Can The 2014 Vision of the Children and Families Bill Ever Be Realised?

James Bowen analyses what went wrong with one of the most ambitious pieces of legislation for children with special needs in a quarter of a century.

Almost six years on from the 2014 Children and Families Bill, there is a strong sense that the ambitious plans outlined in the legislation have yet to translate into the sort of transformational change that was envisaged for young people with SEND.

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      string(412) "missed’.These changes were legislated by the Childrenand Families Act (2014) and will come into force inSeptember 2014. A revised Code of Practice will provideclear guidance on identifying children who have SENand on the operation of a new single category of SENin schools. Supporting documentation to the ‘Childrenand Families Bill ..."
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      string(4362) "missed’.These changes were legislated by the Childrenand Families Act (2014) and will come into force inSeptember 2014. A revised Code of Practice will provideclear guidance on identifying children who have SENand on the operation of a new single category of SENin schools. Supporting documentation to the ‘Childrenand Families Bill’ affirmed the government’s intentionto ensure that the Code of Practice ‘will reflect the keyfeatures’ of the Achievement for All approach (TSO,2013).■■■ Provision of opportunity: Aspiration,access and achievementProviding opportunities for every child, changingcultures, and increasing expectations are realised inschools through the engagement of senior leaders. Inpractice, the development of more inclusive schoolsmeans increasing access and participation, reappraisingculture, developing policies, giving parents and childrena greater voice in learning and reconsidering practices toenable children to realise their potential (DfES, 2001).As Barber et al. (2012:55) stated, it is not enough foreducators to just ‘meet children’s needs’ they need to‘unlock aspiration and unleash energy and potential’.This approach is most effective when it is foundedon a model of inclusive leadership, where change isconcentrated across four key areas – vision, commitment,collaboration and communication (NCSL, 2009).This model is at the core of the Achievement for Allprogramme, where engagement of senior leaders hasAchievement for All: implications for professional development ■■■■■�……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………been a significant driver in its successful implementationand development in schools (PwC, 2013; andHumphrey and Squires, 2011).The particular Achievement for All model acknowledgesthe current emphasis on systems leadership (Fullan, 2004)as an effective approach for building capacity. It placesleadership in the wider context of building structures,developing processes and changing cultures which acton the system as a whole (O’Leary and Craig, 2007).Improving the progress of individual pupils is dependenton schools developing a culture of high expectations; thisis enhanced when it is built into school systems and is partof performance management (Blandford et al., 2011).For leaders this involves a focus on strategic, operationaland distributed leadership. Maughan et al, (2012) intheir review of literature related to changing teacherpractice, suggest that the strategic vision of good leaders,coupled with high expectations enables teachers to changeaspects of their classroom practice. Their findings furthershowed that effective leaders created a climate supportiveof change (operational) and shared responsibility acrossstaff (distributed).Mourshead et al. (2010) suggest that systems can getbetter with ‘sustained leadership’ and a focus on key practices/processes for systematic improvement. They further highlighta focus on teacher continuing professional developmentwithin effective collaborative working models and showthe ‘cultural shift’ in improving educational systems from‘an emphasis on what teachers teach’ to ‘what students learn’(Mourshead et al., 2010: 79). This reflects the approach ofthe Achievement for All programme, where leadership inschools is enhanced through a collaborative focus on vision,commitment, collaboration and communication.■■■ Developing VisionResearch carried out by the OECD contrasted the betterperformance of students in countries where ‘teachers,parents and citizens’ believed all students could reachhigh standards (OECD, 2010). The report highlightedthe more ‘equitable distribution of learning outcomes’where ‘teachers and schools’ embraced ‘diverse studentpopulations through personalised educational pathways’.The case for a more inclusive approach to education isreaffirmed by Barber et al. (2012:54):Policy"
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Professional Development

