevant to or actually reflects
that ability. Therefore if a student medic needs to be able to read 2d
anatomical diags, and it is a necessary skill, I would guess the student
should need to learn how to do it. Now, great if they can find a way to
learn it, the problem is if they cannot learn to do it to an 'acceptable
level'... I think we really have a lot of exploring to do around reasonable
adjustments for students qualifying in Health and allied practices, along
with other areas too. There are many more students coming into training who
have already been identified with spld, and procedures in place for those
non-identified students to be assessed...loads of exploring to do around
needs/professional standards/examination and assessment procedures.  

I suggest this student begins a dialogue with her assessors on the above
lines. She will be amongst the first of many to come. This area is one which
I have begun to, and am keen to explore further.

Naomi Burgess (EP)