INCLUSION IN ACTION

1. INCLUSION IN ACTION 4th JULY 2012

2. Today we will… • Review and consolidate our understanding of recent developments and proposed changes to the SEN framework • Talk about how and why to assess the impact of interventions • Consider what happens now in your own schools and what needs to happen next, in the light of the new Ofsted framework • Become more familiar with P Scale assessment

3. National developments • The Special Educational Needs and Disability Review, A Statement Is Not Enough, Ofsted 2010 • The Green Paper – Support and Aspiration: A New Approach to SEN and Disability (March, 2011) • The Lamb report • Achievement for All • Ofsted - The framework for school inspection (January 2012)

4. The key messages • Early identification and accurate assessment of need • Giving parents more control • Increasing the confidence and knowledge, skills and understanding of teachers and support staff to address additional needs through training and continuing professional development. • Extending Achievement for All. • Facilitating Every Child a Reader and Every Child Counts programmes and funding for phonics training and resources.

5. The key messages • Need to reduce over identification and get better at distinguishing between under-achievement and SEN • A new Education, Health and Social Care Plan for 0 – 25 years to replace Statements of SEN • Removal of IEPs • An end to School Action /School Action+ • One school based category of SEN

6. The key messages • Increased focus on progress of bottom 20%. Performance tables will include a new measure on progress for the lowest attaining pupils to sharpen accountability. • A review of the usefulness of the BESD label – identifying the root causes of poor behaviour rather than focus on symptoms

7. The key messages • Better preparation for adulthood – early, well-integrated support for, and advice on, their futures • Access to better quality vocational and work related learning options so that they can progress post-16. • Simplification of the statutory guidance for professionals so that it is clear, accessible and helpful. • Greater freedom and flexibility with which funding can be used locally.

8. Local developments • SA+ moderation group

9. National pathfinders DfE and DH have appointed 20 pathfinders representing 31 local authorities and PCT partners with three common objectives: • To develop a new birth to 25 assessment process and single plan incorporating education, health and social care assessments, bringing together the range of support on which children, young people and their parents and families rely; • To explore how the voluntary and community sector could improve access to specialist expertise and to introduce more independence to the process; • To ensure the full engagement of children, young people, and their parents and families.

10. Next steps – the pathfinders All pathfinders will test core elements, including: • A multi-agency approach • Links between support planning and strategic commissioning • Use of personal funding, • Pooled and aligned budgets • Focus on outcomes in a single plan • Transferability of social care support across area boundaries • VFM and cost • Mediation for parents

11. Watch this space • An interim evaluation of the pathfinders will be published by October 2012, with a final evaluation report following in 2013. www.sendpathfinder.co.uk • Government intend to introduce legislation in this session of Parliament to implement the changes to the law required for the Green Paper reforms from 2014.

12. Meeting the needs of vulnerable groups The legal framework and some views from Ofsted

13. Who are the vulnerable groups? • disabled pupils, as defined by the Equality Act 2010, and those who have special educational needs • boys • girls • groups of pupils whose prior attainment may be different from that of other groups • those who are academically more able • pupils for whom English is an additional language • minority ethnic pupils • Gypsy, Roma and Traveller children • looked after children • pupils known to be eligible for free school meals • lesbian, gay and bisexual pupils • transsexual pupils • young carers • pupils from low income backgrounds • other vulnerable groups

14. Activity • Part 1: discuss in your tables groups - what makes each particular group vulnerable? Record your ideas. • Part 2: use the Post-Its to record anything that currently happens on your school that is specifically focused on any of the vulnerable groups. Add the Post-Its to the relevant sheet

15. Ofsted briefing In Primary schools inspectors might explore whether: • pupils ever hear anyone use the word ‘gay’ when describing a thing or and whether they have been told by teachers that using the word ‘gay’ to mean something is rubbish is wrong, and why it is wrong • pupils ever get picked on by other children for not behaving like a ‘typical girl’ or a ‘typical boy’ • pupils have had any lessons about different types of families (single parent, living with grandparents, having two mummies or two daddies).

16. Ofsted briefing In secondary schools, inspectors might explore the above, and whether: • there is any homophobic bullying or name calling in school or on social media sites • if a gay pupil was ‘out’ in school, they would feel safe from bullying • they have learned about homophobic bullying and ways to stop it happening in school • they learn in school about different types of families - whether anyone is, or would be, teased about having same-sex parents.

