Practitioners wishing to develop their expertise in the area of children's social, emotional and behavioural difficulties may consider distance learning programmes offered by the Social, Emotional and Behavioural Difficulties Association.
SEBDA courses are designed to expand expertise in the areas of:
- Making effective provision for children with SEBD
- Legislation and guidance relating to SEBD
- Past and current trends
- The impact of child development and developmental psychology
- The theories influencing approaches to working with children with SEBD
- Working with families and other services or agencies
The association reports that its established 'Understanding and Managing Children with Social, Emotional and Behavioural Difficulties' programme, in partnership with the University of Leicester, has attracted record numbers of students in the past couple of years. Two courses are offered, which can count towards either a first or a masters degree. Study is conducted by an introductory residential weekend, regional tutorials, e-mail and phone, with the provision that those in distant locations can conduct all tutoring by e-mail or phone.
Both courses require candidates to compile a portfolio of work that includes an audit for their role and two written assignments. While required to study and learn core course content, they also have an opportunity to work on topics of relevance to their workplace.
SEBDA has also developed two new distance learning options for September 2011. 'Mental Health Difficulties in Children with SEBDA' is designed to be a follow-on to its established course, providing 60 credits towards an MA.
Its second course option is a complete and flexible route to an MA (learning and teaching) with a minimum 33 per cent SEBD component. This can be mixed with other courses including mentoring and coaching, nurture groups and dyslexia and leadership.
For an MA, practitioners will need 180 credits, including a 60 credit professional enquiry (in place of the traditional dissertation).
SEBDA is holding its international conference at Keble College, Oxford on 14-17 September on the theme 'Transforming troubled lives'.
