Memorandum submitted by Mencap
1. INTRODUCTION
1.1 Mencap welcomes this opportunity to
contribute to this inquiry.
1.2 Through our 13,512 members and 756 affiliated
and associated groups and the learning disability helpline, Mencap
has substantial contact with parents and carers who are seeking
the most appropriate and highest quality of education for their
child.
1.3 Mencap is the leading UK charity working
with people with a learning disability, their parents and carers.
We aim to ensure that people with a learning disability have equal
access to choice, opportunity and respect.
1.4 Approximately 2.8% of all pupils have
a learning disability. Approximately 40% of pupils with statements
of SEN have a learning disability. There are varying degrees of
learning disability, from moderate learning disability and severe
learning disability to profound and multiple learning disability.
The needs of a child will vary greatly depending upon their learning
disability.
1.5 Mencap supports Removing Barriers
to Achievement, the Government's strategy for SEN, but is
concerned that local authorities are not delivering the strategy
how it is intended.
1.6 Mencap supports the concept of inclusive
education, which means that every child should have access to
education appropriate to their needs and potential. Access in
Mencap's view means a relevant and suitable curriculum delivered
by staff with high quality teaching skills.
1.7 Mencap's view is that all children with
a learning disability should receive an education of the highest
quality that enables them to be a full member of their school
and local community.
1.8 Parents should have the choice as to
where this education is provided, in a mainstream school or in
a special school.
1.9 As an active member of the Special Educational
Consortium, Mencap is working to ensure that there is appropriate
provision and a high quality of education for all children with
SEN.
1.10 As a member of the Early Childhood
Forum, Mencap supports their call for the Select Committee to
examine early years provision for children with special educational
needs.
2. PROVISION
FOR SEN PUPILS
IN "MAINSTREAM"
SCHOOLS: AVAILABILITY
OF RESOURCES
AND EXPERTISE;
DIFFERENT MODELS
OF EXPERTISE
2.1 At the primary stage of education, for
many parents of children with a moderate learning disability a
local mainstream school would be their first choice. Although
some local authorities are able to successfully include children
with a moderate learning disability in a mainstream school, in
too many other authorities parents have no confidence in the quality
of provision.
2.2 Mainstream schools often lack experienced
and qualified teachers so children with a learning disability
who attend mainstream school are taught almost entirely by teaching
assistants.
2.3 Parents of children with a severe learning
disability are often not offered the choice of a mainstream school.
2.4 Parents of children with a learning
disability have told Mencap that mainstream schools are not often
able to include children with profound and multiple learning disabilities
or children with complex health needs. Children with complex health
needs are often excluded because staff are either not trained
in health procedures or are reluctant to administer medicine,
which leaves many children at risk of exclusion.
Jess, who is eight, attends her local mainstream
primary school where she receives a high quality of education
and has a curriculum that is appropriate for her needs. Jess has
a learning, disability and extremely complex health needs, which
means that when she attends school, she needs to have a nurse
with her at all times. Unfortunately, a nurse is not available
to go to school with Jess every day, which means that Jess is
not able to go to school, when there is no nurse there to support
her.
2.5 When parents, who feel that their local
mainstream primary school is unable to provide the quality of
education that their child needs, they opt for a special school.
This is often not an option of first choice but an option of last
resort.
2.6 For parents of children with a learning
disability who are attending secondary schooling, the choice of
school narrows drastically. Bullying in secondary schools is causing
significant numbers of children with a moderate learning disability
to move out of mainstream and into special schools by Year 9.
This is not through choice but because they are a place of refuge.
This can have an extremely damaging impact on the self-esteem
of the young person with a learning disability. Robust anti bullying
strategies needs to be in place so that mainstream schools can
address this discrimination faced by children with a learning
disability.
2.7 Mencap recommends that there needs to
be more specialist teachers and better qualified teaching assistants
who should expect to teach children with a learning disability.
This would ensure that all schools would be able to provide a
high quality of education for all pupils, which in turn would
increase parental confidence in choosing a mainstream school for
their child with a learning disability.