Achievement for All: implications for professional development

27 Jun 2014

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      string(307) "Although mostly well-received, there’s no denying the proposed changes to SEN legislation are ambitious and will take much coordination to get right. Jonathan Fawcett discusses the obstacles practitioners should expect to face as the government’s planned changes to SEN policy filter down into practice."
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      string(5425) "schoolare accountable, and that they are fully part of the ethos of theschool community.Of course, such incidents are likely to be rare and in the vastmajority of cases, I’m sure that parents and schools will worktogether, along with other expert professionals, to resolve anydisagreements in the best interests of the child. We have beenreassured by DfE officials that they are aware of the potentialproblems and are working very hard to put safeguards in place.In particular, we are very keen that the school veto over fundingand resources will remain in the final regulations, as it has beenin pilot projects.Future guidance and support is vitalMy experience of the implementation of the new nationalKey Stage 3 Strategy a dozen or so years ago, as part of a pilotproject for the secondary literacy and numeracy projects, makesme worry about the capacity for rolling out these new workingpractices. As part of the national literacy and numeracy pilots,we received significant levels of funding, regular visits from HMIand intensive levels of training at both leadership and classroomlevels. However, when we saw the roll-out to other schools, itsoon became clear that they would not enjoy anywhere near thelevel of support and funding that we had. I remain concernedthat when the new bill comes into force, the levels of supportand training enjoyed by those in the pathfinder projects will notbe replicated nationally.It is vital that very clear guidance and support, as well as high-quality, free training sessions for SENCos and other specialists,are provided right across the system. Without the right levels oftraining and support, the government’s ambitious aim of a radicaland highly effective new system will not be realised.the changeover processWhile we await the publication of the results of the DfE’sconsultation around the new code of practice, we mustrecognise that in barely eight month’s time, all schools will beimplementing these new procedures. Final decisions on legalapproval of this process will not be completed until Easter, http://www.teachingtimes.comEvery Child UPDATE nwww.teachingtimes.comThismonth’sPolicy &BriefingsChanging SENlegislationwhich will give us around three months to finalise plans inschools – three months which we already know will be filledwith incredibly intensive planning in order to implement newcurriculum and assessment arrangements for next September.On a very practical level, we are keen to see how thechangeover process from a statement to an EHC plan will takeplace. We know that there is no expectation that all statementswill suddenly become EHC plans on 1 September 2014, and theproposal that the changeover takes place at the annual reviewmeeting seems a very sensible one. It is important that thischangeover is done correctly, as one of the biggest risks is thatthis will simply become a paper exercise, where we change thewords from statement to EHC plan and that the big culture shiftwe would all welcome will not happen. This is the much harderaspect to achieve.There are also significant concerns about the removal of theSchool Action and School Action Plus categories and how schoolstrack and monitor the progress of children who have additionalneeds. Whatever the limitations of the current system, it has atleast been a nationally understood set of criteria. We will need tobe aware of the potential pitfalls of individual schools creatingtheir own criteria, for example the transfer between phases andschools may not be as smooth and effective due to the differentrange of terminology used.One potentially very positive benefit though, would be forparental focus to move away from the number of hours ofsupport their child is entitled to and instead to focus on qualityof input and the impact that this can have. It must surely be ineveryone’s interest for children with special educational needs tohave access to a greater level of specialism on a day-to-day basiswhich will do far more to support their wellbeing and progressKnowledge trails1)	 The	Children	and	Families	Bill	2013 – We summarise the gov-ernment’s main proposals in this year’s Children and Families Bill.	 library.teachingtimes.com/articles	thechildrenand-familiesbill2013.htm2)	 EHC	Plans	–	Are	they	enough? – The launch of Education,Health and Care Plans in 2014 will mean major changes to theexisting SEND structure. But will they be enough to improve pro-vision for our most vulnerable youngsters? SENCo Bob Piggottshares his concerns.	 library.teachingtimes.com/articles/ehcplansarethey-enough.htmthan a large number of hours of relatively ineffective support.Finally, I hope that the DFE will take every opportunity toexpand the work that has gone on in pathfinders in order toshare and disseminate the very best of practice. They must alsowork as closely as possible with the wider school system toensure that the expertise and capacity is created which will notonly support the staff who need to deliver this, but, far moreimportantly, the very people for whose benefit all of this is beingdone – children with special educational needs who deserve thevery best provision.Jonathan Fawcett is Head of Swanwick Hall School,Derbyshire, and Chair of the Inclusion Committee of theAssociation of School and College Leaders"
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Special Needs

