UCL research features in Jamie Oliver dyslexia documentary
10 June 2025
A powerful documentary by campaigning chef Jamie Oliver, calling for the Government to do more to empower teachers to help pupils with dyslexia, has been broadcast featuring UCL research.

The Channel 4 documentary, called Jamie’s Dyslexia Revolution, was broadcast last night (Monday 9th June) and included an interview with UCL psychologist Professor Jo Van Herwegen (IOE, UCL’s Faculty of Education & Society) talking about pioneering research she and colleagues have done in the field.
In the programme, Prof Van Herwegen reveals how they’ve developed a first-of-its-kind database based on a meta-analysis of existing research on interventions for special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) pupils. They are now working on a universal screening tool that can shed light on the particular learning challenges that SEND pupils within a classroom may be experiencing.
A prototype of the Universal Classroom Screening tool is being tested at schools in Wiltshire, Birmingham and London and, coupled with the MetaSENse database, aims to ensure teachers use the right aids to help children with special educational needs in their classes. Both tools, which are free, could be rolled out nationally as early as the autumn.
In January, Jamie visited UCL to film an interview with Professor Van Herwegen and one of her collaborators on the screening tool, psychologist Professor Joel Talcott (Aston University), about their work for his documentary.
The chef, who was formally diagnosed with dyslexia that month, said: “This is amazing work.
“From people I have spoken to, I already knew that teachers are yelling out for this kind of help. This feels really exciting. For kids – and their parents – to know they are just different, not duds; and for screening to enable teachers to be the incredible teachers they can be. That feels like optimism and I feel like we really need that right now.”
Research by UCL researchers led by Professor Van Herwegen has shown targeted interventions can raise overall educational outcomes for SEND students by an average of five months, compared to teaching-as-usual or standard interventions.
Jamie, who said his dyslexia had made him “dread” reading and be acutely conscious he was different from fellow pupils who relished it, is calling for the Government to support the roll-out of the Universal Screening tool across the country.
Professor Van Herwegen said: “It is amazing that Jamie is helping with this. We know he has been a very powerful voice.
“If you think about what he has achieved by making Britons eat healthily again, his work on eating in schools. This is the voice that people with neurodiversity and SEND need.
“SEND diagnoses waiting lists and getting the right support have become an issue for many people and he is able to amplify the difficulties and the solutions we have created.”
Dyslexia is a specific learning disability that affects primarily how people process written language. It's characterized by difficulties with reading, writing and spelling. It is one of a number of neurodiversities which also include autism and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).
Students with SEND, which include those with dyslexia, often have lower educational outcomes compared to their peers and there are around 1.67 million children in England diagnosed with SEND.
They used their findings to build the MetaSENse database, which allows teachers to find evidence-backed targeted interventions that can raise SEND pupils’ educational outcomes.
So what is the Universal Screening tool and how is it different?
Professors Van Herwegen and Talcott have been working with a third academic, Professor Susan Gathercole (University of Cambridge), on a Universal Classroom Screening tool.
The way it works is that teachers use the tool to provide the academics with details of all the pupils in their class, including those with special educational needs.
The academics use that information to build profiles of each pupil based on five characteristics they believe are essential for successful learning in the classroom: vocabulary (having a common vocabulary of language in the classroom); the ability to decode phonetically new words; working memory (being able to retain information or words for a short period of time); sustained attention (being able to maintain vigilance to a learning task long enough to benefit from the learning opportunity relating to that task); and emotional regulation (good mental health development which provides a good context in an educational environment).
The teachers can use those profiles to tailor any additional support the SEND pupils might need – and they can ensure the aids they use are evidence-based and beneficial (rather than potentially harmful) by using the MetaSENse database.
Currently, children have an assessment for any SEND needs when they start primary school (and further assessments in Year 1), but those assessments focus on areas in which they might be struggling due to a neurodiversity and the child’s weaknesses, but not their strengths.
As Jamie said: “Little Johnny might be the brightest boy in the world, but just struggling to read.”
The new tool aims to provide a more balanced assessment of the pupil and place them in the context of the whole class.
Professor Talcott said: “The teacher might know that their pupil is struggling to read. That is the outcome. But what they don’t know about are the underlying mechanisms responsible for that, which could be a problem with the child’s working memory or vocabulary. And these differ from child to child.
“Knowing the profiles will allow teachers to respond to the underlying difficulties, rather than just the label.”
Next steps
Professors Van Herwegen, Talcott and Gathercole will refine the tool based on the feedback from the Wiltshire pilot.
Professor Van Herwegen and UCL colleagues also have new funding from the British Educational Research Association and Kusuma Trust to continue their work on identifying which interventions create the biggest impact for students with SEND.
This in turn should help teachers further narrow down the most appropriate interventions to offer SEND pupils in their classes.
:: To watch back the programme, go to https://www.channel4.com/programmes/jamies-dyslexia-revolution
Links
- Professor Jo Van Herwegen's research profile
- Professor Joel Talcott's research profile
- IOE, UCL’s Faculty of Education & Society
- MetaSENse database
- WATCH BACK: Jamie's Dyslexia Revolution Channel 4 documentary
Image
- Source: Nick Hodgson
Media contact
Nick Hodgson
tel: 07769 240209
E: nick.hodgson [at] ucl.ac.uk