Paper short abstract:

This paper aims to present a draft plan of an initial dyslexia teacher training-seminar, upon identifying teachers' needs and demands. Analysis will be based on a survey to Japanese teachers and questionnaires collected from teacher-training seminars about dyslexia in Europe.

Paper long abstract:

This paper aims to present a draft plan of an ideal initial dyslexia teacher-training seminar, upon identifying teachers' needs and demands towards such a seminar.

Support systems for people with disability and learning difficulties including developmental dyslexia have been well established in many European countries. Obviously satisfactory provision of support to Japanese language learners with dyslexia is required in Japanese institutions in Europe, as well as in institutions in Japan where many European learners are accepted.

In-service/pre-service Japanese language teachers now need to be well versed in dyslexia, as well as in intervention and support methods, so that they can autonomously and appropriately accommodate dyslexic learners from their early stage of learning. Developing teacher autonomy and creating a better collaboration amongst all staff concerned are also important. Provision of initial dyslexia teacher training would promote teachers' awareness towards and basic knowledge on dyslexia.

In our presentation we explore 1) what teachers want to learn at an initial training seminar about dyslexia, and 2) what they might find the most useful. Analysis will be made based on 1) a European-wide online survey concerning support to dyslexia learners in the Japanese language classroom and its follow-up interviews, conducted in summer, 2015, and 2) the results of pre/post questionnaires collected at several initial dyslexia teacher-training seminars held within Europe during 2016-2017 and their follow-ups.

The paper concludes with a remark that promoting dyslexia-friendly teaching methods and classrooms in the era of inclusive education will nurture teachers' ability to make learning more successful for 'everyone' beyond dyslexic learners.