The Children and Families Bill – Some reflections on the future

11 Feb 2014

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      string(5843) "the age of 13 months through to school age, highlighted the importance of adults being interested in what children are saying and entering into real conversations with them. Whitebread (2003) advocates that early years educators do the same by providing opportunities for meaningful conversations between groups of children, and between children and adults. Other research shows the importance of a child’s growing control of the spoken language for the development of thinking skills; the more precisely language is used, the more children are enabled to generalise, categorise, to manipulate ideas and to explore ideas of cause and effect (Riley and Reedy, 2003). The children’s communication charity I CAN affirms the importance of language as a key skill, “central to children’s intellectual, social and emotional development.”; children with poor communication skills are more likely to have behavioural issues in social situations.For schools and other educational settings, creating a literacy culture in the broader context, rather like a total immersion in a foreign language, encourages and supports the development of good reading skills. An audit might focus across leadership, teaching and learning, parent and carer engagement and wider or extra- curricular activities (Achievement for All). It is looking at where change is needed, being creative and thinking of new ways of presenting ideas; they may not always be conventional. In one recent example, a teacher took an unconventional route to support a parent; the outcomes were extremely positive and life changing: the mother in a family of six boys realised her low expectations were holding them back. She was supported by her children’s teacher as she embarked on a programme to improve her literacy. As direct consequence, her middle four boys moved from being on the SEND register. Their mother’s motivation and raised self- esteem and confidence were reflected onto her children, and her youngest has just started school with the highest expectations, loving the fact his mum is chair of the school PTA (Blandford, 2017). Often, it is simple changes in multiple areas of practice which make the difference.Opportunities in school for pupils to discuss and share ideas and present to the wider group supports the development of many literacy skills; the Debate Mate core programme, working with schools in areas of high child poverty, has provided a further platform for this. In the classroom, it is allowing time for children and young people to work in groups, teams or in pairs, both on a formal and informal basis, and allowing time for thinking, reflecting, questioning and imagining. These skills are both developed through reading and develop reading: reading allows children and young people to develop their potential. Simple changes are often all it takes. Examples from schools working with Achievement for All show the change in a Year 3 boy who loved reading to his little brother at home, but was a reluctant reader in school, often disruptive and was at risk of not meeting his literacy targets. His teacher made him a reading mentor to other Year 3 children. The impact was immediate. Acting as a reading mentor with Year 3 pupils twice weekly had an immediate impact on his self-esteem- he enjoyed the responsibility, became more focused, less disruptive, proved to be a positive and supportive role model and had better attainment. In another school, pupils with SEND engaged in one-to-one literacy extra-curricular activity with role models. The pupils developed a different outlook towards learning through raised attainment and a willingness to take part in activities. In another school, with high levels of poor literacy skills amongst new Year 7 pupils, the school invited parents in for workshops on how to support their children at home. Not only did their children’s attainment improve, but many parents went on to achieve NVQ qualifications in literacy. Achievement for All works with schools, early years setting and further education colleges across the country supporting them in getting better outcomes for their children and young people. Through our evidence-based framework, we have reached over 100,000 children and young people experiencing challenges, needs and disadvantage, improving their outcomes in reading, writing and maths, up to 50% higher than the expected outcomes for all children. With our schools, we want to ensure that all children and young people have good levels of literacy and can thrive. The Read On Get On Campaign calls for action across schools, families, communities and government by encouraging: Parents and carers to read to or with their child for just ten minutes a day; Volunteering in schemes that help children with reading and language; Schools, the voluntary sector, policy makers and the private sector developing programmes, interventions and partnerships to help all to read; and Government parties embracing the 2025 goal of all children reading well by age 11 in their manifestos, setting out how they support this (Save the Children, 2014).The Vision for Literacy Business Pledge launched by National Literacy Trust in 2015, is seeing more and more organisations, signing up to tackle literacy challenges in their workforce, the local communities and on a national level; many have developed initiatives for schools, for example, the Premier League Reading Stars. At Achievement for All, we know that reading is the key to helping children and young people learn and fulfil their potential. 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      string(319) "... view that the near-decade of austerity has already done unforgivable harm to the teaching profession, to our education system and to the lives of children and families. Labour’s radical vision for the future of education is what I spent a career waiting for and fighting for. But we ..."
