The National Dyslexia Conference was held on Tuesday 23 April at Villa Bighi in Kalkara and attended by an audience of 200 educators, representing different sectors and entities. The Conference was organised by the Permanent Secretary for Education, Mr Matthew Vella as part of the vision and ongoing initiatives embedded in the National Strategy for Education 2024-2030.
from the UM Access Disability Support Unit (ADSU) was keynote speaker at the Conference. He presented statistics from a longitudinal study measuring literacy progress amongst students with dyslexia from different school sectors. The other keynote speaker was Dr Monika Lodej from the University of Krakow, Poland who spoke about the difficulties encountered by students with dyslexia when learning the second language.
The main purpose of the conference was to celebrate the success of a number of schools who use the dyslexia-friendly approach as an integral part of their pedagogy.
Permanent Secretary for Education Mr Matthew Vella emphasised the importance of adopting a learner-centred approach with the well-being of students as the foundation of Educational policies.
Ms Sandra Ebejer, Director for the Early Years, Languages and the Humanites at the Ministry (MEYR) gave a historical overview of the SpLD services and outlined plans for extending and improving its contributions in the schools.
A number of educators from various schools participated in different panels to share their experiences of implementing dyslexia-friendly policies. At the end, the Full Award and the Foundation Level Certificate were presented to the schools who committed or completed this initiative with success.
Last but not least, Dr Christine Firman was given a special award for being the person behind the vision and direction of the SpLd 福利在线免费 in Malta which started 31 years ago and eventually got the recognition it deserved from the Ministry. Dr Firman is a member of the UM ADSC (Access Disability Support Committee).
This conference was organised by the three Heads of Department within the SpLD 福利在线免费, Ms Karen Grech, Ms Christine Xuereb and Mr Maurizio Salerno; the coordinator Ms Carmen Bugeja and the organising team from the Office of the Permanent Secretary, Ms Christine Catania who liaised with staff at Villa Bighi.
