Inclusion and Special Educational Needs

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Inclusion

‘Schools have a responsibility to provide a broad and balanced curriculum for all pupils. The National Curriculum is the starting point for planning a school curriculum that meets the specific needs of individuals and groups of pupils.  This statutory inclusion statement on providing effective learning opportunities for all pupils outlines how teachers can modify, as necessary, the National Curriculum programs of study to provide all pupils with relevant and appropriately challenging work at each key stage. It sets out three principles that are essential to developing a more inclusive curriculum:

A Setting suitable learning challenges.

B Responding to pupils’ diverse learning needs.

C Overcoming potential barriers to learning and assessment for individuals and groups of pupils.’

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When we as teachers think about inclusion, we generally think about those pupils with SEN (Special Educational Needs) that come to mind. However it is not only those with SEN that the UK education system should meet the needs of, inclusion covers a whole host of pupils from different ethnicities, socio-economic backgrounds, the gender imbalance in attainment and also those defined as Gifted and talented should all have their specific needs met by teachers and schools.

Special Educational Needs

‘The term SEN (Special Educational Needs) has a legal definition, referring to children who have learning difficulties or disabilities that make it harder for them to learn or access education than most children of the same age.’ (http://www.direct.gov.uk/EducationAndLearning/Schools/SpecialEducationalNeeds)

The severity of a child’s SEN has a wide scope and can vary dramatically. Children with profound learning difficulties will most frequently attend special schools. Some pupils with moderate needs will attend special schools with the provision for integration in ordinary schools, but most children with SEN will attend ordinary schools and will fully integrate with other pupils.

 

It is sometimes necessary for a child with SEN to have a ‘statement’, in these instances the LEA (Local Education Authority) will assess the child’s needs and decide if the degree of learning difficulty and the nature of the provision necessary to meet the child’s SEN is such that it requires their educational provision through a statement. This decision will be made if it considers that the provision for a child’s SEN, cannot reasonably be provided within the resources normally available in the mainstream setting. The information contained within their statement includes:

  • Personal Information – Name, address, date of birth, home country, language and religion.
  • Special Educational Need – Details of each of the child’s SEN as identified by the LEA during the assessment process
  • Special Educational Need Provision – The objectives that this provision should aim to meet and the arrangements to be made for monitoring progress made in meeting these objectives.
  • Placement – Name and type of the schools where the provision will be met.
  • Non Education Needs – All relevant non-educational needs that a child may have and the provision required to meet these needs.

‘According to Dfes (Department for Education and Skills) statistics, in January 2004 about 247’600 pupils across all schools in England has a statement of SEN. 60% of these attended mainstream state schools, while 3% attended independent schools. The rest attended special schools or were educated at home or elsewhere. In this same year there were nearly 1’200’000 children with SEN, but without statements in England. This represents just over 14% of all children across all schools.’

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Children with SEN may need extra help because of an expansive range of needs, these could include:-

  • Thinking and understanding problems
  • Physical or sensory difficulties
  • Emotional or behavioural difficulties
  • Difficulties with speech or language
  • How they relate to and behave with other pupils

Whatever the SEN of the child is, it will have an adverse effect on the child’s education if the right resources and teaching practices are not put into place to help the child on the way to a successful education.

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People with SEN come from a whole range of backgrounds and although it can sometimes be associated with less affluent areas there are other statistics that impact whether a child stands the risk of having SEN. Statistics show that the ratio of boys to girls identified with SEN was approximately two to one across all age groups. For example within KS4 9% of boys were identified compared with 5% of girls. Generally, pupils from ethnic minorities, and also pupils who use English as their second language are more likely than their piers to be identified as having SEN. Pupils ...

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