‘My success as a teacher amazes me each and every day’ – perspectives of teachers with learning disabilities

Resilience strategies employed by teachers with dyslexia working at tertiary education

“…Their insight awareness into dyslexia enabled them to develop and use alternate and more inclusive strategies to support learning. The findings are concurrent with a few studies on teachers with LD conducted in Israel (Vogel & Sharoni, 2011), in the USA (Ferri et al, 2001(Ferri et al, , 2005Valle et al, 2004;Vogel et al, 2007) and in the UK (Riddick, 2003) that discovered that teachers emphasised the positive impact of their LD, and viewed their disability as an asset. Teachers and teacher trainees with LD have been considered as having had an increased ability to help students and develop more inclusive teaching methods (Duquette, 2000;Ferri et al, 2001;Ferri et al, 2005;Glazzard & Dales, 2012;Riddick, 2003;Vogel & Sharoni, 2011).…”

“…The findings are concurrent with a few studies on teachers with LD conducted in Israel (Vogel & Sharoni, 2011), in the USA (Ferri et al, 2001(Ferri et al, , 2005Valle et al, 2004;Vogel et al, 2007) and in the UK (Riddick, 2003) that discovered that teachers emphasised the positive impact of their LD, and viewed their disability as an asset. Teachers and teacher trainees with LD have been considered as having had an increased ability to help students and develop more inclusive teaching methods (Duquette, 2000;Ferri et al, 2001;Ferri et al, 2005;Glazzard & Dales, 2012;Riddick, 2003;Vogel & Sharoni, 2011). Coming to terms with a learning difficulty or being able to utilize it as a tool for teaching (Article I, III) or in professional identity negotiation (Article II) the ter-tiary teachers in the current study needed to reframe their difficulties in a constructive manner and identify not only their weaknesses but, in particular, their strengths.…”

“…This has raised questions whether individuals with dyslexia are suitable applicants for teaching (Singleton, 1999;O'Dwyer & Thorpe, 2013) In contrast, research confirms that people with dyslexia have been found to be highly successful and effective at the highest occupational levels, including in the teaching profession (Logan, 2009;Reid, Came, & Price, 2008;West, 2010in Leather et al, 2011. Previous studies on the experiences of teacher trainees' from Canada, UK and US (Duquette, 2000;Glazzard & Dale, 2013;Griffiths, 2011;Macleod & Cebula, 2009;Morgan & Rooney, 1997;Riddell & Weedon, 2013;Riddick, 2003) as well as of those practicing teachers with dyslexia (Ferri, Connor, Solis, Valle & Volpitta, 2005;Ferri, Keefe & Gregg, 2001;O'Dwyer & Thorpe, 2013;Riddick, 2003;Valle et al, 2004;Vogel et al, 2007;Vogel & Sharoni, 2011) confirm their existence. How then do tertiary teachers with dyslexia perceive themselves as teachers and negotiate their professional identities?…”

“…Prior to having made any practical arrangements for the interviews, I considered the topics for discussion, which were based on previous studies and literature on teachers with LD (Ferri et al, 2001(Ferri et al, , 2005Riddick, 2003;Valle et al, 2004;Vogel et al, 2007;Vogel & Sharoni, 2011) and professional identity (Beijaard et al, 2004). The topics were considered in such a way that the tertiary teachers had an opportunity to talk about their professional experiences related to dyslexia as openly as possible, and relating to the principles in the narrative inquiry where the narrator is at the centre, being an active agent inseparable from the phenomenon studied (Spector-Mersel, 2010).…”

Pre-Service Teachers with Learning Disabilities: Perceptions of Professional Training

“…Some limited number of studies have examined the attitudes of pre-service teachers and teachers with LD (e.g., Burns & Bell, 2010;Duquette, 2000;Ferri, 2001;Ferri, Connor, Solis, Valle, & Volpitta, 2005;Griffiths, 2012;Morgan & Rooney, 1997;Riddick, 2003;Vogel & Sharoni, 2011). Ferri (2001 interviewed three teachers and found that the primary motivation for entering the teaching profession was the desire to provide pupils with the positive experiences that they themselves had been denied as youngsters.…”