Pupil involvement in special educational needs disagreement resolution: a parental perspective

Recent international and Governmental policy has identified the need for all public services and professionals involved with children to take into account the children's views, needs and wishes, when making decisions about their care and educational provision. This is of particular importance in the context of special educational needs disagreement resolution. This article reports on a small scale preliminary study carried out in January 2004, focusing upon parental perspectives of pupil involvement in SEN disagreement resolution. Ten parents of children with SEN were interviewed using a semi‐structured interview schedule, addressing their experience of the disagreement resolution process and the extent and nature to which their child was involved. Whilst it is acknowledged that the sample in this study was small, and thus may be regarded as tentative and preliminary, a thematic analysis of the content of the interviews indicated that children are not directly involved in informal disagreement resolution meetings. Most notably the parents report that they are unclear about the process and rules about directly involving children. Where children are involved, their views are given indirectly and in most cases their views are only presented by the parents. The authors make several recommendations for enhancing pupil participation in SEN mediation arrangements including, making the overall process more transparent and perhaps having a child advocate who could ensure that the child's views are represented in a way that is suitable to the particular needs of each child.     

Pupil participation in planning provision for special educational needs: teacher perspectives

There are legal, moral and practical reasons to involve pupils in planning provision for their special educational needs. We do not yet know how principles are implemented in practice. This study explored the views and experiences of 64 teachers with an interest in special educational needs through an online survey. Participants reported greater pupil involvement in everyday matters, less in conceptual aspects of planning. Effective strategies were based on good teacher-pupil relationships and school-wide systems for sharing pupil views. Participants gave examples of the impact of pupil participation on teacher insight, pupil motivation and material provision. 84 per cent indicated that they would like pupils to be more involved in decisions about their provision than they currently are. Barriers included the nature of children’s difficulties and practitioner attitudes. Listening to children is intrinsic to good teaching, yet pupils also benefit from a more formal role in provision planning.     

Classroom behaviour management strategies in response to problematic behaviours of primary school children with special educational needs: views of special educational needs coordinators

Children identified with special educational needs (SEN) and behavioural difficulties present extra challenges to educators and require additional supports in school. This paper presents views from special educational needs coordinators (SENCos) on various strategies used by educators to support children identified with SEN and problematic behaviours. The data were collected from telephone interviews with six SENCos from the UK’s South West Peninsula. The SENCos were invited to participate because their school was participating in a cluster-randomised trial of a teacher classroom management course (Incredible Years). Using thematic analysis to analyse the data, this paper illustrates strategies deemed by SENCos to be successful in the support of children identified with SEN. The management strategies generated by participating SENCos were then mapped onto those taught as part of the classroom management course for comparison. Findings indicate that strategies from the training programme appear to be appropriate for children identified with both SEN and behavioural difficulties.     

Instructions for students with special educational needs in Chinese mainstream classrooms: modifications and barriers

“Learning in Regular Classrooms” (LRC) has been the main strategy to universalize compulsory education for children with special educational needs in China after 1980s. Methods such as whole-class teaching combined with individual tutoring, differentiated teaching, and cooperative learning have been widely practiced in general classrooms for students with special educational needs. However, high instructional quality for students with special educational needs in mainstream classrooms is far from being realized, and this is due to the lack of expertise, support and resources, and effective assessment measures. The authors conclude that efforts are needed to change the education system from the current rigidity toward a more flexible system to better accommodate diverse needs in general classrooms.     

Truants on truancy – a badness or a valuable indicator of unmet special educational needs?

Neil Southwell states that he was, himself, a persistent truant from school. He returned to education as a mature student via an access course and he now lectures in education studies at the University of Northampton. He is currently researching into truancy, its causes and its management and brings to his work an unusual but highly illuminating 'truantist perspective'.
In this article, Neil Southwell reviews the literature on truancy and reveals a complex and contradictory picture. Policy and practice to date have, however, tended to be united in locating responsibility for truancy with truants and their families. Drawing on his own experience and his research into the perspectives of truants, Neil Southwell makes a case for a radically different approach. He argues that truancy can be seen as a key indicator of unmet educational needs and that the issue of truancy will not be addressed effectively until policy makers, practitioners and researchers learn to listen to the voices of truants themselves.     

