Co-producing SMART Targets for Children with SEND

Capturing the Authentic Voice of Children, Young People and their Caregivers

Sarah Martin-Denham

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2022
• Print ISBN:
  9781032199313
• eBook ISBN:
  9781000605518
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Inclusive Education

This accessible guide supports school and education settings in co-producing SMART targets for education health and care plans, SEN support plans and Personal Education Plans.

The book encourages educators to collaborate with children, young people and their caregivers to gain an in-depth understanding of their views, aspirations, strengths and areas of challenge, and to write purposeful, specific, measurable and achievable targets. Each chapter offers successful approaches to capture authentic voice, with a variety of contributors sharing their journey to improve child and family leadership by developing child-centred approaches in their contexts. The book includes case studies and reflective activities to further support the reader with creative and innovative approaches to SMART targets that are underpinned by the child's perspective.

With contributions from a range of schools, and across age phases, this book encourages and enables collaboration with children, young people and their caregivers, and will be essential reading for SENCOs, designated leads for safeguarding, teachers and senior leaders in both mainstream and specialist settings.

1Co-productionThe legal and regulatory context and the role of continuous professional development (CPD)

Sarah Martin-Denham

DOI: 10.4324/9781003261506-2

This chapter provides an overview of relevant legislation, convention and policy regarding person-centred approaches to creating plans for children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). The chapter provides the basis for supporting colleagues within settings through dedicated continuous professional development (CPD) activities. It includes a step-by-step guide to developing understanding and confidence in writing SMART targets that incorporate the voices of CYP and their caregivers as something that are devised with rather than for them. Before commencing the CPD sessions, read Chapter 2 to ensure any targets formed are co-produced with CYP and their caregiver to encapsulate their views, wishes and feelings.

The Children and Families Act 2014

The Children and Families Act (CAFA) 2014 Part 3 is the most recent statute law that brings together previous legislation. The CAFA (2014) has attempted to mandate the importance of listening to and hearing the voice of CYP, obliging education providers to work in partnership with children and their families to identify learning outcomes and to plan special education provision (SEP).

The CAFA (2014) sought to commit the government to support three key groups of children:

• Those in the adoption and care system (part 1)
• Those affected by family courts (part 2)
• Those with SEND (part 3)

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) (UNICEF, 1989) article 12 established the right for children to freely express their views in matters affecting them, giving their views due weight according to their age and maturity.

Article 12 of the UNCRC states this:

1. States Parties shall assure to the child who is capable of forming his or her own views the right to express those views freely in all matters affecting the child, the views of the child being given due weight in accordance with the age and maturity of the child.
2. For this purpose, the child shall in particular be provided the opportunity to be heard in any judicial and administrative proceedings affecting the child, the views of the child being given due weight in accordance with the age and maturity of the child.

(UNICEF, 1989. p. 5)

The principles underpinning the special educational needs and disability (SEND) code of practice (Department for Education (DfE) and Department of Health (DoH), 2015, p. 19) are designed to support ‘the participation of children, their caregivers and young people in decision making’.

Definitions of special educational needs and disability

• A CYP has SEN if they have a learning difficulty or disability that calls for special educational provision to be made for him or her.
• A child of compulsory school age or older has a learning difficulty or disability if he/she has the following:

1. A significantly greater difficulty in learning than the majority of others of the same age
2. A disability that causes hindrance from making use of educational facilities generally provided in mainstream schools or post-16 institutions

Many CYP who have SEN may have a disability under the Equality Act (2010), defined as ‘a physical or mental impairment which has a long term and substantial adverse effect on their ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities’. The Equality Act (2010) replaced nine acts of parliament and hundreds of regulations to provide a single consolidated source of discrimination law. The act makes it unlawful for the responsible body of a school to discriminate against, harass or victimise a pupil or potential pupil:

• In relation to admissions
• In the way it provides education for pupils
• In the way it provides pupils access to any benefit, facility or service, or
• By excluding a pupil or subjecting them to any other detriment

(DfE, 2014, p. 7)

The CAFA 2014 intensified previous statutory requirements to involve parents in decisions directly affecting children with SEND. The reforms to SEND were partly due to the need to increase parental confidence in the SEN system. It was the Lamb Inquiry (Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF), 2009, p. 3) that reported this:

In the most successful schools, the effective engagement of parents has had a profound impact on children’s progress and the confidence between the school and parent. Parents need to be listened to more and brought into a partnership with statutory bodies in a more meaningful way.

From the CAFA (2014) to the DfE and DoH (2015) Code, the emphasis on support for parents in early identification (of SEND), high-quality provision, decision-making, choice and control, and collaboration between agencies was clear. Despite this, the House of Commons Education Committee (2018, p. 3) expressed failures in implementing the CAFA (2014), leading to ‘unlawful practice, bureaucratic nightmares, buck-passing, lack of accountability, strained...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• List of contributors
• Acknowledgements
• List of abbreviations
• Glossary of terms
• Introduction
• 1 Co-production: The legal and regulatory context and the role of continuous professional development (CPD)
• 2 Creative approaches to capturing views, wishes and feelings of caregivers and children
• 3 A virtual school head perspective
• 4 Battling to be heard: The impact on families
• 5 Co-producing SMART targets in the early years
• 6 Co-production through mindfulness
• 7 Re-engaging children and young people through forest school approach
• 8 Engaging and re-engaging children through a managed move or following a school exclusion
• 9 Co-production with children and young people and their caregivers in alternative provision
• 10 Co-producing SMART targets for children with social, emotional and mental health needs
• 11 Moving from non-SMART towards SMART targets in a mainstream secondary school
• 12 Co-producing SMART transitions into further education
• Index