Aug 022010
A new green paper on SEN will be published in the fall.
Make sure you get the opportunity to comment on the proposals before the paper becomes law.
The minister responsible is Sarah Teather and you can reach her on teather.ps@education.gsi.gov.uk
Early indications are that SEN services will be cut to the quick and the whole statementng process will be reviewed.
This last issue may well be a good idea as it seems only the families who have the ability to last the course receive the benefits
Your comments please
Fin
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Hi Fin: I have attended a couple of meetings in London where Sara Teather was speaking/answering questions – have also sent her emails and royal mail letters trying to arrange a 1:1 meeting – but to no avail, probably because I’m an individual and not a representative body??!! However she certainly makes all the right noises and despite my initial reservations about her abilities to satisfy the enormous brief she has been given, she has learned VERY quickly. I know that NASEN are involved and presumably many more national bodies are also being consulted, but I will certainly look out for the consultation papers. Whatever happens I’m sure there will be a large group of children and young people for whom it does not work just as there is now.
I am adamant that personalised learning is key – where we consider each child as a unique learner who is developing at his/her own rate through the milestones. Some will never make it to the end of the growing list of milestones whilst others will shoot straight through. But fundamentally we need to consider each child holistically and work out what they need to learn next and how we can go about it to ensure success – not look at a set curriculum and decide what they MUST learn next. If we can keep children more engaged and motivated and teachers less stressed by targets and outcomes then perhaps we have a chance.
Whatever happened to topic planning around the likes of the children – topics that were flexible enough to be redirected if children are not as enthusiastic as we’d hoped? Why do we now talk about targets and outcomes as opposed to engagement and enjoyment???
One thing is clear though, revision of the statementing process – great. Funding cuts across SEN – potential disaster for many, many children and their families.
You always seem to set me off!!
Warm regards, Kate
At the recent SENCo conference I attended it was clear that although the new pupil premium is being heralded as the ‘cure all’, it is not as much as the current funding for Looked After Children in many authorities, so essentially the funding for this group has been cut. The proposals also include ‘disappearing’ many of those SA and SA Plus students who are currently on SEN registers. Recent OfSTED announcements are being used to suggest that these students do not have any special educational needs. Although many have unusual cognitive profiles and NHS’ reports of non-neuro typical profiles it has been suggested that these students are merely ‘slow’ as a result of ‘poor’ teaching. It is non-sensical to suggest that ‘good’ teachers are deliberately saving ‘poor’ teaching for these students. Even so, this argument is being used to cut funding for the support of these students via TA in-class support and intervention.