Transcript Document

EQUALITY IN EDUCATION:
A UK Perspective in developing
access and inclusion for pupils
with disabilities/SEN
Philippa Russell
Council for Disabled Children &
Disability Rights Commission
THE INCLUSION DEBATE IN THE
UK- SOME KEY QUESTIONS
 How do we define ‘inclusion’?
 Can we include all children with SEN/disabilities
in mainstream settings? How can we best
support schools to meet their needs?
 Can we maintain high educational standards and
include pupils with disabilities/SEN in
mainstream schools?
 Can disabled children with complex disabilities
or challenging behaviour be effectively educated
in mainstream schools?
DEFINITIONS OF INCLUSION – THE
‘SALAMANCA STATEMENT [UNESCO, 1994]
 Every child has a fundamental right to education and
must be given the opportunity to achieve and maintain
acceptable levels of learning.
 Education systems should be designed to take account of
the diversity of children’s unique characteristics,
interests, abilities and learning needs.
 Those with special educational needs must have access to
mainstream schools which should accommodate them
within a child-centred pedagogy capable of meeting these
needs.
DEFINITIONS OF INCLUSION
IN PRACTICE
 ‘An inclusive school provides ‘the least
restrictive environment’ for all its pupils’
[USA legislation]
 ‘Inclusion views diversity of strengths, abilities
and needs as natural and desirable..leading to
learning and growth for the whole school
community and giving every member a valued
role. Inclusion requires striving for the optimal
growth of all pupils in the most enabling
environment by recognising and developing
individual strengths and responding to needs.’
[Council for Disabled Children, UK]
TRENDS IN INCLUSION IN
THE UK
 253,000 children have Statements of Special
Educational Needs [SEN] in England. SEN is
now largest element in Education Authority
budgets, but wide variations in size of budget
and how it is spent. [Audit Commission, 2001 and
DfES, 2001]
 38% of these children attend special schools
 Reported increase in numbers of children with
complex disabilities or severe behavioural
difficulties
TRENDS IN INCLUSION
continued………….
 Some differing views - Deaf community and Autism
interest groups favour specialist provision and see this as
‘cultural and linguistic’ right
 More appeals to the Special Educational Needs and
Disability Tribunal from parents wanting special school
places than inclusion BUT:
 Marked trend for young children with ‘new statements’ to
attend mainstream nurseries and schools.
 Interest in capacity of special schools to become
resource bases for mainstream neighbours
ISSUES AND CHALLENGES – Does
Inclusion Work?
 National policy focus on ‘excellence for all
children’ , with high expectations of access and
achievement for all children BUT:
 Lack of clarity about what are GOOD
OUTCOMES for pupils with disabilities/SEN who
may not achieve the ‘national markers’ in the
public examination system
 Lack of information on long-term outcomes of
different types of education – but new
longitudinal study to ‘track’ large cohort of
disabled children over 10 year period.
MORE ISSUES AND
CHALLENGES…………..
 A new disability/human rights movement across
Europe
 Stronger parental rights in education – but
increasing litigation can drain money from school
and Education Authority budgets
 Growing awareness of the role of health and
social care services in securing high quality
education for disabled students. In UK, big
debate about role of teaching staff in
administering medication/carrying out medical
procedures
Special Educational Needs in the
UK
 Schools and LEAs have responsibility for a progressive
response to pupils’ special educational needs. All pupils
are entitled to a ‘broad and balanced’ curriculum.
 All schools have ‘SENCOS’ [Special Educational Needs
Co-ordinators] to plan and support pupils with SEN
 If intervention at school level is unsuccessful without
additional support, a statutory multi-agency assessment
may lead to a ‘Statement of Special Educational Needs’
Assessing special educational needs – key
areas for assessment and provision
 Communication and interaction
 Cognition and learning
 Behaviour and social/emotional development
 Sensory or physical disabilities/needs
 Medical conditions which may affect learning
Assessment of special educational
needs at school level:
 Every effort is made to meet pupils’ needs at
the school level, through an Individual Education
Plan which sets out action to be taken and is
regularly reviewed.
