The postgraduate community is a vibrant and welcoming community, comprising around one fifth of the University’s student population across our three sites in Kent.
Professor Susan Millns, Dean of the Graduate College

How do you want to study?

I would like to start

I would like to study

Duration:

1 year

Location(s):

Canterbury

Apply

Overview

The Postgraduate Certificate in Specialist Teaching and Assessment for Dyslexia provides teachers and professionals in practice an opportunity to gain a professional qualification in supporting learners with dyslexia. The programme has been accredited by the British Dyslexia Association as meeting the requirements for AMBDA (Associate Member of the British Dyslexia Association).

This Postgraduate Certificate is ideal if you are interested in:

Becoming a specialist teacher for Dyslexia
Assessing for Dyslexia
Completing assessments for the JCQ (Joint council for Qualifications) Access Arrangements
Working towards the professional status of AMBDA (Associate Member of the British Dyslexia Association)
Working towards achieving an APC (Assessment Practicing Certificate)

The PG Cert in Specialist Teaching and Assessment for Dyslexia is a professional qualification, and on successful completion, will enable you to apply for membership of AMBDA.

Entry requirements

Entry to the programme normally requires an honours degree (2.2 or above), or evidence of other relevant study at Level 6. For those without these qualifications, evidence showing ability to study at level 7 will be considered. This might include evidence of reflective writing about professional development, a report of research and development work led by the applicant and/or some critical commentary on theoretical, professional or policy literature.

The programme is designed for professionals in educational settings and requires students to undertake practice-based tasks in relation to learning and teaching and assessment so it is necessary for students to be in an appropriate position to facilitate this in their setting.

If English is not your first language you require an IELTS overall score of 6.0 with no element below 5.5 for most standard undergraduate and postgraduate courses. There are some exceptions and if the IELTS requirement differs it will be specified on the course page.

2:2

Hons Degree

Module information

This programme meets the criteria for individuals to apply for the professional status of ATS/APS/AMBDA/AMBDA HE/FE within 3 years of successful completion and fulfils these requirements.

Core/optional modules

*Modules subject to validation

How you’ll learn

The programme will run over the period of a year and will comprise of seven full day taught sessions and four half day taught sessions.

Teaching delivery will include tutor input, pre-module activities, discussions and seminars, group activities, critical friendship conversations and pre- and post-session online learning using readings, materials and tools recommended and provided. Individual tutorial support will be provided both face to face and by email and other means where appropriate.

Tutors on the programme hold the professional status of AMBDA and when the programme was accredited by the BDA, they were complemented upon the expertise of the team delivering the programme.

Please note that cohorts will run subject to viable numbers of applicants. Every effort is made to communicate with you at the earliest opportunity should this arise and you may be offered a later start date or an alternative location.

How you’ll be assessed

Your learning is assessed by written papers, portfolios and presentations, depending on the modules studied, and the final dissertation. These are submitted and marked online. Each 20 credit module assignment is 4,000 words or equivalent.

You will complete 30 hours of evaluated, specialist teaching in practice in your setting, which must consist of a minimum of 10 hours with the same learner.

Three hours of teaching will be observed and assessed (via video) by a programme tutor who holds active AMBDA status to support you by providing formative feedback in relation to how far you meet the criteria. This will take place at appropriate points during the 30 hours of teaching. You will also submit associated materials such as lesson plans, evaluations, schemes of work, teaching diaries etc. in the form of a portfolio.

You will complete three diagnostic assessment reports stemming from 3 different assessments of learners. These reports must be assessed using the current SASC criteria for Assessment Practicing Certificates applications (www.sasc.org.uk). These must include supporting assessment plans, working papers and related reports submitted in the form of a portfolio. You also submit one hour of video evidence pf the assessment of an individual learner, showing the use of at least two standardised tests that are appropriate for the age of the learner carried out in a 1:1 situation.

Your future career

This programme meets the criteria for individuals to apply for the professional status of AMBDA with the British Dyslexia Association within three years of successful completion.

You will be able to complete specialist teaching and also assess children for dyslexia.

Fees

2022/23 tuition fees for this course

	UK	Overseas
Full-time	N/A	N/A
Part-time	£3,650	POA

20% Alumni Discount

We offer alumni discounts on CCCU Postgraduate Taught, PGCE Primary and Secondary, and Masters by Research courses for eligible students.

Find out if you're eligible for the discount.

Please note

Cohorts will run subject to viable numbers of applicants. Every effort is made to communicate with you at the earliest opportunity should this arise and you may be offered a later start date or an alternative location.

There is an additional fee of £950 payable to cover the tutor assessment of the professional work-based evidence which includes assessment of teaching and diagnostic assessment reports. This is included in the course fee of £3610.

You would need to have access to assessment tools for Module 3 of the programme. This may be available in practice, but there will be a cost involved to purchase specialist assessments. It could cost in the region of approximately £2000 to purchase the full set of assessment tools, so please do consider this when applying for the course. You will be provided with details of assessment tools early on because there are specific requirements, but educational settings or schools will often support the purchase of this equipment. The university does have some specialist assessments available for demonstration, but this is limited and so we cannot generally loan equipment. There is an expectation that students will ensure they are appropriately equipped to complete diagnostic assessments of leaners.

Please be aware that you are responsible for accessing video equipment in your educational settings as well as access to IT equipment for uploading assessments for Module 2 and Module 3.

On successful completion of the Post Graduate Certificate in Specialist Teaching and Assessment for Dyslexia you will meet the requirements of AMBDA, but you would be responsible for applying for the membership with the professional body (BDA) and the associated costs involved in making the application and maintaining professional membership (AMBDA / APC).

Please also be aware that the school costs for cover whist you attend the sessions at university and / or complete specified work-based tasks would need to be met by your educational settings.

You will also be responsible for purchasing books should you chose to do so.

Travel and or subsistence costs for any educational site visits as part of the course would need to be paid by students.

Apply now

I would like to start

I would like to study

Duration:

1 year

Location(s):

Canterbury

Apply

Postgraduate student links.

Explore postgraduate taught

Applying for a postgraduate degree

Information for international postgraduate students

Postgraduate fees and funding

Any questions?

Email us

courses@canterbury.ac.uk

A support officer smiling at the camera.

Phone us

+44 (0)1227 928000

A student in an archive smiling at the camera.

Chat with a student

Chat to one of our students on Unibuddy

Specialist Teaching and Assessment for Dyslexia.