NPFS online discussion: Day 4 – Additional Support for Learning
It’s day four of the National Parent Forum of Scotland’s online discussion with parents and others. Today’s question is about additional support for learning.
Day 4: 4 October
“How well do our schools support children and young people who have additional learning needs and what more can be done?”
Our March consultation event for parents of children with additional support for learning needs in response to the Doran Review made it clear that parents think there are other areas for improvement such as sharing good practice and skills, proactive (rather than reactive) support and provision, effective communication between all partners, professionals working together. What are the challenges and how can parents help to overcome them? We would like to hear your experiences, examples of effective support and your ideas.
Related:
#NPFS12 – Discussion: Day 1 – Parental Engagement.
#NPFS12 – Discussion: Day 2 – Curriculum for Excellence
#NPFS12 – Discussion: Day 3 – Transitions.
#NPFS12 – Discussion: Day 5 – ICT.
Useful links:
Be at the heart of your child’s learning
A quick guide to Curriculum for Excellence
Have your say
Join in the discussion and help us make Scottish Education even better.
This is a huge topic and varies an awful lot across the country. When you see it working well you think why are so many schools failling our children. I visited Perth Grammer Schooland was blown away by the work they are doing, everyone has bought into it, senior management team, all staff, pupils, authority and parents.
You then visit other schools and they are burying their head in the sand, is it to much pressure, to much responsability or is it they just don't want them in their school?
One of the major problems parents have is how long things take to resolve any issue, schools are very good at drawing things out, it's like the longer it goes on parents will eventually just go away, well I'm sorry that isn't washing any more. Take the reponsability and deal with it, what would they do if it was their child.
Another huge issue around this is the money, ministers won't like this but, money around ASN needs to be ring fenced so authoritys and schools can't use it as an excuse. These are our most vulnerable child and have rights so please lets get it right for them, no excuses
Iain Ellis
Agree with much of what you say Iain. Isn't a large part of this that in some (too many?) schools, kids with ASN are seen as a problem to be solved rather than an opportunity – the deficit perspective – and particularly when they are seen as requiring more support and therefore more money?
The report on school behavour published the other day highlights concerns about kids with mental health and behavioural issues – we're not good at helping schools understand how difficult behaviour can be addressed and prevented (and they're not good at taking the learning on board). The old punishment systems don't work and can be counter productive, hence higher levels of anxiety among staff and difficult behaviour from young people. It's a negative cycle.
Mike Russell indicated he was ready to take action on Section 60 complaints – they are a farce and completely fail parents and children because, as you say, local authorities and schools simply drag it out over years, and then do nothing to put things right even when the findings go against them. Interested to hear if there's any news on this….
Hi Eileen,
We want a system which deals effectively and efficiently with the concerns that families have about additional support for learning. We are currently considering what we might do to improve section 70 complaints and are thinking about a range of options on that. We would hope to be able to set out our planned approach at the end of this year.
Health and Wellbeing Team, Scottish Government.
there are areas for improvement – why is a pupil treated one way at Primary School but differently when they start at secondary school. At my child's Primary School the Parent Council have set up an ASN group for Parents so help guide parents with a newly assessed ASN child in the right direct. Through grants from a local charity various resources have been purchased – dyslexia friendly books, equipment for those with difficulty reading and various pieces of software.
Agree with much of what you say Iain. Isn't a large part of this that in some (too many?) schools, kids with ASN are seen as a problem to be solved rather than an opportunity – the deficit perspective – and particularly when they are seen as requiring more support and therefore more money?
The report published just a few days ago highlighted school staff's perceptions and worry about the behaviour of youngsters with ASN: we still don's seem to have got to grips with this question and how different approaches to defuse and deal with difficult behaviours (not just the old punitive ones) are needed. Anything else often makes a bad situation worse.
Mike Russell indicated a while ago that he is ready to deal with the shocking Section 60 complaints situation – long overdue and badly failing families – as you say local authorities simply drag their heals and let time go on, so the impact of any decision barely makes any impact. Any news on that one?