Exploring the social connections in preschool settings between children labelled with special educational needs and their peers

This paper reports on a small-scale study of the social interactions between six children labelled with special educational needs and their peers in their respective early years settings. Data from play observations, photographs and staff interviews is used to examine the dynamics of the connections that they make with other children. The position of these six children as active agents in making decisions about their peer interactions is highlighted and the ways that this agency is expressed is analysed. By focusing on the personal strategies that the children use to make social connections the findings contribute to the developing understanding of children's relationships within inclusive early years settings. In particular compatible play interests and personalities are identified as significant factors that attract children to one another in this case study. It also emerged that recurrent playmates did not feature consistently in the social exchanges involving this group of children. This factor is considered in the context of it being indicative of the social connections that children labelled with special educational needs pursue. Suggestions for further investigation are proposed and key practice messages offered around developing awareness and facilitation of social connections between children.     

Students with special educational needs and cooperative learning in the ordinary classroom: some learnings from teaching practice

This article presents the results of a study to determine the strategies used by teachers to include students with special educational needs in regular classrooms, primarily using Cooperative Learning strategies. It aims to identify the factors of inclusive learning in order to enhance the participation and learning of all students in the classroom and in their cooperative teams. A qualitative case study was carried out in the context of the teachers participating in a postgraduate course ‘expert in cooperative learning’ offered by the University of Alcalá (Spain), over a period of six years (2011–2017), involving the participation of 176 professional teachers. All the participants attended an annual university continuous training course on cooperative learning. Document analysis, in-depth interviews and a questionnaire designed ad hoc were used. The conclusions include the importance of cooperative work in facilitating inclusive education, with a variety of different strategies used to respond to all students' needs, and those with special educational needs in particular, and the coordination required between teachers and special educational needs specialists to implement those strategies.     

Modern languages and special educational needs: a review of research

The Education Reform (Northern Ireland) Order 1989 requires that all pupils of secondary school age should have equal access to a broad and balanced curriculum. The inclusion of language studies within the statutory framework of the Northern Ireland curriculum has led to a significant expansion in the teaching of modern languages to pupils with special educational needs. Many teachers are now faced with the task of teaching pupils who hitherto would have been excluded from the language department and some teachers in special schools now have to teach a language with which they themselves are unfamiliar. This paper is the first stage of a research and development project funded by the Northern Ireland Council for the Curriculum, Examinations and Assessment (NICCEA); it examines some research evidence relating to the challenge of teaching languages to pupils with special educational needs.     

The early academic progress of children with special educational needs

Children with special educational needs (SEN) are known to experience lower average educational attainment than other children during their school years. But we have less insight into how far their poorer educational outcomes stem from their original starting points or from failure to progress during school. The extent to which early identification with SEN delivers support that enables children who are struggling academically to make appropriate progress is subject to debate. This is complicated by the fact that children with SEN are more likely to be growing up in disadvantaged families and face greater levels of behavioural and peer problems, factors which themselves impact attainment and progress through school. In this paper, we evaluate the academic progress of children with SEN in England, drawing on a large‐scale nationally representative longitudinal UK study, the Millennium Cohort Study, linked to administrative records of pupil attainment. Controlling for key child, family and environmental factors, and using the SEN categories employed at the time of data collection, we first establish that children identified with SEN in 2008, when they were age 7, had been assessed with lower academic competence when they started school. We evaluate their progress between ages 5–7 and 7–11. We found that children identified with SEN at age 7 tended to be those who had made less progress between ages 5 and 7 than their comparable peers. However, children with SEN continued to make less progress than their similarly able peers between ages 7 and 11. Implications are discussed.     

Inclusive special education: development of a new theory for the education of children with special educational needs and disabilities

Inclusive education and special education are based on different philosophies and provide alternative views of education for children with special educational needs and disabilities. They are increasingly regarded as diametrically opposed in their approaches. This article presents a theory of inclusive special education that comprises a synthesis of the philosophy, values and practices of inclusive education with the interventions, strategies and procedures of special education. Development of inclusive special education aims to provide a vision and guidelines for policies, procedures and teaching strategies that will facilitate the provision of effective education for all children with special educational needs and disabilities.     

