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Making sense of the new statutory framework for special educational needs

Making sense of the new statutory framework for special educational needs. What will it look like and will it work? 14 March 2013. Implications for education professionals. Getting up to speed What a new ‘architecture’ for SEN policy, practice and provision will look like

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Making sense of the new statutory framework for special educational needs

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  1. Making sense of the new statutory framework for special educational needs What will it look like and will it work? 14 March 2013

  2. Implications for education professionals • Getting up to speed • What a new ‘architecture’ for SEN policy, practice and provision will look like • School level issues: professional development (training); being on the front line; inclusive support • Looking forward to 2014

  3. 1. Getting up to speed Two years on!

  4. Ideological change • Inclusive education policy • Broader education policy (e.g. curriculum and assessment) and the concept of autonomous schools • Parents as choice makers and ‘in control’ • ‘Front-line’ services Economic change

  5. A radical overhaul ‘Our proposed reforms respond to the frustrations of children and young people and the professionals who work with them. We want to put in place a radically different system to support better life outcomes for young people; give parents confidence by giving them more control; and transfer power to professionals on the front line and to local communities.’ Support and Aspiration (DfE, 2011, p.4, para 4)

  6. Pupils with SEN: England (2012) • 1,618,340 (School age, all schools) • 19.8% incidence (8,178,200) • 95, 825 attending special schools (maintained & non-maintained) – most common needs: • 13,495 attending Pupil Referral Units (with and without special needs) • 73,205 attending independent schools

  7. 2011 Headlineproposals • A new approach to identifying SEN • Single assessment process and ‘Education, Health and Care Plan’ • A local offer of all services available • Parents to have the option of a personal budget by 2014 • Giving parents a real choice of school • Greater independence to the assessment of children's needs

  8. 2. New architecture Progress and Next Steps May 2012 > December 2012

  9. Steps to a new system • Legislation introduced into Parliament early in 2013 (now!) • Draft Code of Practice (guidance for schools, professionals, parents, other stakeholders)published for consultation in early 2013 • Revisions and refinements throughout 2013 • Royal Assent (new Children and Families Act) in Spring 2014 • Planned ‘lead in period’ to support a smooth transition before a new statutory framework is implemented in September 2014.

  10. Key components • Integrated service provision • Introduction of a ‘co-created’ local offer • Education and Health Care Plans (0-25) • Personal budgets • School requirements • Parental preference • Dispute resolution • A new Code of Practice

  11. A new Code of Practice • Outlining statutory guidance to parents, schools, local authorities and others • Incorporating statutory guidance on inclusive schooling • Intended to be streamlined (but covering ages 0-25) and less bureaucratic than the current version • Coming into force in 2014 following a ‘lead in period’ and a consultation on the draft.

  12. Focus of reforms Most aspects of policy reform are targeted at the 2.8% of the school population with statements of SEN (226,125 pupils) rather than the 17.0% of pupils with SEN but without statements (1,392, 215 pupils) – reflected in SEN Pathfinders A two sides of A4 factsheet outlines two years of work on the new single school-based SEN ‘category’

  13. ‘Too early to draw conclusions’ Against the four objectives for the evaluation, which seek to assess whether the Pathfinders: • make the current system more transparent, less adversarial and less bureaucratic • increase choice and control and improve outcomes • introduce greater independence into the assessment process by the voluntary sector • demonstrate value for money SQW September 2012 (Evaluation, Interim Findings)

  14. ‘Issues arising’ in the SQQ evaluation (interim findings) • Lack of capacity in the health service to support testing of multi-agency working (clarity) • Uncertainty around role of VCS (clarity) • Limited development of the local offer to date (slow progress) • Limited testing of personal budgets (slow progress) • Partial consideration of accountability and resourcing (slow progress) • Scale and pace of the recruitment of families raises issue about scalability and replicabilityin the longer-term • Non-Pathfinder areas may benefit from lessons learnt but will still need to undertake considerable development work

  15. Getting back on track • Accelerated Pathfinder activity • Pathfinder dissemination • Synchronising development work with legislation (Extended Pathfinders end in September 2014 when we might anticipate new legislation to be in place)

  16. 3. School practice • Professional development • Implications of working on the front line • Inclusive support

  17. Professional development • Better ITE (school, special school and PRU placements) • SENCO training + other mandatory training (?) • Whole school approaches to achieving access, participation and achievement (involving lead SENCOs; Achievement for All) • Online resources (Areas of Need ‘Advanced’; Complex Needs/SLD/PMLD) • Scholarships (teaching assistants and teachers) • Specialist leaders (National College), school leaders (headteachers) • Teaching schools (SEND remit), networked schools etc. • Open market sources of CPD at a variety of levels (e.g. Autism Education Trust CPD programme) Schools will increasingly determine what they need

  18. Who is on the front line? To transfer power to professionals on the front line and to communities we will: strip away unnecessary bureaucracy so that professionals can innovate and use their judgement; establish a clearer system so that professionals from different services and the voluntary and community sector can work together; and give parents and communities much more influence over local services. Support and Aspiration (2011, p.5, para 7)

  19. Support services • Cinderella is not invited to the ball even though she is wanted (Ellis et al, 2012; NUT 2012) • Struggling to manage budget cuts at a time when they are needed (Gross, 2011; NUT 2012) (valued ‘front line services’?) • Need to trade services in a system that is ‘opened up’ to include independent providers (a service may have been privatised), special schools (including academies and free schools) • Need to work in competition with other services a school may wish to buy, for example educational psychology and advisory services including those run by voluntary and community sector organisations • ,

  20. A framework for outreach, in-reach and support • In addition to any frameworks already in use it might be worth reviewing and adapting Quality Standards for SEN Support and Outreach Services (DCSF, 2008) • The Quality Standards cover 16 dimensions of support and outreach organised under 2 headings: • outcomes standards • service management and delivery standards. • The standards are designed to be used as suggested markers against which services provided can be evaluated

  21. When using the Standards a school (mainstream) may want to consider • sufficient access to services • service contribution to improved outcomes • the nature of support, whether they think is sufficient • effective in classroom contexts • disseminating advice to teachers and teaching assistants • self-evaluation feedback cycle • capacity building balanced against work overload and the over delegation of responsibilities.

  22. 4. Looking forward From the perspective of a school or related setting

  23. September 2014 [1] • Expect to be working with a new slimmed down SEN or SEND Code of Practice that contains essential advice the professionals need and reflects changes to the law, including statutory advice on inclusive schooling • Expect to be using a single assessment framework and Education and Health Care Plans (not Statements) • Expect to play a role in the use of personal budgets and direct payments • Expect to be working with a clear ‘local offer’ that schools are part of and will be using to access services and support

  24. September 2014 [2] • Expect to be working with more parents and children/young people as ‘decision-makers’ (e.g. with regard to choosing the ‘right’ school) • Expect to be using a new single school category of SEN (Who’s in/out ????) • Expect to be developing more effective ways of working with children and young people experiencing behavioural, emotional, social and mental health difficulties • Expect to be using effective interventions and approaches that ‘work for you’ (matching provision to needs)

  25. September 2014 [3] • Expect to innovate (teaching and curriculum provision) but also to help pupils attain and achieve • Expect to be taking a lead in providing, facilitating and choosing training in a more open market • Expect to play a key role in choosingexternal advice • Expect to know how funding models operate and how funds are used • Expect to have to build, rebuild and sustain SEN support networks with other schools and organisations - without relying on local authorities

  26. Many thanks Christopher Robertson School of Education University of Birmingham Email: C.M.Robertson@bham.ac.uk Tel: 0121 414 4832

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