My name is Natalie Kerslake B.A (Hons), MA Ed and I am a primary school teaching assistant, with a particular interest in supporting children with special educational needs and disabilities. In January 2016, I graduated with my MA Education from the University of Derby, with specialism in Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND).

My dissertation looked at how teachers and teaching assistants can effectively support children with dyscalculia in one primary school. My study found that more awareness and training needs to be provided for teachers and teaching assistants, to aid them in supporting children with dyscalculia. This includes knowledge of what dyscalculia is and what strategies can be used to support children effectively.

Since graduating, I have had a summary of my work published by Dynamo Maths in their newsletters to special educational needs co-ordinators (SENCO’s), an interview conducted with the Dyscalculia Blog and contributed to a podcast discussing the findings of my MA Ed study with Lauren Duffy, titled ‘Understanding dyscalculia’.

I am planning on delivering some training with Teaching Assistants within my current school soon, looking at raising awareness of dyscalculia within school.

Examples of work

Dynamo Maths Summer Newsletter: Summer 2016 summary:

Natalie Kerslake has just completed her MA in dyscalculia and we are sure her research will be of interest to many SENCos. Natalie writes:

This study looked at the current knowledge of teachers and teaching assistants, to establish how learners with dyscalculia are supported within the classroom in one primary school. The study found that 10 out of 16 teachers and teaching assistants had little or no knowledge of dyscalculia including how to identify and support these learners within the classroom. More training and awareness needs to be provided to teachers and teaching assistants, both within school and also through Initial Teacher Education (ITE) providers, to ensure that learners with dyscalculia can be supported effectively. This also includes knowledge of different strategies to identify and support these learners, through intervention programmes such as Dynamo Maths.

Interview with the Dyscalculia Blog – August 2016

https://dyscalculia-blog.com/2016/08/25/awareness-teachers-children-dyscalculia/

This week the Dyscalculia Blog interviewed Natalie Kerslake, a teaching assistant who conducted her master’s degree research around dyscalculia. Natalie shared her thoughts on the importance of increasing school resources for dyscalculics and their teachers.

Please introduce yourself to the blog and tell us what motivated you to focus on dyscalculia.

My name is Natalie Kerslake B.A (Hons), MA Ed and I am a primary school teaching assistant, with a particular interest in supporting children with special educational needs and disabilities.

I became motivated to complete my MA Ed research on dyscalculia after supporting a child with this in my first teaching assistant post. I did not know anything about dyscalculia myself at the time and not much was available to support teachers and children in this area. I wanted to investigate the current situation as to supporting children with dyscalculia in one particular primary school, and see whether this was the case in another school.

Could you tell us a bit about your research?

My research was conducted in a primary school looking at teachers’ and teaching assistants’ current knowledge of dyscalculia. The study consisted of a questionnaire, plus interviews with the special educational needs co-ordinator (SENCO), maths leader, and a class teacher of a learner with possible dyscalculia. Teachers and teaching assistants were initially invited to complete a questionnaire to gain current knowledge of dyscalculia. Sixteen of the twenty-seven teachers and teaching assistants completed this.

The questionnaire found that teachers, although aware of mathematical difficulties, were not aware of dyscalculia in most cases. Four staff did have awareness of dyscalculia, due to having worked with these learners in the past. Staff were also unsure of how to identify and assess children with dyscalculia, along with what strategies to use. This was due to lack of awareness and training – including ITE and PGCE courses, as two teachers said they had either no or limited training in this area at university. The maths leader suggested a resource bank be made available for teachers and teaching assistants to support children with dyscalculia.