On 17 October 2007, the DCSF and the National Strategies Team launched the inclusion Development Programme (IDP), which will be developed over a four year period. The proposal is that the IDP will deliver a programme of Continuing Professional Development (CPD) designed to strengthen the confidence and expertise of mainstream staff in Early Years settings and in Primary and Secondary schools to ensure the progress and achievement of pupils with Special Educational Needs (SEN).
In January 2007 the number of pupils identified with SEN in England totalled 1,562.500 - equivalent to 19.2% of the school population. The overlap of other groups, for example looked after children and those within the lower socio-economic strata, has resulted in 65% of these pupils (identified as SEN pupils) not achieving the expected levels in English at end of KS2 and 55% of pupils in Maths.
Linked to this are the national statistics released January 2007, which illustrated a rise in behavioural difficulties in secondary education - almost 30% of children with behavioural emotional and social difficulties. So NAHT welcomes the introduction of the Inclusion Development Programme, which was originally proposed some time ago in the government’s SEN strategy Removing Barriers to Achievement.
The IDP objective is to support schools and early years settings by helping them to further develop:
- More inclusive practice
- Raise awareness and confidence among all staff about meeting the needs of children with different types of SEN
- Further develop strategic approaches and responses to the diverse needs of individual pupils
The National Strategies Team proposes that in 2007-08 the IDP will focus on speech, language and communication needs (SLCN) and dyslexia. Future rounds will focus on autistic spectrum disorder (ASD), behavioural emotional and social difficulties (BESD) and moderate learning difficulties (MLD). Leading national specialist organisations - Royal College of Speech & Language Therapists, I-CAN, Dyslexia Action and other voluntary bodies are working in partnership with the National Strategies Team in the development of the CPD programme and supporting materials, which will be presented through a series of DVD – and web-based resources, tailored for use by school leaders and providers of Initial Teacher Training, as well as individual trainees.
The resources will be closely aligned with existing CPD and guidance materials available from both the National Strategies and the voluntary sector. The first phase of the IDP, with the focus on SLCN and dyslexia, aims to help both practitioners and school staff and trainees to:
- Recognise early on common signs of difficulty in understanding and / or making others understand information conveyed through spoken language
- Recognise common signs of dyslexic difficulties
- Create an inclusive and supportive learning environment for pupils with SLCN and / or dyslexia
- Use inclusive teaching strategies appropriate for dyslexics and for pupils who have communication difficulties.
TIMESCALE
National launch on the Inclusion Development Programme which took place on 17 October 2007 was aimed at local authority strategic managers for SEN
The dissemination of CPD material for primary and secondary schools will be available to local authority officers in the regions during December 2007 (10/11/12/13). This will be followed by dissemination of CPD materials for EYFS in March 2008 and dissemination of materials for ITT in March 2008
This first phase of the IDP is being developed in partnership with I CAN and Dyslexia in Action.
From this proposed roll-out, we presume that your local authority SEN Officer will be supporting schools with the Inclusion Development Programme. However, NAHT is anxious to support its members in this area and would like to monitor local / national developments so do keep us informed. Please contact janm@naht.org.uk to update us on what is happening in your area.
NOTE:
We also believe that linked to the above proposals is the recently launched Bercow Review: “Children, young people and speech, language and communication needs” , which is supported by the DCSF and the DoH. The success of the Bercow review will be dependent on those in the field being prepared to give their views, evidence and proposals to help those with communication problems.
For NAHT to response to this Review, it would be helpful to know our members views on access in your area to speech and language therapists. Speech and language therapy is currently funded by the DoH and I understand from a member of the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists that there have been some budgetary constraints. For NAHT to evidence whether budgetary issues have impacted on speech and language support in schools we need to hear from you. So please contact janm@naht.org.uk.
Jan Myles
Assistant Secretary Education Management