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      string(347) "Student exclusions are predominantly affecting children in poverty and with special needs. The Alternative Provision options are not sufficient and are creating a new generation of young people who are not in schooling or employment. Labour MP Thelma Walker discusses the implications of a new report on these forgotten children."
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      string(5766) "As a member of the Education Select Committee, it has been my privilege to be involved in the Forgotten Children: Alternative Provision and the Scandal of Ever Increasing Exclusions report over the last year.  I came to politics after a career in education, most recently as the headteacher of a primary school. My experience included primary and secondary settings, supporting teacher training courses and managing one of the first Stage One children’s centres in my local authority. Every day working in education drove home to me the importance of politics and policy making. It was a natural step – after a lifetime in the Labour party – to step up to be a representative for my home constituency in 2017. For me, it was the next stage in standing up for those who could not defend themselves. When I was asked to serve on the Education Select Committee, I was delighted to be able to bring thirty years of experience to the role, and to be part of the inquiry into such an important issue. Alternative provision – defined by the DFE as ‘education arranged by local authorities for pupils who, because of exclusion, illness or other reasons, would not otherwise receive suitable education; education arranged by schools for pupils on a fixed period exclusion; and pupils being directed by schools to off-site provision to improve their behaviour’ – is not simply an issue of the individuals concerned and their families.1  At its core, how we tackle the needs and wishes of our most vulnerable children informs and decides what kind of society we want to be. It is a question of how we include the excluded, how we pull families back from the brink, and how we see children with disabilities, mental health problems, and additional needs as an important part of our world rather than seeing them as a threat to Progress 8 results. The foundations of inclusion, equality and having a truly diverse society which enriches us all, can be laid at this early stage if we as policymakers are brave and compassionate enough to do so. The statistics around who ends up in alternative provision – and why – are telling, and reflect deeper structural inequalities. Children in care, in need, in poverty, and with SEND are all more likely to be excluded than children not in these categories.2 For every girl permanently excluded last year, over three boys were.3 Black Caribbean, Irish travellers and Gypsy Roma heritage pupils are disproportionately represented in Alternative Provision (AP).4 Almost half of children in AP are 15 and 16 years old.5 All these groups are subject to pre-existing vulnerabilities and are hugely over-represented in negative statistics as adults, significantly in the prison and justice systems. Parents of these children ‘can be left fighting a system that they do not understand and that they feel is stacked against them … parents often do not have the time or social capital to challenge schools.’6 The evidence we heard on this rang true with my professional and personal experience: the children most in need of articulate, consistent advocates are those least likely to have them, and the parents who need to defend their children most frequently may lack the confidence, skill, language and knowledge to do so. And once we start to unpick the types of inequality prevalent here, it is frankly difficult to know where to stop. It is my belief that alternative provision should be used to address and tackle the inequalities which affect particular sections of the population – not to embed and worsen it. Of course, the elephant in the room when talking about alternative provision is the fact that:…schools and school representatives told us that schools no longer have the financial resources to fund pastoral support, including teaching assistants, that would often help keep pupils in mainstream schools…financial pressures are affecting schools’ capacity and ability to identify and support problems and provide the early intervention that is necessary.7My own local authority, Kirklees, is the seventh largest metropolitan council in the country and is home to some of the 10 per cent most deprived families in the UK. Yet, when need is taken into account, it is the worst funded local authority in the country, having lost roughly half of its budget since 2010. There is no school in my constituency – even those serving areas of incredibly high need – which has not suffered a cut to its budget. Nationally the number of staff vacancies in the maintained AP and special sector has nearly trebled since 2011. Vacancies are 100–150 per cent higher than in mainstream secondary schools.8 It is simply not feasible to commit to resolving some of the issues highlighted by the Committee without also devoting adequate funding and resources. And it is my personal view that the near-decade of austerity has already done unforgivable harm to the teaching profession, to our education system and to the lives of children and families. Labour’s radical vision for the future of education is what I spent a career waiting for and fighting for. But we should be under no illusions about how long it will take to undo the last eight years. The IPPR report Making the Difference: Breaking the Link Between School Exclusion and Social Exclusion describes starkly how:the number of children experiencing intersecting vulnerabilities … is increasing. 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Behaviour