Remember that Enquire is here to provide advice and information about any aspect of additional support for learning. Our helpline is open five days a week and our experienced advisors have the time to listen to parents' concerns and questions and talk through options available to them. tel: 0845 123 2303 email: info@enquire.org.uk Web: http://www.enquire.org.uk
I agree that good support is not consistently available from local authority to local authority, from school to school and even from class to class. This is particularly the case in high schools where some teachers still don't 'believe' in providing additional support, whilst their colleagues excel in delivering high quality support which also brings confidence to children and young people. Ultimately, it is about promoting a caring culture in a school (sometimes challenging when teenagers try and specialise in not caring, although it is all fake or just lethargy!)
I think compulsory and deep teacher training at university in additional support for learning will help; compulsory CPD for practising teachers would also help. Plus a grass roots evaluation in each class by all head teachers/principal teachers of which of their staff are offering excellent support and which are offering none. Parents may have to get tough too – lodge complaints against discrimination that they find.
As the parent of a child with severe dyslexia and dyspraxia in S3, I am fearful of SQA constraints about extra time (20 minutes is not enough) but I am prepared to fight for him to have a level playing field so that he can achieve his potential, as are some of his teachers. My son says: "Teachers who don't want to do support for learning are probably in the wrong jobs".
I don't have much experience of dealing with ASL needs but my friends say the service is patchy at best….waiting times for diagnoses are often horrific and some of them were forced to go private to obtain formal notice of what they suspected and so that they could then access the services to which they were entitled.
Unfortunately there is a large number of young people needing the various services on offer and budget cuts must be having an impact…
Issue 1: Diagnosis seems a precondition of support – this can waste anything from a year upwards in a child's educational life.
Issue 2: Delay and frustration is used as a means of rationining support rather than prioritised need. That this frequently involves the use of Advocates/QC's (at outrageous cost) is both iniquitous and offensive.
Issue 3: The "presumption" of anything (but particularly Mainstreaming) is wrong – we should presume nothing without evidence.
Issue 4: SLT's skills and approaches seem incredibly variable, particularly where ASD children are involved.
Issue 5: Non-Education support is often resisted as a means of frustrating the creation of CSP's.
Issue 6: The right to assessment under the 2009 Act is appallingly publicised by Authorities.
Issue 7: The training and professional development of staff is haphazard, incomplete and in many situations absent.
Issue 8: Information on support, outcomes, exclusions in mainstream is missing or hidden.
Issue 9: The 32 Authorities operate utterly inconsistent approaches.
Issue 10: The ASL Estate is physically poorer.
I could go on but unless there is some genuine transparency at an individual and collective level these children are going to continue to be a "problem" to be "contained" or "managed" as they are flushed through the Education system year on year, regardless of their developmental progress until they are spat out to be someone else's "problem" (and therefore cost) to the Health, Social and Criminal Justice systems.
I would be the first to acknowledge that there are areas where practice is good and effective but your chances of getting hold of it are predicated on your family's ability to negotiate or fight your way through a set of obstacles that may not have been designed to frustrate access but appear to be applied with this intention. This means that often those who need it the most are least equipped to obtain it and that's a fundamental injustice – the cost of which is borne by a group who have no choice over being in that position and a society that still operates an "out of sight out of mind" attitude towards them.
ENABLE Scotland's campaign "Bridging the Training Gap" has highlighted the inconsisency of teacher training in the area of ASN. We are calling for mandatory teacher training in the general areas of equalities, inclusion and ASN as well as in the specific topics of communication, positive behaviour support and learning disability/ASD awareness. This aim has been supported not only by parents and young people with ASN but also by many teachers who recognise that in order to be able to confidently support the learning journey of pupils with ASN, they need appropriate training to equip them with the skills to do so. This training needs to take place at university during Initial Teacher Education degrees and throughout a teacher's career by means of regular CPD. This does not have a huge cost implication, come university courses (e.g. Stratchclyde) are already being restructured to reflect student's needs in this area and some local authorities already have excellent CPD opportunities. What is required is a consistent, mandatory approach that ALL local authorities sign up to.
You then visit other schools and they are burying their head in the sand, is it to much pressure, to much responsability or is it they just don't want them in their school .http://www.criminaljusticeschoolsreview.com
Kids need to have additional support for learning so that they grow confident and selflessly. Parents are the main source of support for any child. This support is what is going to result in the betterment of the future of the child.