Envisioning the role of the SENCO: New policies - changing practices Seán Bracken: [email protected]@worc.ac.uk.

Envisioning the role of the SENCO: New

policies - changing practices

Seán Bracken: [email protected]

Overview

• Revisiting policy• New ways of working• Managing people and resources• Navigating real tensions• Assuming leadership?

Policy perspectives

• Some key aspects of the programme of change may be phased in. While welcome, this may also lead to confusion while old and new systems operate concurrently.

• In terms of the CoP, SENCOs will have a critical role in updating parents, SEN governors and school staff (Robinson, 2013)

Policy perspectives & challenges– It is unclear who will be responsible for enforcing social care and health

provision that is provided for in the resulting “plan”. Often disputes arise in respect of the provision to be provided for a child, commonly these disputes occur in respect of the therapy provision delivered by the NHS.

– It is not clear who will co-ordinate the single assessment to ensure that reports are prepared within the 20 week deadline. The voluntary/charitable sector simply does not have the resources to do this and the Government has underestimated significantly the administrative burden which the present system places on Local Authorities.

– It is unclear what sanctions will be taken against the NHS or social care for failing to comply within the time limits.

– Local Authorities are already affected by the absence of timely advices from health or social care under the current assessment framework. It is unclear how the new process would address this issue.

http://www.bakersmall.co.uk/

New ways of working• The role of families and the pupil voice and

participation are critical• There may be implications for the much more

family orientated engagement, this reorientation is welcome but may demand more resources:

Collaborating with parents and providers

Developing effective plans

Feeding into systems wide approaches.

Informing and Liaising with leadership

Adopting whole school (informed) approaches

Engaging with staff

Networking with peers Buying in particular packages

Assessing effectiveness

Managing resources & expectations • Need for significant focus on interpersonal skills• Disputes arise because typically parents will

argue that the local offer is not adequate or cannot meet their child’s needs. The proposals within the SEN Green Paper, do not address this issue. – This is also about managing expectations, knowing

what is available and ensuring that parents do not have unrealistic expectations.

Management of resources VS advocacy for pupils?

Management of resources VS advocacy for pupils

Schools have an amount identified within their overall budget, called the notional SEN budget. This is not a ring-fenced amount, and it is for the school to provide, high quality appropriate support from the whole of its budget. Although colleges do not have a notional SEN budget, they also have additional funding for students with SEN. As with schools, this funding is not ring-fenced and they are expected to provide appropriate, high quality SEN support using all available resources. (Draft CoP PP 86/87)

A new role for SENCO leadership?• Class and subject teachers, supported by the senior

leadership team, should make regular assessments of progress for all pupils. Where pupils are falling behind or making inadequate progress given their age and starting point they should be given extra support. (CoP 72)

• The SENCO has an important role to play with the head teacher and governing body, in determining the strategic development of SEN policy and provision in the school. They will be most effective in that role if they are part of the school leadership team (CoP 79).

Code of Practice: Consultation process

• https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/251832/SEN_consultation_document.pdf

Developing a cohesive response

Objectives:

• Provide a critically informed (M7) reading of the document• Initiate a shared response as SENCOs

to significant changes in the landscape• Inform others and orient change.

The Task

• Each group reads about 10 pages of the document ( 20 minutes)

• Provides a critical interpretation and engages in an informed response to the consultation document. Share your impressions on the document online (15 minutes)

• Share responses (2/ 3 minutes) • Collated document will be shared.

Illustration – From the Introduction

Please critique the Draft CoP using the consultation (Word) document

Table / Section / Table / Section Table / Section

1 17-26 7 92-102 13 163-167

2 26-42 8 102-114 14 167-172

3 42-58 9 114-128 15 4 areas and Early Years (61-71)

4 58-71 10 128-139 16 Writing the Plan (102-114)

5 71-82 11 140-155 (specific cir) 17 Local Offer (42-53)

6 82-92 12 156-163 18 Family centred (17-26)