Ofsted and SEN accurate or not ?

[JFKvsNixon]

thiS happens.

 

I'm sure that you genuinely do believe that this is a problem.

[Darth Vader]

Not yet, but what you do there is you get yourself put on the sick for depression because being dyslexic is getting you down and tell them about your 'mental health problems' that have arose from being in such a position.

 

Hey presto bobs your uncle.

 

:hihi: So, that's a 'no' then.

[chem1st]

I'm sure that you genuinely do believe that this is a problem.

 

I've seen it done

 

But admittedly, dyslexia wasn't used as the reason to gain DLA, HB & CTB, the university specific benefits were gained afterwards. After the gainful CIH employment too.

 

People do abuse the system, there is no doubt about that.

 

The thing that makes me chuckle though. A couple of the professional note takers in universities must have effectively done the same degree twice by now and got paid for it, but they won't have a degree to show for it.

[hash brown 1]

you would be surprised how many parents want their children labelled ...... to get extra money that goes will the label !

[Alex C.]

it's not as easy as just saying you have a problem - I have a brother with Autism - diagnosed when he was around 3. Despite having the backing of several educational professionals, a speech therapist and others, the educational psycologist refused to confirm the diagnosis and statement him for special needs. This was because she didn't believe autism was a special need - my mum was trying to get him into a school for Autistic children!

 

Luckily, they appealed and managed to get it overturned - he's now coming along massively and no longer has to use sign language to communicate (as he did when he was 3). But it was a massive fight to get him into the school, and there was definitely no 'handing it out to him'. Hopefully, with the help of that school he may be able to attend a mainstream secondary school.

 

How far do you push the system before you start penalising those who actually do have problems and do need help?

[Anna B]

When you consider there used to be 'Special Schools' in nearly all major towns and cities which have now closed, is it really that surprising that schools now have a larger number of children with Special Needs?

 

Also diagnosis has improved, and many children are surviving what used to be life limiting conditions. For example more premature babies survive, and some will have later developmental issues.

 

In my experience more children need statements than get them, the process is long and laborious, with much paperwork and long delays waiting for 'experts' to give their opinion.

This doesn't mean however that these children are left out in the cold, as any teacher worth their salt will already have recognised a need and started to address it, regardless of the paperwork.

[Rushup]

The Ofsted report raises some interesting points but fails to focus on the main issue. Of course better teaching and learning would help address the balance, but it is the labelling of children in the first place which is the real problem, not the quality of teaching itself. In my opinion, too much responsibility is placed upon the education system as it is. A school should provide children with the resources and skills to learn; yet some people see schools as being responsible for parenting, policing and social working too.

 

While a school may receive extra funding for children on the SEN register, teachers do not choose who goes on it and any additional funding does not necessarily line the school coffers. SEN pupils are entitled to a set number of hours of support in lessons, which requires hiring additional support staff such as Teaching Assistants, Support Workers and in some cases Educational Psychologists. Assisting SEN pupils can be extremely demanding of both staff and school resources, not only because of the additional learning materials and provisions for individual lesson plans, but also due to the myriad of behavioural problems associated with SEN. Many schools struggle to cope with the way things are currently. Believe me, things would be a lot easier for all staff, from Teaching Assistants right the way up the chain to the Head Teacher, if schools didn’t have any pupils with SEN or behavioural issues. I don’t buy into the ‘schools take SEN pupils because they want more money’ line.

 

However, a concern of mine is that schools often try and shoehorn low ability SEN pupils or those with learning difficulties through mainstream classes. I have worked with several SEN statemented pupils, some of whom sat their GCSE exams despite having a reading age of perhaps 9 or 10 and also possessing extremely poor numeric skills. Rather than setting them up to fail, my belief is it would make far more sense to pull pupils such as these out of classes for prolonged one-to-one tuition, or laying on additional lessons in core subjects such as Maths and English at the expense of those they have little to no chance of gaining a qualification in. Perhaps in certain circumstances there is a case for dropping core subjects: if an SEN pupil is highly unlikely to pass a maths GCSE but has shown an aptitude for language or woodwork, it is worth considering providing the support they need to ensure they at least gain that qualification. But here is where Ofsted themselves become part of the problem: the obsession of schools meeting the National Challenge of 5 GCSE’s including Maths and English is arguably detrimental to their learning. Rather than focussing on a ‘one-size fits all’ policy of education, we should embrace that which makes provision for many different circumstances.

 

Unfortunately, significant change in structure is financially beyond the reach of most schools and the cost of additional support staff means this idea of one-to-one tuition is utterly unworkable. The only way I know of to improve results in the current system is to have strong leadership at the head of school, which sounds a no-brainer but is a really tricky thing to get right. Particularly as it takes time to implement change and we live in a culture where the public expects immediate results. Sadly no system is perfect, particularly those dealing with human beings, so it is no surprise the current system fails a number of pupils. If any of you know how to provide a better service for the same budget schools currently possess, you will have education authorities clamouring for your knowledge.

[Rushup]

Slightly off topic, but this is well worth watching:

 

Sir Ken Robinson: ‎"We don't grow into creativity, we're educated out of it."

[Rushup]

...as is the follow-up video: