Deconstructing SEN to Construct Inclusion - David Bartram

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Leadership

“The leadership of inclusion and SEN in schools not only demands excellent skills, but also plays a pivotal role in determining the ethos of the school, improving behaviour and the outcomes of children with SEN.”

Brian Lamb OBE

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Leading Inclusion and SEN in any urban school is a challenging role.

With the person next to you, share your ideas on what you see as the greatest challenges and key issues for such a role.

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The Inclusion Debate

The following 5 slides are issues that are related to Inclusion and that often cause debate and discussion.

In pairs you have 1 minute per slide to discuss your own views.

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SENCOs should be on the Senior Leadership Team

SENCOs

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All SENCOs should have QTS

SENCOs

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Students with SEN should be supported in-class and not

withdrawn for interventions

SENCOs

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Teaching Assistants should be linked to departments, not individual pupils

Teaching Assistants

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There should be a reduction in special school provision and a greater focus on educating students with SEN

in mainstream schools.

SENCOs

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In groups of three, your task is to plan the re-structure of an Inclusion department in a complex challenging urban secondary school.

You will then do a 2-3minute presentation to the rest of the group on your structure and the rationale behind it.

Guidelines:

You should give careful consideration to• Context/ Current profile of SEN population• Available funding• Staffing levels• Line management structure• Academic data on SEN population  BUDGET £420 000

Creating an Outstanding Inclusion Department

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HighlightsBest 8 inc. Eng & Maths showing spread by SEN

• SA+ BESD largest underachieving group

• Although listed as SA+, few interventions actually took place

• Significant SEN underachievement at KS3

• There are no school based interventions for BESD pupils except counselling. The school relies on external BESD consultants/ mentors/ Educational Psychologists.

• Boys are significantly over represented on the SEN register

• Local Authority SEN interventions have been reduced

• The vast majority of SEN intervention is through a large number of teaching assistants. The quality of this resource is mixed.