SENJIT
SENCOs – Preparing for Change
February 2013
www.dreyfus.co.uk/course-downloads
Context and Background
The Change Process
Key Drivers
• The Special Educational Needs and Disability Review, A
Statement is not enough, Ofsted 2010
• The Green Paper – Support and Aspiration: A New Approach to
SEN and Disability (March, 2011)
• Support and aspiration: A new approach to special educational
needs and disability – Progress and next steps (May 2012)
• Children and Families Bill 2012
• House of Commons Pre-legislative Scrutiny: Special
Educational Needs (Dec 2012)
• Children and Families Bill 2013: Contextual Information and
Responses to Pre-legislative Scrutiny (Feb 2013)
• Ofsted - The framework for school inspection (January 2013)
Support and Aspiration: A New Approach to SEN
and Disability (March, 2011)
The Case for Change
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Around two million children and young people identified as having a
special educational need or who are disabled;
Their life outcomes are disproportionally poor;
Post-16, young people with SEN are more than twice as likely to be
not in education, employment or training (NEET) as those without;
They can feel frustrated by a lack of the right help at school or from
other services;
Children’s support needs can be identified late;
Parents say the system is bureaucratic, bewildering and adversarial;
and
Parents have limited choices about the best schools and care.
Support and Aspiration: A New Approach to SEN
and Disability (March, 2011)
The Green Paper
• Early Identification and assessment of
need
• Giving parents more control
• Learning and achieving
• Preparing for adulthood
• Services working together for families
Progress and Next Steps
(May 2012)
• The key measures will be:
• A single assessment process (0-25) which is
more streamlined, better involves children, young
people and families and is completed quickly.
• An Education, Health and Care Plan (replacing
the statement) which brings services together
and is focused on improving outcomes.
• An offer of a personal budget for families with an
Education, Health and Care Plan.
Progress and Next Steps
(May 2012)
• A requirement for local authorities and health
services to jointly plan and commission services that
children, young people and their families need.
• A requirement on local authorities to publish a local
offer indicating the support available to those with
special educational needs and disabilities and their
families.
• The introduction of mediation opportunities for
disputes and a trial giving children the right to appeal
if they are unhappy with their support.
Progress and Next Steps
(May 2012)
 Introduction of Health and Development review at age
2 to 21/2.
 Early Language Development Programme for
practitioners working with children up to 5 years –
designed to improve communication and language
skills for children in the foundation years, particularly
those with SEN.
 Independent review on qualifications in early education
and childcare to include a consideration of inclusive
qualifications which equip people with the skills to
successfully support children with SEND.
Progress and Next Steps
(May 2012)
• Statutory information requirements of SEN
policies to be slimmed down.
• Change to the law on parental preference.
• School Action and School Action Plus (and early
years equivalents) will be replaced with a single
category of SEN
• SEN Code of Practice will be revised to give
clear guidance on identifying children who have
SEN and on the operation of the new single
category of SEN.
•
Progress and Next Steps
(May 2012)
• Expert group to look at the characteristics of
pupils currently identified as BESD.
• Redefinition of the BESD category to identify
the underlying emotional or social issues and
to ensure the right help is put in place.
• The definition will be updated within the new
SEN Code of Practice.
Progress and Next Steps
(May 2012)
• Improvements to vocational and work-related
learning.
• Offer of supported internships to young
people with SEN
• Reform of funding for SEN with the
development of a ‘place-plus’ approach to
high needs funding.
The Pathfinders
DfE and DH have appointed 20 pathfinders representing 31
local authorities and PCT partners with three common
objectives:
• To develop a new birth to 25 assessment process and single
plan incorporating education, health and social care
assessments, bringing together the range of support on which
children, young people and their parents and families rely;
• To explore how the voluntary and community sector could
improve access to specialist expertise and to introduce more
independence to the process; and
• To ensure the full engagement of children, young people, and
their parents and families.
Next Steps – The Pathfinders
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
All pathfinders will work within existing statutory frameworks to test core
elements, including:
A multi-agency approach, with clear lines of accountability
Links between support planning and strategic commissioning,
particularly through health and well-being boards
Use of personal funding,
Pooled and aligned budgets
Focus on outcomes in a single plan
Transferability of social care support across area boundaries
VFM and cost
Mediation for parents
Some pathfinders will test optional elements of banded funding, age
range, support to parents and support to vulnerable groups
Extension to the Pathfinders
We have extended funding for the Pathfinders
until September 2014 to ensure that learning
from the pathfinders continues.
. . . particularly in developing the regulations
and Special Educational Needs Code of
Practice.
Ofsted Inspection of
Maintained Schools and
Academies from 1st September
2012
Overall Effectiveness
Outstanding
• The school’s practice consistently reflects the
highest expectations of staff and the highest
aspirations for pupils, including disabled
pupils and those with special educational
needs.
• Pupils whose cognitive ability is such that
their literacy skills are likely to be limited
make excellent progress appropriate to their
age and capabilities
Achievement of pupils at the school
Inadequate
• Pupils overall, or particular groups of pupils,
are consistently making less than expected
progress given their starting points.
• Disabled pupils and/or those who have
special educational needs and/or those for
whom the pupil premium provides support,
are underachieving.
• There are wide gaps in the attainment and/or
the learning and progress of different groups.
Quality of Teaching
• Inspectors should consider the
extent to which the ‘Teachers’
Standards’ are being met.
Teachers’ Standards
September 2012
Adapt teaching to respond to the strengths and needs of all
pupils
•
•
•
•
Know when and how to differentiate appropriately, using
approaches which enable pupils to be taught effectively
Have a secure understanding of how a range of factors can inhibit
pupils’ ability to learn, and how best to overcome these
Demonstrate an awareness of the physical , social and intellectual
development of children, and know how to adapt teaching to
support pupils’ education at different stages of development
Have a clear understanding of the needs of all pupils, including
those with special educational needs; those of high ability; those
with EAL; those with disabilities; and be able to use and evaluate
distinctive teaching approaches to engage and support them.
The Changing Profile of the SENCO
• The introduction of the SENCO regulations
that came into force on 1st September 2009,
requiring that:
• SENCOs should be teachers with qualified
teacher status
• SENCOs new to the role should undertake
mandatory training (the National Award for SEN
Co-ordination)
Outcomes?
• Step change in the way that many SENCOs,
but not all, have had their status raised in
schools.
• Feedback from SENCOs participating in the
SENCO National Award Courses suggests
they now have a high profile in their schools
• Headteachers and other colleagues are
recognising the importance of their strategic
role.
Outcomes?
• Enabled many teachers, with SENCO
support, to become teachers of all children in
their schools.
• SENCOs have been able, with the support of
SLT, to develop their strategic role in order to
influence the development of policies for
whole school improvement.
How?
• The development of new professional
knowledge, skills and understanding
• Opportunities to work strategically within their
own setting, given time and access to and
participation in key decision-making groups
• Personal and professional motivation aligned
with a commitment to ‘doing the best possible’ to
support children and young people with SEN, in
ways that are focused on improving outcomes
and fostering inclusive practice.
Who will ‘lead’ the new changes?
Super SENCO !