Buckinghamshire County Council

 

 

Education and Skills Committee Enquiry into Special Educational Needs

 

 

Provision for SEN pupils in 'mainstream' schools: availability of resources and expertise; different models of provision.

Buckinghamshire maintains a range of provision and support services to provide for children with SEN in mainstream schools. Across the county, we have 27 'departments' attached to mainstream schools, where pupils with statements of special educational needs can access an enhanced level of provision, supported by staff with expertise in the designated area of need. We also have a Specialist Teaching Service, consisting of peripatetic teachers who support schools and individual pupils, using a range of strategies including training for school staff.

The majority of this support, however, is provided for children with statements of special educational needs, as priority must be given to statutory entitlement. This impacts of the ability of the local authority to promote early intervention and continues to support a reliance on statements as the only method by which schools can access additional support and funding.

SENCOs within mainstreams have access to liaison groups on a termly basis, access to a termly newsletter and a wide range of CPD programmes, developed by analysing skills and needs within the authority, in addition to the national agenda. An annual SEN conference is held to update, launch and debate SEN issues.

The LA encourages SEN teachers to become Advanced Skills Teachers and these are well represented in our authority. In addition to this there are a number of SENCos who are currently "seconded" for a short period from school i.e. 1 day per week, to support and promote initiatives within other schools - Wave 3 being an example of this.

 

Provision for SEN pupils in Special Schools.

Buckinghamshire has 13 special schools across the county catering for a wide range of needs and covering the 3-19 age range. We are currently in the process of re-provisioning our special schools, having implemented an independent review of provision. We are building a new primary special needs school in Aylesbury, which will cater for pupils with a range of needs and will provide facilities for multi-professional input and support.

We find that the current designations of our special schools do not reflect the increasingly complex needs of the pupils for whom they provide support, and can prove a barrier to the admission of pupils who then have to be educated in expensive, external placements.

 

 

 

Raising standards of achievement for SEN pupils.

In Buckinghamshire, we are proud of the achievements of our pupils and seek to ensure that pupils with special educational needs achieve their personal best. Pupils without statements in our mainstream schools achieve well. We have promoted additional means of measuring achievement, especially for those pupils whose progress cannot be measured against national curriculum levels.

The introduction and use of P levels will be another additional mechanism to monitor the progress of schools and cohorts across the LA. In addition to this a significant amount of time has been dedicated to ensuring that SENCOs and in the future SEN Governors are aware of how to analyse data and "ask the questions" of the provision. The LA is committed to the "Leading on Inclusion" agenda and has promoted the effective use of provision mapping in schools.

Data is used to target standards fund monies, to ensure that the relevant schools have access to support, consultancy, training and funds to support specific interventions. Concern over the demise of centrally held standards fun for SEN purposes, combined with the lack of ring fencing monies is a real concern. It has been shown over the last two years, that those interventions that have been promoted, using the standards money, have had impact on standards locally. Without this, there will be a significant challenge to engage schools, as seeing this as a priority from within a limited budget.

The LA uses and analyses FFT data; value added data and the end of Key Stage data to ensure that schools are supported and challenged regarding SEN. This includes discussion within the annual dialogue with schools by the current link advisers. Concern once again in the future, when SIPs are fully introduced into the primary sector, and only limited time is available, to discuss such important and relevant issues.

There is a significant rise in SEN/EAL issues and addressing the needs of this element of our population. Little national research is available in this area, and expertise is difficult to find. This would be a useful national piece of work.

There is little input at Teacher Training, to address the significant issues relating to the teaching of pupils with SEN, once again this is an area ripe for national development. A number of schools in Buckinghamshire offer support to TTA programmes, including our special schools. Alongside this, our NQT programme, enhances the opportunities for new teachers to the profession.

However, too much emphasis is placed on inputs (provision, therapy, support) for those pupils with statements as part of the statementing and review process and insufficient on pupil outcomes. Raising standards for all pupils with SEN needs greater focus for those pupils with statements.

 

The system of statements of need for SEN pupils ('the statementing process').

The statementing process is unnecessarily bureaucratic and expensive. It is time-consuming and can become contentious and stressful for all involved. It can prevent children from accessing support at an early stage and mitigates against early intervention and prevention.

The statementing process requires a child to fail before they receive additional support from therapy colleagues on site at school, by which time many of them have fallen too far behind their peers to catch up. This reduces the potential for children to make sufficient progress to enable the statement to be removed. Additionally, since the parents and schools have had to work so hard to demonstrate the need for additional support, they are often unwilling to consider reducing those services, even if the child starts to make good progress.

While it is crucial that children have access to whatever provision is required to meet their needs, a less bureaucratic system would enable more resources to be channelled into support rather than process.

 

The role of parents in decisions about their children's education.

Parents have a crucial role to play in the education of their children and working in partnership with parents is critical to achieving successful outcomes for children. However, the statementing process can become a source of anger and frustration which can impede partnership working.

The Tribunal process, initially established as a means of appeal for parents in disagreement with the Local Authority, has become a quasi-legal process where affluent parents engage barristers to 'fight' their case, irrespective of the educational rationale.

How special educational needs are defined

Although the Code of Practice defines special educational needs as a learning difficulty, there remains confusion as to the extent to which giftedness should be regarded as an educational need. This requires clarity.

Clarity also needs to be given to the extent to which 'education' should be required to meet the social needs of children through the provision of residential schooling.

A definitive understanding of the nature and scope of 'complex' needs is required, together with a recognition of the impact that areas of increasing need, such as Autistic Spectrum Disorders, can have on the ability of the local authority to make appropriate provision.

The code still talks of IEPs and yet within "Removing Barriers to Achievement" the emphasis is on reducing bureaucracy, an example being the introduction of provision maps.

The code does not state that a SENCO needs to be a qualified teacher, although the standards suggest such. This is a serious omission, which under the current proposed changes in management structures in schools, has started to lead to a number of TAs becoming SENCOs, the concern ultimately is that this could impact on standards.

In light of the two points above, it maybe timely to issue amendments to the code or add further clarification and advice.

 

Provision for different types and levels of SEN, including emotional, behavioural and social difficulties (EBSD).

In Buckinghamshire we are in the process of reviewing all of our SEN provision, with a view to establishing a hierarchy of provision within each area of the county. This will consist of mainstream provision, resources provision attached to mainstream schools and special schools (with a broadened remit to offer outreach support to mainstream schools and intensive, time-limited support to appropriate pupils.

In Buckinghamshire, we believe that educational inclusion applies across the continuum of provision and that, for some children, inclusivity is to be found within the special school environment. A challenge is to value the expertise found in each area of SEN and to ensure appropriate funding. The role of Pupil Referral Units and Learning Support Units must also be clarified within the continuum of provision.

Alternative provisions for pupils with BESD are continually developing, but nationally good practice in this field is not shared widely enough. Opportunities to discuss, implement change and accredit the alternative programmes for the most disturbed or disaffected pupils would be a forum from which all schools could benefit. Whilst the flexibility of the 14 - 19 curriculum is in its early stages of development, this would also be an opportunity for national research in this area.

 

The legislative framework for SEN provision and the effects of the Disability Act 2001, which extended the Disability Discrimination Act to education.

 

The extension of the Disability Discrimination Act has not been fully funded for schools and has created concern and confusion. Despite training offered, schools are not clear about their responsibilities and the implications for individual pupils and for them of the DDA.