 The school takes into account the views (and
wishes) of parents and pupils
 Careful records are kept of pupil’s progress
 Appropriate specialist advice is sought as
necessary
Statutory assessment when
pupils have more complex SEN
 If interventions at the school level are
insufficient, children may be referred for
‘statutory assessment’
 ‘Statutory assessment’ is a formal assessment
process, with reports from the school,
educational psychology services, health and
social services and the LEA
 The ‘Statement of SEN’ sets out name of
school and of provision to be made. Schools and
LEAs must make meet requirements specified in
the Statement
Guidance and support for SEN
 An SEN Code of Practice and a ‘Toolkit’
to guide schools and LEAs in meeting
special educational needs
 A Code of Practice on the new disability
duties in education
 New guidance on inclusive schooling and
an Index for Inclusion to steer schools in
developing inclusive practice
The UK Legal Framework for Inclusion:
The SEN and Disability Act 2001
 The Special Educational Needs and Disability Act 2001
 New duties not to treat disabled pupils less favourably
than other pupils in access to the physical environment
and the curriculum of the school or college
 New duties on schools to plan strategically to improve
access and inclusion for future pupils
 New duties also cover ‘whole life of the school’, including
transport, after-school activities, school visits etc.
The SEN and Disability Act 2001 –
presumption of mainstream education
 Children with SEN/disabilities must
be educated in mainstream schools
unless the parents express a
preference for a special school
 Or unless the inclusion of the pupil
would be incompatible with the
effective education of other pupils
New statutory guidance on
inclusion (2002)
 Guidance sets out legal duties of Local
Education Authorities (LEAs) to promote
inclusive education
 Offers examples of the steps which schools and
LEAs might take to include pupils with different
SEN and disabilities in mainstream
 Clarifies when it might not be possible to
include a disabled child in mainstream schools
New expectations of schools to
‘think inclusion’
 Schools and LEAs are now expected to
take ‘reasonable steps’ to ensure that
pupils with SEN or disabilities can be
included in mainstream schools
 They will be expected to demonstrate
that they have taken such reasonable
steps in school inspections.
User views of inclusion – what
do parents think?
 Parent aspirations for inclusive education growing – great
emphasis on disabled children being part of community
and community schools.
 Many parents concerned about limited curriculum access
in small special schools – but others anxious that
mainstream schools do not always understand children’s
SEN or disability.
 Pressure for special school places most likely from
parents of children with complex needs (special concerns
over problems with therapy, equipment or trained
teachers in mainstream)
Disabled children – what do they want?
Some messages from UK research
 ‘The best education – so that I can get a job,
get a life, get a girl friend. All the usual things!
I don’t want to be different!’
 ‘To go to [mainstream] school with my brothers
and friends, no yellow [special school] bus, no
teasing, because people think I go the stupid
school!’
 ‘What do I want? I go to a special school and
they’ve made me really independent. They
pushed me to do things I thought I never could.
Sometimes you need specialist help to really
learn, like special teachers and equipment.’
Partnership with parents and pupils –
key theme in UK education
 In UK all parents have legal rights to
play an active role in their children’s
assessment of SEN and any subsequent
provision
 All LEAs must provide ‘Parent
Partnership Services’ to give parents
individual information, advice and support.
Parents can have ‘Independent Parental
Supporters’ to help them with
assessment, school visits, reviews etc.
Partnership with parents
continued…..
 From 2002 all LEAs must provide
independent mediation services to help
resolve disagreements
 The SEN and Disability Tribunal can
hear formal appeals when parents are
not satisfied with decisions of LEAs
Partnership with pupils
 New emphasis on involvement of pupils in
assessment, and in developing their own
individual education plans
 Pupils can contribute their own views in formal
assessment and in Tribunal hearings
 From 14-19 all pupils will have individual
Personal Advisers through Connexions
Programmes. Connexions is designed to improve
preparation for transition to further or higher
education or vocational training
Getting inclusion right from the
start
 Focus on early identification and assessment –
new guidance on ‘Birth to Twos’ with
disabilities/SEN introduces new guidelines for
multi-agency assessment and keyworkers for
parents
 Early Years Development and Childcare
Partnerships (which plan at local level) have
duties to promote inclusion and support young
children with SEN
 Creation of ‘Early Excellence Centres’
What are ‘reasonable steps’ to
support inclusion?
 giving careful consideration to individual pupils’
learning styles and reflecting these in the
curriculum
 Setting appropriate targets so that personal
progress can be tracked
 Working in partnership with parents to support
the pupil
 Providing appropriately adapted teaching
materials and any necessary equipment (eg IT)
Creating inclusive schools
requires long-term planning
 All schools are now required to have
Inclusion Policy. The Index for Inclusion
supports practice and policy development
 All schools must have an Accessibility
Policy to improve physical and curriculum
access for disabled pupils.
 All LEAs must have SEN Plans and
Accessibility Strategies
The big challenge to inclusion –
managing difficult behaviour
 Schools and LEAs required to have Behaviour
Support Plans – growing concern about difficult
and disruptive behaviour in schools
 Particular interest in developing programmes for
children with autism spectrum disorders
 Growth in school exclusions – but Pupil Referral
Units for excluded pupils (with key objective of
enabling pupils to return to mainstream school)
The future role of special schools
 The UK Government considers that special
schools ‘have a continuing and vital role to play
within an inclusive education system.’
