GSCE attainment gap and dyslexia

Motion Text

That this House notes with concern the findings of the British Dyslexia Association’s 2026 report, GSCE Attainment: Decade without progress; further notes the report finds that in the latest academic year (2024/2025) only two in ten pupils with a Special Educational Need (SEN) like dyslexia achieved a grade five or above in GCSE English and maths, compared with five in ten pupils with no identified SEN; expresses alarm at the 30 per cent attainment gap between pupils with a learning difference like dyslexia and those without; acknowledges that this attainment gap has persisted for over a decade; recognises that differences in GSCE attainment are not driven by ability, but by the way the education system identifies, support and assesses neurodiverse learners; calls on the Government to make mainstream classrooms genuinely inclusive through improved teacher training and evidence-based teaching approaches; and urges the Government to reform GCSE assessment and accountability so that exams better reflect subject knowledge rather than literacy challenges unrelated to the subject being tested.