Sylvia Phillips, BA, DASE, MEd (SEN), AMBDA, Cert. TESL is an Education Consultant (for SEND) and a part-time tutor to the AMBDA course at Stanmillis University College, Belfast. She began her career as a teacher of English in secondary schools where she became interested in why some learners had severe literacy difficulties. She later joined Manchester Metropolitan University where she was a Principal Lecturer, Head of SEN, and then Head of Continuing Professional Development. At MMU she developed the first courses for specialist dyslexia teachers at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels. During that time she worked in primary, secondary and special schools both with teachers and directly with pupils. She taught on several SEND courses for teachers (particularly training SENDCos) and was the UK partner (with Italy, Belgium and Spain) developing and teaching courses on ‘Inclusion and SEN’ for European educationalists. She served on the Accreditation Board of the British Dyslexia Association but left when she became a specialist member of the SEND Tribunal service. She has been involved in several research projects developing teaching materials. In recent years she led the AMBDA courses for Wrexham Glyndwr University, and together with Kathleen Kelly, she co-authored Assessment of Learners with Dyslexic Type Difficulties, 2nd Edition, (2018, Sage).