Forgotten Children – Creating Policy with Heart

4 Dec 2018

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      string(4449) "attached to every child who meets certain deprivation criteria, and is tracked through a variety of accountability measures, the SEND payment is neither ring-fenced nor tracked. Schools can, therefore, use it in whatever way they choose. If the child is at the centre of the system, he or she will benefit from the funds. However, if balancing the books takes centre stage, schools may not choose to spend the money on the children it is intended to support.Unfortunately, some unkind and unethical practices were described in evidence to the committee. Those such as LAs which see their role as to ‘enforce necessary discrimination’ in allocating inequitable SEN payments. In addition, the Gateshead MP, Ian Mearns, highlighted that the not all Local Authorities employ a system of ‘banding’ SEN needs. Whilst a blunt instrument, this mechanism for allocating payment at least makes some attempt to meet the needs of all students. The 13 per cent who have another system (or no system at all) constitute a ‘postcode lottery’ for parents uncertain about whether their child will be given extra support, and at what level this is and what it will entail. Only 2 per cent of LAs have increased the payment amounts in each of the bands to try to keep in line with inflation. School budgets, therefore, whilst famously tight, make no additional adequate provision for the increasing complexities and frequency of SEN demands. So, again, the call goes out to put the words of Nicky Morgan and Edward Timpson into practice. Put children first.4 The committee heard that progress against historic aims to improve provision for pupils with special educational needs was still not sufficient. The reductions in processing time for SEN cases proposed in 1996 and again in 2011 still were not evident. This leads, in many cases, to families taking matters into their own hands, and, often for their own and their child’s emotional well-being, electing to home-school the child. 40 per cent of cases take over 18 months to process, leading to children being overlooked, isolated, seen as absentees from school and finding it ever more difficult to re-integrate into their social and educational networks. A kinder solution needs to be found. Where connections are forged around a child at the centre, with their needs at the top of the agenda. Educationalists, civil servants, school leaders and health professionals, acting ‘in loco parentis’ – doing for each child what they would wish done for their own are what is needed. The educational system it seems, is stuck in a ‘flat earth syndrome’. Seemingly it believes that a problem it no longer can see no longer exists. Pushing difficult cases to the margins does not deal with them, they do reappear in other places. The educational world is round and what’s called for is rounded professionals prepared to make ethical and moral choices (yes, even financial ones) so that rounded children and young people can emerge as products of responsible, tolerant partnerships of professionals. SEN heads, the Select Committee and AfA agreed this week that not all the solutions are costly or complicated, but they do require an ethos of inclusion and tolerance in the system. Georgina Newton is Associate Professor of Education at the University of Warwick.NotesEducation Committee (2018, October 23). Parliament Live: https://parliamentlive.tv/Event/Index/c8c06847-94c9-4bfc-bf7a-4c37d8eb39e9Ovenden-Hope (2018) Teach by the beach: How to retain teachers in coastal schools. Press release, retrieved from Marjon University: https://www.marjon.ac.uk/about-marjon/news-and-events/marjon-news/teach-by-the-beach—how-to-retain-teachers-in-coastal-schools.htmlLopez Solé, S., Zaragoza, M.C., & Diaz-Gibson, J. (2018). Improving interaction in teacher training programmes: The rise of the social dimension in pre-service teacher education. Teachers and Teaching: Theory and Practice, 24(6):644-658. https://doi.org/10.1080/13540602.2018.1459541Department for Education (2016). Putting children first: Delivering our vision for excellent children’s social care. https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/554573/Putting_children_first_delivering_vision_excellent_childrens_social_care.pdf"
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Inclusion

How much tolerance is there in our system?

4 Dec 2018