Monday 21 April 2014

R is for Resources, Responsibility and Rhetoric

Listed below are two websites that as well as TpT I often turn to for those resources that can make such a difference to students who find the normal process of learning difficult.

http://www.senteacher.org/print/ - lots of great resources for a very wide range of specialist needs and all free

http://www.tes.co.uk/sen-teaching-resources/ - lots and lots of great lesson plans and ideas plus resources by teachers who have created and used them

Responsibility – who should be responsible for improving the outcomes for those children with special needs?  Is it solely the responsibility of the school they go to?  What about the education authority and the extra specialist services it could provide for those who need it?  Children are in the family home three times more than they are at school so what learning takes place there?

As I have previously commented, the UK government’s new proposals include making teachers even more accountable for the progress of children with special needs but teachers are also responsible for the other children in the class to maintain their test scores and for the gifted and talented to be further pushed – so the reality is that if the teacher is not going to receive any extra support or help how is this going to happen?  I’d like to be another 6 inches taller but just setting that as a target is not going to change anything!!

I feel that we are once again heading into the realm of government rhetoric rather than a real change for the better in special needs education.  I have recently been reading an article looking at the American education system and the changes over the past few years which I think sums up what I feel will happen here in the UK too.


TpT resource is R is for Reading:

there is also one for English (U.S.)


2 comments:

  1. Thanks for sharing these resources. I really enjoy collecting educational ideas because I teach writing to adults; I'm always on the lookout for good ideas and new-to-me approaches.

    This is A. Catherine Noon, visiting from the Noon and Wilder blog at http://noonandwilder.blogspot.com for the A-Z Challenge, #1554 on the list. Visiting from the under-100 followers list. Happy blogging!

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  2. Thanks for dropping by and becoming a follower. I'll pop over and visit your site as I think it would be a good idea if I could improve my blog writing.

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