The role of the special needs assistant supporting pupils with special educational needs in Irish mainstream primary schools

In this article the author describes a small‐scale study into the role of the special needs assistant (SNA) supporting the inclusion of pupils with learning difficulties in the Irish Republic. The findings regarding the perspectives of teachers, principals, SNAs, pupils supported by SNAs and their parents on the support offered to three pupils are also described. The actual (as distinct from the prescribed) role of SNAs, including the issue of SNAs working in a general rather than a pupil‐specific capacity, and the nature of the SNA‐teacher relationship are discussed. The main findings emerging from the data were that the role of the SNA is one of both education and care and that SNAs are a welcome support for inclusion. Issues emerging from the study include the need for effective communication and planning, shared understanding of the role and responsibilities of SNAs and ongoing monitoring of the way in which support is provided.     

School autonomy and educational inclusion of children with special needs: Evidence from England

In the past few decades, several countries have introduced reforms aimed at increasing school autonomy. We evaluate the effect of the introduction of autonomous academies in England on the educational trajectories of children with special educational needs. This has been done using longitudinal data on all schoolchildren in state schools in England, from the National Pupil Database. The results show that the effects of school autonomy on educational inclusion are not uniform and depend on schools’ previous performance and socio-economic composition. Schools that obtained autonomy under the control of an external sponsor (sponsored academies) were more likely to decrease the proportion of pupils with special needs and remove additional support for them. We do not observe these effects in the schools that voluntarily applied for the more autonomous status (converter academies).     

A comparative study of the positioning of children with special educational needs in the legislation of Britain,New Zealand and the Republic of Ireland

This paper uses Positioning Theory, a theoretical framework within Discursive Psychology, to explore the positioning of children with special educational needs in the legislation of Britain, New Zealand and the Republic of Ireland. In terms of positioning the child with special educational needs as a person, the human rights legislation in all three countries ascribes person status, as does, in general, their Child Welfare legislation. Influenced by the Warnock Report of 1978, the education legislation positions the child first as a person having a special need, thus conferring person status. In terms of positioning the child as having a voice, all three countries affirm such positioning within their general legislation, but Ireland positions the child most strongly as an active partner with a voice within its recent education legislation. Finally, in terms of positioning with the right to appropriate education, all three countries confer strong rights to education and have now moved beyond the early numerous Warnock caveats to inclusion, with the wishes of parents and the best interests of the child, as remaining positive caveats.     

Were we right? A re-evaluation of the perceived potential of technology to transform the educational opportunities and outcomes of learners with special educational needs

ABSTRACT

The focus of this paper is the history of how special needs technology in the UK was developed for people with special educational needs between 1970 and 1999. Despite the proclaimed potential of technology, this context and period has undergone very little historical examination. This paper will draw on interviews with 52 experienced professionals in order to illuminate this history. Analysis will attempt to extend our understanding of the perceived transformative potential of technologies and the factors that influenced the actual transformative potential of technologies. In particular the analysis will focus on three particular kinds of transformations: a transformation of the micro-technology industry; a transformation of teaching practice and a transformation of experience of special educational needs/disability. These three transformations and the potential tensions between them will be illuminated through two themes: ‘Entrepreneurialism versus Creativity’ and '“Miracle Cure” versus “Just a Tool”'.     

Ideology influencing action: special educational needs co‐ordinator and learning support assistant role conceptualisations and experiences of special needs education in England

One outcome of England's Code of Practice’ (DfE, 1994) was an increase, first, in the number of learning support assistants (LSAs) working in mainstream schools and, second, the establishment of the role of special educational needs co‐ordinator (SENCO). Semi‐structured interviews were conducted with SENCOs and LSAs to explore: (i) why they chose their occupation; (ii) how they conceptualise their role and (iii) the decisions they make when endeavouring (or not) to cultivate an inclusive culture in schools. Many SENCOs sought the role in order to increase the educational attainment and life chances of pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). Inclusive concepts such as fairness, equality and social justice underpinned their rationales. LSA justification was more pragmatic and often related to how the role would help them to achieve a further career ambition, or because it was compatible with personal circumstances. Younger participants thought that they could strengthen their teacher training applications by using the role of LSA to gain more experience working in schools generally, and with pupils with SEND in particular. The role of both SENCO and LSA has been found to be extremely diverse in England, depending largely on the needs and resources of the schools in which these two groups find themselves.     

