“The Government’s latest education White Paper, released in June 2009, recognised the importance of having an inclusive and targeted approach to ensuring that all SEN children receive an education that meets their needs,” says Lorraine Petersen (OBE), CEO of Nasen, the leading association embracing all special and additional educational needs.
“These measures are welcome but ensuring that vulnerable young learners receive the best possible start in life also requires a commitment to progress, development and flexibility. As new research emerges, so too do new teaching techniques. Professional development is an integral component of the commitment to an inclusive and personalised education for all learners and there are many ways for educationalists – from SENCOs, school governors and headteachers to front line teaching staff and assistants – to keep abreast of the latest developments in SEN teaching,” she adds.
All teaching staff are entitled to high quality continuous professional development (CPD) so that they can confidently provide for all children, including those with additional support needs. Professional development should not be seen solely as addressing weak areas or as a ‘top up’ of specialist knowledge, but as an embedded part of professional life.
Research has also suggested that a large percentage of CPD looks at the knowledge base, specific teaching techniques, pedagogy skills and the curriculum. These topics can often be addressed via published materials; journals, education publications and the websites of Government associations such as the Qualifications and Curriculum Development Agency (QCDA), the Training and Development Agency (TDA) and the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF). In addition, Teacher’s TV offers SEN-specific videos which can be a very useful guide.
All SEN children should receive an education that meets their needs
Effective training should be provided within a coherent framework, to meet both the needs of individuals and organisations and services. This implies a breadth of approaches at a range of levels, which should, wherever possible, be underpinned by accreditation.
Schools will find it easier to meet this obligation by making Measures of Children’s Mental Health & Psychological Wellbeing: A Portfolio for Education and Health Professionals available to teachers in the classroom. Published by GL Assessment, this valuable collection of paper-based assessments is designed to help make the early recognition and identification of children with emotional and psychological needs much simpler, ensuring specialist help can be provided quickly to those who need it.
Using the tests, schools will be able to measure a range of psychological wellbeing issues, such as whether their pupils feel accepted and respected, how well they are coping with the stresses of daily life, how much they enjoy their time in school and to what extent they are adopting healthy lifestyles. The results are essential to enabling children to achieve their potential and progress in school.
The portfolio is authored by highly-respected professionals from across the fields of educational and clinical psychology. The tests can be used by a range of school staff to assess their pupils’ mental and emotional needs and ensure that, where appropriate, they can be referred on quickly for more in-depth diagnosis and treatment. It is therefore a timely resource to assist schools and associated staff in their function as the “front line” of child and adolescent mental health services.
Tracey Riseborough, Publisher for Health & Psychology at GL Assessment, explains, “If a child is experiencing issues such as anxiety or depression in school, this could have a negative impact on their learning and prevent them from reaching their full potential. Measures of Children’s Mental Health & Psychological Wellbeing will make it easier for schools to identify these issues quickly so that children get the pastoral and psychological support they need to enjoy a happy and healthy life.”
The Government’s SEN white paper, ‘Removing Barriers to Achievement’ (2004) states that “every teacher is a teacher of special educational needs”. With this in mind, the UK’s commitment to provide inclusive and personalised education for our children should be at the heart of CPD, not just for SENCOs, but for all teachers.
‘Schools are looking for products that embrace inclusivity,” agrees Ray Barker Director, British Educational Suppliers Association (BESA). “Many years ago a major SEN report stressed that what was good for SEN should be good for all and this has not changed in terms of resources. One major problem is that SEN funding is not ring-fenced and often money meant for SEN students has to be channelled elsewhere.”
Inclusion is something Espresso Education takes very seriously; they even won a BETT Special Award for Inclusion for their outstanding efforts in 2008. Although not designed specifically for special educational needs (SEN) pupils, the Espresso Primary service provides broad flexibility so it can be used with as wide a range of learners as possible and support those with widely different needs. Teachers of mixed ability classrooms can easily and effectively integrate Espresso into their teaching of all pupils, whether SEN or gifted and talented.
The service has a number of features into the service, which enable teachers to support SEN pupils, covering general issues to more specific ones:
SEN learners are often attracted to computers and the use of video, colour, sound animations and humour all add to the chances of engaging children. Icons and symbols are consistently used on the site.
Many Espresso activities have been designed to provide instant, value-free feedback in a non-text format, making it easy for SEN learners to view. Fun activities and quizzes on the service can be used as a focus for social interaction, stimulating discussion amongst SEN pupils and providing teachers with the opportunity to develop their language skills and encourage them to learn from other class members.
Espresso’s activities avoid reference to age groups and so teachers can provide children with work that offers an appropriate level of challenge, without visibly labelling the resource as intended for someone much younger. Children are also encouraged to set the level of challenge for themselves if an Espresso activity is offered at different levels, again focusing on a child’s ability rather than their age group.
Lewis Bronze, CEO Espresso Education, comments: “The essence of Espresso’s purpose is to simply create the best resources to stimulate engagement, creativity and achievement in all learners, whatever their needs and abilities.”
It is essential that schools are able to provide personalised learning pathways that will support every child in reaching their full potential. However, this can be a challenging task when a student has complex issues that prevent them from learning in a conventional classroom setting. The latest government figures show that children with special educational needs (SEN) are eight times more likely to be permanently excluded from school than any other student. Reducing this figure is a government priority.
One approach that has proved highly effective in many schools is to introduce live online learning as part of the strategy for managing provision for students with SEN who are at risk of being excluded from school.
Accipio Learning provides live online teaching to secondary school aged students across the UK who have a range of educational, behavioural or medical needs. The ability to access lessons online is particularly useful for students with conditions such as those within the autistic spectrum, where there may be issues around face-to-face contact or group learning that would be difficult to manage in a mainstream classroom. Communicating online allows students to continue their learning without having to read facial expressions or body language.
With Accipio, students can attend scheduled online lessons delivered by subject specialists in real time. They can communicate with their teachers and classmates via a headset and microphone or instant messaging, which helps to replicate the experience of group learning in a conventional classroom environment.
This approach gives schools the freedom to allow students to access lessons from wherever best meets their needs, whether that is a dedicated room on the school grounds, the pupils’ home or another educational setting such as a pupil referral unit or hospital school.
Students are able to attend lessons at times that are convenient for them, allowing them to fit their learning in around speech therapy or hospital appointments, for example. Where a child has been unable to attend a lesson they can also access a comprehensive online lesson archive where they can catch up with any learning they have missed.
Overall, a schools’ SEN CPD strategy should anticipate the needs of their learners and look to build capacity within and across the school to meet these needs. With the ever-changing landscape of SEN, flexibility and commitment are crucial components of a successful strategy for meeting the needs of SEN learners.
BESA Special Needs Group (BSNG)
The BESA Special Needs Group (BSNG) comprises of companies whose expertise includes developing and supplying resources to the Special Educational Needs (SEN) sector.
www.besa.org.uk
www.accipio-learning.co.uk
www.espresso.co.uk
www.gl-assessment.co.uk
www.nasen.org.uk
