Promoting and Delivering School-to-School Support for Special Educational Needs

A practical guide for SENCOs

Rita Cheminais

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2013
• Print ISBN: 9781138139756
• eBook ISBN: 9781136210129
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Education General

Recent changes to education policy have brought about a new emphasis on promoting school-to-school support and school-led improvement, in order to ensure that all pupils, including those with SEN, achieve their optimum potential. SENCOs, often in the role of Specialist Leaders of Education (SLE), now undertake coaching, mentoring and the delivery of training to ensure that trainee, newly qualified and experienced teachers and teaching assistants have the practical skills to effectively meet the needs of pupils with SEN.

In her trademark down-to-earth style, Rita Cheminais shows SENCOs how to respond to and enhance this exciting and pivotal new role by:

• Explaining the new school-to-school support and school-led improvement context that many SENCOs will be working in;
• Clarifying the role of the outstanding SENCO, as a Specialist Leader of Education;
• Maximising on the best practice arising from the effective use of the pupil premium and the 'Achievement for All' initiative;
• Confirming OFSTED's expectations for SEND in the revised inspection schedule for schools and academies;
• Describing how best to monitor, evaluate and validate best practice in school-to-school support.

Packed with time-saving, photocopiable resources, examples of best practice and further activities for reflection, this practical book will enable the SENCO to respond to the current agenda, particularly in performing the role of a Specialist Leader of Education, disseminating SEN expertise across schools.

Promoting and Delivering School-to-School Support for Special Educational Needs will be essential reading for all outstanding and aspiring outstanding SENCOs working in the early years, primary, secondary and special phases of education, academies and Pupil Referral Units.

Chapter 1

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Opportunities and challenges for SENCOs

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This chapter covers:

• Opportunities for SENCOs in the 21st century and implications for their role

• Challenges for SENCOs in an era of educational change

• A new role for SENCOs

• Essential knowledge and skills to support the SENCO’s new role

• The origin, concept and development of the teaching school

Opportunities for SENCOs in the 21st century and implications for their role

The coalition government has overhauled the outdated thirty-three-year-old special educational needs system, and modernised the SEN Code of Practice. This has resulted in SENCOs having a far more manageable workload, in relation to having fewer children identified with SEN, on the new single early years setting and school-based category of SEN. In turn, SENCOs have gained some more time to focus on their strategic role leading, innovating, monitoring and evaluating SEN, across the educational setting.

The disappearance of individual education plans (IEPs), replaced with a single education, health and care plan for pupils previously statemented with SEN that exceed what is normally available in the early years setting, the school, academy or college, has resulted in the streamlining of the SEN paperwork, with responsibilities for SEN provision being more fairly distributed, across external agencies and voluntary, community organisations, making the assessment and review process less bureaucratic and stressful for SENCOs, parents and SEN pupils. The DfE in their SEND Green Paper (2011), stated:

We need to reduce the burdens that are currently placed on our schools, particularly on SENCOs.

(DfE 2011c: 5.2)

The downsizing and simplification of the educational settings SEN policy, making it more parent-and family-friendly, provides an excellent opportunity for SENCOs to revisit this document and consult with a range of key stakeholders, i.e. governors, staff, parents, pupils and external partners, in order to clarify the new changes in the SEN system.

SENCOs, looking for a new direction in their leadership and teaching career, now have a wider range of educational settings to work in, e.g. academies and free schools, both independent from local authority control.

The revised OFSTED school and academy inspection framework, introduced in September 2012, places greater emphasis on SEN and disability (SEND), offering SENCOs a further opportunity to build capacity among staff for SEND, within and beyond their own educational setting, to share experiences of inspection and disseminate best practice via SENCO networks or teaching school alliances.

The introduction of teaching schools, with their alliance of partner schools and other members, such as a university, LA or independent consultant, offers outstanding SENCOs, with at least three or more years senior or middle leadership experience in the role, the chance to become an SLE, and use their SEN expertise to support another school, requiring significant improvement in this aspect.

