In the UK, major changes are under way in the provision of special
needs education. Due out in September
there should be a new Code of Practice that will govern how schools will
provide and educate children with special needs. It proposes that schools must teach students of all abilities
in a mainstream setting by personalising and carefully structuring lessons. Teachers will become responsible for all of
the children in their class and must provide the required differentiation to
allow them to succeed. They should regularly assess and develop students'
progress and will be held accountable for this.
Various articles and the comments on them show the
polarisation that is now taking place between those in government and those in
the actual teaching community. The way
forward appears to be a top down approach with reductions in funding, an
insistence on teachers doing more and disparaging remarks about the quality of
support assistants working with children with special needs. Parents are given the false hope that all
will be much better but are also slated for wanting more individualised support
for their child.
I feel as if I am swirling around about to go down the
plughole. I care passionately, I work
with support staff who also care, I listen and try to encourage parents to
fight for what their child needs and all I can see is a wide chasm opening up
where these children are going to lose out because they are not allowed the
education they deserve due to lack of funding and unrealistic expectations
placed on the shoulders of their class teachers and parents given false hope
that things will be better.
I recently attended a local authority conference about the
proposed changes and me being me raised the question of just how many parents
had been informed about the changes proposed because in my school no parent was
aware until I told them. If looks could
have killed I think I might have been dead!
Please let me know your views on our changing educational
systems wherever you are in the world.
What government legislation is making a positive difference? Are you struggling with financial issues in
implementing educational changes? Let’s
share good practice and please forgive my moanings.
TpT resource P is for Pempi’s Palace – please visit my store
and hopefully find something you can use in the education of children!
http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Pempis-Palace-England
http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Pempis-Palace-England
I am personally sick of the uk government using education as a political football, making changes for changing sake and blaming teachers for everything, teenage pregnancy, riots in London etc
ReplyDeleteNice to meet and connect through the atozchallenge. http://aimingforapublishingdeal.blogspot.co.uk
Yes - it certainly appears that way sometimes, Charlotte. Thank you for your support and comments - these are the little things that make a big difference!
DeleteI'm a speech pathologist in private practice and recently a parent complained that his child's pre-k teacher should be working with her on her speech production. I think classroom teachers have enough to handle without taking on responsibility for more.
ReplyDeleteVisiting from the A to Z Challenge. www.widowsphere.blogspot.com
Thank you for leaving your views as another professional involved in special needs. I think most teachers would like to do more for each child in their class and we all know which children would benefit from just that little bit extra support - it really does come down to there are not enough hours in the day and there is only 1 teacher per 30 children (as humans we don't have litters of babies and there has to be a reason for this?)
Delete