17. Equality Act 2010 http://media.education.gov.uk/assets/files/pdf/e/equality%20act%20guidance%20march%202012.pdf • Schools required to publish equality information and objectives. Initially this must be done by 5 April 2012, and then periodically updated • Protection against discrimination is now extended to pupils who are pregnant or have recently given birth, or who are undergoing gender reassignment • The overriding principle of equality legislation is generally one of equal treatment.

18. Equality Act 2012 • However, the provisions relating to disability discrimination are different. You may, and often must, treat a disabled person more favourably than a person who is not disabled and may have to make changes to your practices to ensure, as far as is reasonably possible, that a disabled person can benefit from what you offer to the same extent that a person without that disability can. • The Act defines disability as when a person has a ‘physical or mental impairment which has a substantial and long term adverse effect on that person’s ability to carry out normal day to day activities.’

19. Equality Act 2012 • Discrimination arising from disability: A school must not discriminate against a disabled pupil because of something that is a consequence of their disability – for example by not allowing a disabled pupil on crutches outside at break time because it would take too long for her to get out and back. • Harassment: A school must not harass a pupil because of adisability – for example, a teacher shouting at apupil because their disability means that s/he is constantly struggling with class-work or unable to concentrate.

20. Ofsted 2012 Looking at pupils’ achievement

21. Ofsted Inspection of Maintained Schools and Academies from January, 2012 • Inspection is primarily about how individual pupils benefit from their school. It is important to test the school’s response to individual needs by observing how well it helps all pupils to make progress and fulfil their potentialespecially those whose needs, dispositions, aptitudes or circumstances require particularly perceptive and expert teaching and/or additional support.

22. Achievement of pupils • While many pupils with special educational needs are not precluded from attaining as well as or better than their peers, for those groups of pupils whose cognitive ability is such that their attainment is unlikely ever to rise above ‘low’, the judgement on achievement should be based on an evaluation of the pupils’ learning and progress relative to their starting points at particular ages and any assessment measures held by the school but should not take account of their attainment compared to national benchmarks.

23. Achievement of pupils • Any evidence of past progress analysed by the school including whether pupils reached challenging targets, including those for reading. • The school’s evaluation of the attainment and progress of: • pupils who have received intervention and/or additional support

24. The quality of teaching • Inspectors will evaluate: • The quality of teaching and other support provided for pupils with a range of aptitudes and needs, including for those with special educational needs and/or disabilities, so that their learning improves.

25. Ofsted & data No single measure or indicator determines judgements. The data, including that provided by the school, should be used to: check the accuracy of the school’s assessment of pupils’ progress and attainment levels, particularly where there are no externally marked test/examination results check the robustness and accuracy of the school’s self-evaluation, particularly on achievement, teaching, and behaviour and safety

26. Ofsted & pupils Inspectors must ensure that they talk to pupils who have a range of needs, including disabled pupils and those with special educational needs, and pupils who are receiving support They must evaluate the robustness with which the school monitors the attendance, behaviour, learning and progress of pupils that receive alternative provision

27. Ofsted and SEND Inspectors must also consider: the spiritual, moral, social and cultural development of pupils at the school the extent to which the education provided by the school meets the needs of the range of pupils at the school, and in particular the needs of: - pupils who have a disability for the purposes of the Equality Act 2010 - pupils who have special educational needs.

28. 21st century SENCO What does it all mean for your role?

29. A changing profile • SENCO regulations came into force on 1st September 2009, requiring that: • SENCOs should be teachers with qualified teacher status • SENCOs new to the role should undertake mandatory training (the National Award for SEN Co-ordination) • Recommendation that SENCOs should be on SLT

30. The SENCO role in future • a lead professional • a strategist • an advocate and champion for children • a knowledge & information manager • a commissioner and broker • a resource manager • a partnership manager • a quality assurer • a facilitator • a solution focused thinker • And……..?

31. We’re all in this together! • All teachers are teachers of children with special educational needs (CoP) • Developing and promoting the professional skills, knowledge and confidence to make sure all children are included and have their needs met • ‘It is what teachers know, do, and care about which is so very powerful in this learning equation.’ (John Hattie) • Experienced teachers or expert teachers?