 It envisages special schools as becoming
‘outward looking centres of excellence’ to
support mainstream schools
 Growing number of special school pupils now
attend mainstream schools part-time
Some examples of special schools working
in partnership with mainstream schools
 NORFOLK PARK SCHOOLmakes provision for
children with severe or complex learning
difficulties. It provides advice and support and
in-service training across the city. The ‘school
inclusion team’ can go out and advise on the
management of individual education plans.
 The school runs an ‘Inclusion Forum’ that
provides a network for professionals across the
city and provides regular in-service training.
Another example of partnership between
special and mainstream schools
 HYDE SCHOOL is a special school for children
with hearing impairments. The school uses
British Sign Language [BSL] and has excellent
examination results. The school supports a deaf
pupil who wishes to attend his local mainstream
school. They provide training in BSL for the
staff and advice on equipment to maximise the
pupil’s hearing. A special school teacher agrees
to provide the subject teachers with regular
advice, for example on preparation for
examinations and on communication issues.
Creating inclusive schools –
collective responsibilities
 Health and social services departments
must contribute to assessment and
provision – Government working on
National Service Framework for
children’s health and social care
 Growing concerns over ‘risk assessment’
management of medical conditions in
schools. New guidance on the education
of sick children. Children with medical
needs must have individual Health Plan.
Arrangements for children needing
support from health or social services
 LEAs must have ‘designated’ medical and social services
officers to co-ordinate care for pupils with additional
needs
 From September 2002, schools and LEAs must have
‘accessibility’ plans and strategies which set out how they
propose to improve access and inclusion. These will include
access to services outside education
 Health and Social Services Act 2001 will encourage
‘pooled budgets’ for purchase of equipment and joint
funding of specialist support
Outcomes of inclusion in mainstream
schools – messages for the future
 We need better working definitions of ‘inclusion’,
putting greater inclusion in the context of
school improvement and the development of
effective schools
 There is limited information on good outcomes
for disabled pupils – not least on the interface
between health, social care and education in
ensuring their overall wellbeing and in giving
them ‘a life after school’
Outcomes of inclusion….
 Limited understanding of the implications
of ‘mainstreaming’ for different groups
of disabled children and young people: we
need strong partnerships with specialist
support services for children with
complex needs
 We need to define the role of health
and social services within mainstream
settings – effective education does not
depend upon schools alone
Promoting inclusion, raising
attainment
 Government agenda for raising standards –
setting national targets for Key Stages of the
National Curriculum and in public examinations
 Progress valued for all pupils – new ’P’ scales to
record progress for pupils with severe learning
disabilities who cannot reach key stages of
National Curriculum
 Research programme to create evidence base
for effective pedagogy for pupils with SEN
‘Schools Plus’ – Increasing
capacity in mainstream settings
 Current challenge in balancing holistic
needs of disabled children in school
system which is examination/performance
orientated
 We need to find ways of expressing
‘value added’ for disabled children
whose successes cannot be recorded
through traditional qualifications and
accreditation
‘Schools Plus’ – plus!
 New interest in schools as ‘resource base’ for
wider health and social services in
neighbourhood
 New disability rights in education legislation
creates obligations but raises awareness about
professional training and development
 We need to listen to and reflect the views of
disabled pupils and parents in determining what
is truly the least restrictive environment and
what maximises successful adult life.
In conclusion……
 Research evidence indicates that
inclusive schools are good for all pupils
 UK Government sees development of
inclusion in wider context of raising
performance for all pupils
 Need to develop a research programme
to clarify evidence base for different
approaches to SEN and disability
In conclusion….
 The Disability Rights Commission has an
important role in promoting confidence in the
ability of schools to meet the needs of pupils
with disabilities and SEN and to give
authoritative and independent advice
 To raise awareness of human rights in education,
disability awareness and equality need to be
included in the school curriculum – the UK
National Curriculum now includes a module on
‘Citizenship for all’
Improving access and inclusion –
priority agenda for UK Government
 ‘Mainstream schools with an inclusive
orientation are the most effective means
of combating discriminatory attitudes,
creating welcoming communities, building
an inclusive society and achieving
education for all. Moreover they provide
an effective education for the majority
of children (with or without disabilities
or SEN and improve the efficiency and
ultimately the cost-effectiveness of the
entire education system.’ [Secretary of
State, 2002]