Raising the Profile
Giving A Voice To Pupils With Special Needs And Listening To What They Say
These materials were collated by
Jane Carter
ASRS Manager
© Warwickshire County Council 2003 Contents
Section 1. Introduction and Rationale 5
Section 2. Finding out what young people really think 9
Section 3. Learning to Participate 14
Section 4. Areas of Participation 19
4.1 Individual Education Planning and Target Setting 19
4.2 Formal Review Meetings 24
4.3 Arranging Support 27
4.4 Inclusive Teaching 29
4.5 Behaviour Management 33
4.6 School Councils and the pupils’ voice 39
Section 5. Useful Sources of Information 44
Section 6. OHTs 48
Section 7. Appendices 52
2 Acknowledgements
Thanks especially go to Debbie Turner of the Parent Partnership Service who talked to pupils and staff from the schools listed below. Their comments and practice are used throughout this document:
Sparrowdale School Michael Drayton Junior School Leyland School Polesworth High School Nicholas Chamberlaine School Lawrence Sheriff School Brooke School Paddox Primary School Ash Green School Exhall Grange School Stratford-upon-Avon High School Tysoe Primary School River House School Round Oak School Kingsway Primary School Sydenham Primary School
Sue Robus, Parent Partnership Service Cheryl Gibbons, Transition Adviser Naresh Gahir, LABSS Pat Tate, LABSS Dave Browne, DISCS Phil Robbins, SEN Inspector Jane Carter, ASRS Manager
3 The Participation of Pupils with Special Needs in the Learning Process
"I’d like to help with my assessment, to write my IEP with my teachers. Actually I’d like to make a video, this is my life, this is how I learn, this is my home, this is what I do at weekends. But nobody really asks me anything – I’m somebody’s problem not just me"1
"It’s like being in a zoo sometimes, people always looking at me. I think I know what would be best for me but nobody ever asks me" (a 13 year old with ADHD2 ).
1 Department of Health (2001) Valuing People 2 Russell, P. (2003) Challenges and Opportunities in Listening to Children: Developing Policies and Practices for Positive Pupil Participation, presentation to W. Midlands Educational Psychology CPD Conference
4 Section 1 Introduction and Rationale
The 2001 Special Educational Needs (SEN) Code of Practice, (DfES 2001), contains a new chapter, Chapter 3 ‘Pupil Participation’, which was not part of the old Code of Practice which it replaced. The chapter begins with a statement from ‘The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child’:
“Children, who are capable of forming views, have a right to receive and make known information, to express an opinion, and to have that opinion taken into account in any matters affecting them. The views of the child should be given weight according to the age, maturity and capability of the child.” (Articles 12 and 13, The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.)
This ‘Raising the Profile’ document, embodying guidance from Warwickshire LEA, fully endorses and supports this statement. We wish to continue to develop a climate of partnership in our schools where the child or young person is the key participant in the process of education.
The "Evaluation Schedule" within the new Ofsted Framework, "Inspecting Schools" (effective from September 2003) now requires inspectors to evaluate the extent to which schools seek:
"to involve pupils in its work and development, assessing the extent to which the school: seeks, values and acts on pupils’ views" (section 6, p. 38).
Inspectors will also be looking for specific evidence of inclusive practice and underpinning values and ethos. Essentially inclusion is about increasing the capability of all pupils to participate. A crucial feature of that capability is for pupils to feel that they have an effective voice in decisions about their educational provision. It is hoped that this publication will help schools to evaluate and improve their current practice in relation to how well pupils with special needs participate.
Education should not be regarded by pupils as something which is done to them. Rather, it should be an experience which they shape, develop and engage in, nurturing their knowledge and understanding of their world and the skills which they use in their lives. Pupils with special educational needs have a unique knowledge of their strengths and difficulties.
In the climate of education in this country at the beginning of the 21st century, this philosophy may seem no more than common sense. However, teachers and schools may take very different views on which pupils are capable of having useful views about their own learning. There is rarely a consensus on what constitutes an appropriate ‘age, maturity and capability’ to enable a pupil to be a real decision-making partner in the learning process.
5 The fundamental principle of this document is that all pupils of school age, regardless of age or ability will learn more effectively if their views, expressed by whatever means appropriate, are taken into consideration in planning and delivering their learning programme. While adversity may, in some circumstances, stimulate the will to succeed, pupils with special educational needs, in particular, need to be happy and comfortable with their learning environment and curriculum in order to enjoy success.
There is a danger that the ‘medical model’ of diagnosis, followed by tried-and-tested prescription will lead schools to reason that, if a pupil has been labeled ‘autistic’ or ‘dyslexic’, for example, then they must need a particular preordained approach to provision. This may not be appropriate to that individual pupil’s disposition or aptitude. Only by involving the pupil in an appropriate way in decisions about the provision, can we ascertain whether the provision is likely to be effective.
The young person’s perception of their life in school, their learning environment and their interactions with others will be unique to them and may well be very different to those of the adult observer. As teachers, we must guard against making assumptions about what children or young people think. We must give them the principal voice in describing their learning world as they see it and let that voice inform provision.
Disengagement from the education process is the main characteristic of the experience of pupils who fail to make adequate progress or achieve success in learning. The rationale behind promoting pupil participation is that involvement in decision making leads to motivation, confidence and engagement in the process of learning. This, in turn, increases the prospect of success and achievement. A simple diagram can be used to encapsulate this rationale:
Pupil participation An increased Motivation inclination to through choice participate and involvement