32. John Hattie • We need to direct our attention at higher quality teaching, and higher expectations that students can meet appropriate challenges - and these occur once the classroom door is closed and not by reorganising which or how many students are behind those doors, by promoting different topics for these teachers to teach, or by bringing in more sticks to ensure they are following policy.

33. Who will ‘lead’ the new changes? Super SENCO?

34. The Lone Ranger is dead The whole is greater than the sum of its parts: this really iseveryone’sbusiness!

35. Coffee time!

36. Judging the impact of interventions Context and background

37. The Pupil Premium • Schools will have the freedom to spend the Premium, which is additional to the underlying schools budget, in a way they think will best support the raising of attainment for the most vulnerable pupils • The Government intends to make available to schools the evidence that exists about interventions that can improve the progress and attainment of pupils from low income backgrounds.

38. Ofsted & pupil premium • Depending on the type of school it may be relevant to pay particular attention to the achievement of: • disabled pupils, and those who have special educational needs • those with protected characteristics, as defined by the Equality Act 2010 • boys • girls • the highest and lowest attainers • those for whom the pupil premium provides support including: • looked after children • pupils known to be eligible for free school meals • children of service families

39. Accountability & transparency It is important that there is transparency about how the Pupil Premium has been used to improve the achievement of pupils from poorer backgrounds. Schools will be asked to report to parents annually from September 2012 about how they have used the Pupil Premium. New measures in performance tables that will capture the achievement of those deprived pupils covered by the Pupil Premium. Together, these will ensure that parents and others are made fully aware of the attainment of pupils covered by the Premium and that it is spent on improving the life chances of the poorest children.

40. Ofsted Inspection of Maintained Schools and Academies from January, 2012 • Inspection is primarily about how individual pupils benefit from their school. It is important to test the school’s response to individual needs by observing how well it helps all pupils to make progress and fulfil their potential especially those whose needs, dispositions, aptitudes or circumstances require particularly perceptive and expert teaching and/or additional support.

41. Best practice Research findings suggest that: • carefully designed school improvement interventions, which pay attention to research about ‘what works’, can help schools to narrow the gap in attainment between more and less advantaged pupils. • development of robust measures of the impacts of interventions which go beyond a preoccupation with examination results and can capture wider outcomes – for example, around well-being, self-esteem and other hard-to-measure aspects of inequality Insight 2 Social inequality: can schools narrow the gap? Bera, 2010

42. So what DOES make a difference? In 2012 their SEND review, ‘A Statement Is Not Enough’, Ofsted stated ‘Across all the education providers visited, the keys to good outcomes were ???????’

43. So what DOES make a difference? • Across all the education providers visited, the keys to good outcomes were good teaching and learning, close tracking, rigorous monitoring of progress with intervention quickly put in place, and a thorough evaluation of the impact of additional provision ‘A Statement Is Not Enough’, Ofsted 2010

44. ‘A Statement is Not Enough’ Ofsted 2010 • In the providers where assessment was good or outstanding, the achievement of just under two thirds of children and young people was good or outstanding. • Where assessment was satisfactory or inadequate, achievement was good or outstanding for just over a quarter of children and young people.

45. Just one thing? • If I could boil the whole of educational psychology down to just one thing it would be this: find out where the child is in their learning, and start from there. Quoted in Hattie, Visible Learning for Teachers

46. What is an intervention? • Provision that is ‘additional to’ and/or ‘different from’ that provided as part of the school’s usual differentiated curriculum offer in response to concerns about a pupil’s progress.

47. Is that clear? • Nearly one fifth of the schools visited by Ofsted suggested that they provided many interventions that they considered ‘additional’ and ‘different’ when, in other schools, such provision was regarded as the norm. A Statement Is Not Enough, Ofsted 2010

48. Discussion • Are all your school’s interventions really ‘additional to’ and ‘different from’ provision? • Is assessment practice good enough to ensure that you are confident about what the barrier to progress is for an individual pupil? • What actions are taken and by whom when the barrier is about QFT? • Are the right pupils receiving the right interventions for the right reasons? • Is there careful tracking of pupils during the duration of the intervention to ensure early identification of any lack of progress?

49. Judging the impact of interventions Different approaches to evaluating impact

50. Self-evaluation approaches and quality assurance • Impact assessment tends to be seen as retrospective. • It is in fact part of a cycle of quality assurance. • ‘Front end’ quality assurance is what we need to emphasise, the right people, properly prepared, using tested/trialled methods.