3. PROVISION
FOR SEN PUPILS
IN SPECIAL
SCHOOLS
3.1 At present special schools play a vital
role within the overall spectrum of education provision for children
with a learning disability and especially for children with a
severe or profound learning disability.
3.2 In January 2005 there were approximately
88,000 children attending a special school and 1,122 special schools
in England.
3.3 Special schools are essential, for the
foreseeable future, to meet the needs of most children with profound
and multiple learning disabilities.
3.4 There are many special schools which
provide a high quality of education for their pupils, but this
is not the case for all special schools. Ofsted have reported
that in December 2003, there were 22 special schools in special
measures. It is important that all special schools are provided
with the support they require, from both national and local government,
to provide a high quality of education.
3.5 Currently, many special schools feel
uncertain about their future role and this has a knock on effect
for parents who worry that their child's school may not be available
in the future while the mainstream alternative remains a poor
substitute.
3.6 Mencap recommends that special
schools should be supported by both national and local government
to provide high quality education and to increasingly share their
expertise with mainstream schools through joint training and shared
appointments.
4. RAISING STANDARDS
OF ACHIEVEMENT
FOR SEN PUPILS
4.1 In mainstream schools there is a strong
focus on academic achievement. For children with a learning disability,
this is not always an appropriate measurement of achievement.
For many children with a learning disability they are unlikely
to be able to sit GCSE's but their ability is greater than that
that which is recorded by P-scales. (P- scales are an assessment
criteria to measure the progress of pupils aged five to 16 who
are working below level one of the national curriculum). For children
with a learning disability who fall into this group, there is
no way of measuring their achievement.
4.2 Parents have told Mencap that currently
few mainstream schools place enough focus on both life and social
skills, because of pressure to do well in league tables. More
emphasis needs to be placed on life and social skills.
4.3 Children with a learning disability
often have an Individual Education Plan (IEP) to ensure that they
continue to progress and achieve. Parental experience of IEPs
shows that often IEPs are not always effective. This is because
often teachers do not have the full competence to write IEPs and
parents are often not fully involved in the writing of the IEP.
This can result in inappropriate targets being set in IEPs. The
overall impact of this is that if a child with a learning disability
has a badly written IEP, this will have an impact on their level
of achievement.
4.4 Mencap recommends that ways to
record progress and achievement for children with a learning disability
in mainstream schools are developed.
4.5 Mencap recommends that schools
ensure that their focus is not solely on academic achievement
but also ensures that children with a learning disability are
receiving education that is suitable to their needs and focus
on other achievements such as life and social skills.
4.6 Mencap recommends that all teachers
in both mainstream and special schools receive appropriate training
to ensure they can competently write an IEP that is appropriate
for the individual child.
5. CONCLUSION
5.1 Mencap recommends that commitment is
given both by national and local government, to improve the quality
of education for all children with a learning disability.
5.2 The quality of education can be improved
by:
— increasing the number of specialist
teachers;
— for teachers assistants to be better
qualified;
— for national and local government
to provide support to special schools;
— for special schools to share their
expertise with mainstream schools through joint training and shared
appointments;
— that ways to record progress and
achievement for children with a learning disability in mainstream
schools are developed;
— that schools ensure that their focus
is not solely on academic achievement but also focuses on other
achievements such as life and social skills; and
— that all teachers in both mainstream
and special schools receive appropriate training to ensure they
can competently write an IEP.
5.3 Once the quality of education has been
raised this will provide parents with a true choice to make over
which school there child will attend. In too many parts of the
country parents have had their choice curtailed by the lack of
readiness of schools to meet the needs of children with a learning
disability.
References
Pupil characteristics and class sizes in England,
January 2005. DfES SFR 16/2005.
Schools and Pupils in England, January 2005. DfES
SFR 42/2005.
Special Educational Needs in England, January 2005
DfES SFR 24/2005.
Special educational needs, A mainstream issue. The
Audit Commission 2002.
Special educational needs and disability, towards
inclusive schools. Ofsted 2004.
Ofsted Press Release "Ofsted announces publication
of termly special measures information" 6 February 2004.
September 2005
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