Strengthening the special educational needs element of initial teacher training and education

In the academic year 2006–2007, the Training and Development Agency (TDA) set up a development programme to enable Initial Teacher Training and Education (ITTE) placements in specialist special education provision. The goal of the programme was to enhance the knowledge, skills and understanding of inclusive practice for special educational needs and disability among those joining and those who are relatively new to the teaching workforce. This article, by Gill Golder, Nicky Jones and Erica Eaton Quinn, all Senior Lecturers at the College of St Mark and St John in Plymouth, outlines one project related to this TDA programme. The authors explore the outcomes of their work on a three‐year BEd (Honours) Secondary Physical Education course in the south‐west against the TDA's objectives for both trainee teachers and the special schools to which they were attached. Results confirm the importance of preparing trainee teachers for a future career in more inclusive schools.     

Departmental differences in attitudes to special educational needs in the secondary school

As trends in favour of inclusion continue, questions arise concerning the extent to which teachers in mainstream schools feel prepared for the task of meeting pupils' special educational needs. Little previous research has considered how the subject taught impacts upon the attitudes of mainstream teachers towards pupils with special educational needs. In this article, Jean Ellins, research fellow at the University of Birmingham, and Jill Porter, senior lecturer at the University of Bath, report on their research into the attitudes of teachers in one mainstream secondary school. Building a detailed case study using documents, records of pupil progress, an interview and a questionnaire using a Likert-type attitude scale and open-ended questions, these researchers set out to explore distinctions between the attitudes of teachers working in different departments. Their findings suggest that the teachers of the core subjects, English, mathematics and science, had less positive attitudes than their colleagues. Further, pupils with special educational needs made least progress in science where teacher attitudes were the least positive. Jean Ellins and Jill Porter review the implications of these findings and make recommendations for future practice and further enquiry.     

RESEARCH SECTION: Between a rock and a hard place: parents' attitudes to the inclusion of children with special educational needs in mainstream and special schools

In this paper, Katherine Runswick‐Cole, a researcher at the Research Institute for Health and Social Change at Manchester Metropolitan University, engages with parents' attitudes to the placement of their children with special educational needs in mainstream and special schools. She sets her review of parents' views within the current policy and legislative context. She then moves on to explore parents' attitudes to inclusion by drawing on the social model of disability as an analytical tool and developing a typology of parental school choices. The study reported in this paper involved 24 parents who were contacted through voluntary organisations and interviewed, either in their own homes or on the telephone. The views of seven professionals were also gathered. The findings reveal that parents' attitudes to mainstream and special schooling are influenced by their engagement with models of disability. The parents' experiences suggest that, despite the shifts in policy we have seen since 1997, the process of inclusive education continues to be fragile.     

Students with special educational needs: transitions from primary to secondary school

This article looks at the experiences of young people with Statements of special educational needs prior to and following moves from primary to secondary school. Pam Maras and Emma-Louise Aveling of the University of Greenwich, London, used interviews to develop six qualitative case studies focusing on the transition process. Findings from these case studies reveal that the young people varied in their expectations and needs during the transition to secondary school, and that schools differed in the quality and efficacy of the support systems they provide. Parents' and carers' responses suggest that additional support services were not necessarily the most beneficial way to provide for all of the young people. What did appear to be beneficial was continuity of support throughout the transition to a new school, and the provision of a dedicated space within the school, such as a special needs unit. Several of the young people adapted easily alongside their peers without special educational needs, while others required more structured support. Pam Maras and Emma-Louise Aveling suggest that effective communication between support services, the young person, and their parents can facilitate successful transitions by allowing support to be tailored to individual students' needs.     

Science and pre-school children with special educational needs: aspects of home-based teaching sessions

This article focuses upon the role of the peripatetic pre-school teacher for children who have special educational needs. It explores the key issues involved in home-based teaching; the importance of developing meaningful partnerships with parents; early intervention; and the significance of play in promoting learning for young children. The research that informs this article is concerned with the possibility of teaching science to pre-school children with special educational needs. The author, Andrea Bennington, was herself an early years special educational needs inclusion teacher when she undertook the work described here. She is now an advisory teacher for children with physical disabilities. In this example of practitioner research, key scientific concepts are discussed in the context of intervention through play carried out in the home setting. The work focuses on the responses of six children to a sequence of six 'experiments' carried out through a period of teaching. Andrea Bennington asks whether science activities can be used to promote the learning experiences of pre-school children who have special educational needs and, therefore, their inclusion in teaching and learning situations.