Challenges for SENCOs in an era of educational change

SENCOs will have the initial challenge of securing a quality input on the new SEN changes in the educational setting’s annual in-service education and training (INSET) programme. This will be vital to ensure governors, senior and middle leaders, teachers, support staff, including administrative staff, are familiar with the new SEN system and changes. In addition, the SENCO will need to request some additional non-contact time in order to revise their SEN register, SEN policy and internal SEN system and paperwork. Figure 1.1 offers a model SEN policy reflecting the new SEN system.

Balancing the wider school-to-school support role with work in their own school poses a challenge for SENCOs, particularly in relation to not compromising or depressing SEN standards in their own educational setting because they have been out supporting another school. Some outstanding SENCOs prefer to become a teaching leader, where they work with a new SEN department in their own school to build capacity among their SEN team. The revised SEN Code of Practice and the new SEN legislation brought in by the coalition government, effective by 2014, are likely to result in SENCOs reviewing the role and effective deployment of teaching assistants, and other supporting adults, in a streamlined SEN system within a 21st-century context.

SENCOs are going to be challenged to broker and commission services and support from local services and voluntary, community organisations, as parents of SEN pupils begin to have their own budgets for SEN. As LA services for SEND downsize and/or disappear with the government cuts to LA spending, SENCOs are going to have to become far more creative in managing diminishing SEN resources. SENCOs, like headteachers, are going to have to explore funding and sharing additional services for SEN across a cluster or federation of schools. Academy status does offer a greater opportunity to purchase their own external professionals for SEN, as they are independent from the LA.

Outstanding SENCOs, who become SLEs, will face the added challenge of undertaking further professional development to enhance their skills and knowledge of how to undertake school-to-school support for SEN, with maximum effectiveness.

Table 1.1 provides a force field analysis template for SENCOs to use in identifying the opportunities and challenges they are likely to meet, which could be completed with their line manager.

SENCOs may find Figure 1.2, the SENCO checklist for preparing to introduce the new SEN changes to a range of different stakeholders in their own educational setting, useful. This can be tailored and adapted to suit the context of the educational setting.

Figure 1.1 Model leaflet for parents summarising the school’s new SEN policy

Table 1.1 Force field analysis – opportunities and challenges to SENCO role

Promoting and Delivering School-to-School Support for Special Educational Needs, Routledge © Rita Cheminais 2013

Figure 1.2 SENCO checklist for preparing to introduce SEN changes

A new role for SENCOs

The SENCO regulations of 2008 require further expansion, and savvy SENCOs are already facing up to the challenge to review their current job description, with their line manager and/or headteacher. The type of additional tasks to add to the current SENCO job description include:

• Informing decisions about the use of the pupil premium, and evaluating the impact of any pupil premium interventions they have been responsible for.

• Undertaking school-to-school support for SEN and evaluating the impact of this work.

• Managing some SEN funding across a cluster, federation or alliance of schools, to secure external services for SEN pupils.

• Supporting parents and families of SEN children in making best use of their personal SEN budgets.

• Overseeing the education, health and care plans of SEN pupils.

• Advising on the best form of portable information and communication technology (ICT) for SEN pupils to use within and beyond the school, especially to continue their learning outside school, where they may be off for a long time recovering from surgery, e.g. iPad, iPod, giving access to a virtual learning environment (VLE).

• Acting as an interim executive SENCO in a school requiring significant improvement in SEN, where a SENCO may have left or retired from an educational setting.

The SENCO’s personal challenge will be to review their job description with their line manager/headteacher, in light of these changes. headteacher, in light of these changes.

Essential knowledge and skills to support the SENCO’s new role

Table 1.2 identifies the knowledge and skills essential for SENCOs in an era of school-to-school support for SEN. The knowledge and skills are appropriate for newly a...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• nasen
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• List of figures and tables
• Acknowledgements
• List of abbreviations
• Introduction
• 1 Opportunities and challenges for SENCOs
• 2 School-to-school support for SEND
• 3 Leading the implementation of Achievement for All
• 4 Making best use of the pupil premium
• 5 Meeting the OFSTED inspection requirements for SEND
• 6 Quality assuring school-to-school support for SEN
• Glossary
• References and further reading
• Index