A national organisation for special needs education is concerned that Britain's most vulnerable children are sometimes being looked after in the classroom by our least qualified and experienced staff.
The personnel to whom the National Association for Special Educational Needs (NASEN) is referring are teachers' assistants, who can be qualified - as in the case of nursery nurses - or unqualified, as in the case of many classroom assistants, and have various titles depending on which local education authority they work for. Just to confuse matters, NASEN refers to them as learning support assistants.
Whatever their names, it appears that they are often left to look after individual SEN children and implement increasing SEN legislation without adequate training, consequently feeling out of their depth.
In its reply to the consultation document for the revised Code of Practice on the Identification and Assessment of Special Educational Needs - which is due out next year and will apply to England only - NASEN says:
'There is recognition of the vital and increasingly important role played by learning support assistants in the education of pupils with special educational needs.
However, there is concern about their status. The Code needs to reinforce the need for quality training to be available and for the funding to support this to cover costs.
'Training will need to include working with parents who will need practical and sometimes emotional support, and listening and interpreting skills when working with pupils. Whilst recognising the role of the learning support assistant there is concern that our most difficult and vulnerable children are sometimes being educated by our least qualified and experienced staff.'
Certainly nursery nurse Kathryn Eaton was so shocked by her own 'in at the deep end' experience of working with SEN children aged four to eight in a school in Sheffield, that she felt compelled to research the wider picture. As part of her Advanced Diploma in Childcare and Education at Sheffield College, which she finished last September, she studied SEN training for nursery nurses working in school nurseries in Sheffield.
She recalls, 'I felt so strongly about it. I had no training for the situation of special needs, and when I first started it petrified me.' The difficulties have grown worse, she believes, because of greater responsibilities, and changing job roles.
No basic training
One in five children need some form of specialist help at some time in their school lives but Eaton's NNEB course, completed five years ago, involved no SEN component. Her research, conducted in 18 primary schools in Sheffield, showed that over half (54 per cent) of respondents had no basic training in this vital area. Some had subsequently undertaken some SEN training, but this tended to be one-day courses, so was of limited value.
The statementing process (drawing up individual education plans for SEN children, with accompanying record-keeping and discussions with parents and other professionals) arose from the 1994 Code of Practice on the Identification and Assessment of SEN and is one area, Eaton points out, where the workload has clearly increased, but with no accompanying training provision. As already stated, the Code is currently being revised.
Eaton feels strongly that the quality of service provided for families with SEN children is not good enough, 'It appears that many nursery nurses just muddle along, using their child development skills and previous experiences,' she says, pointing out that teachers' assistants not only need more SEN-specific training but more non-contact preparation time, too.
Colleagues with longer careers than Eaton's share her views. Elaine Walker, a qualified childcare assistant (the local name for a teachers' assistant with an early years qualification) in Sheffield for the past 18 years, says that, 'in school we do tend to come last, financially'. She does one-on-one computer work with SEN children, yet an IT course is funded only for teaching staff.
She tries fitting preparation round the children 'or you do it in your own time - children are the main priority.
It's a case of juggling. Two childcare assistants would be the ideal solution, and the children would benefit. We could be dealing with an SEN child and not get called away for other things.'
North of the border
In Scotland, teachers' assistants tend to be called learning support auxiliaries, positions for which childcare, education and first-aid qualifications are desirable but not essential.
One auxiliary (with a post-graduate social work qualification), recalls the experience that she and her nursery nurse colleague shared in a rural Highland school.
Training was never an option. 'Some of the extreme behavioural problems with the children meant they were completely disruptive, throwing chairs around and shouting obscenities, and there was no training provided,' she says.
She feels strongly that auxiliaries were too often used as an extra resource by teachers - covering for their occasional absence from the classroom, and so on - yet never involved in staff meetings, record of needs meetings, or social work assessments. 'You as auxiliary have the most person-to-person contact with this child, far more than any educational psychologist, teacher or social worker. You could make or break that child's experience in school. Teachers were concerned with the child only to the extent that they disrupted the rest of the classroom, rather than with their educational needs. Yet you don't get asked your opinion. We were seen on some level as a domestic or childminder, and the pay reflects that.'
Now employed as a social worker, she adds that, in light of her experience, she always invites auxiliaries to reviews of SEN children.
Government plans
In September, the DfEE introduced a four-day induction course, incorporating an SEN component, to teaching assistants in England. And a sum of 350m has been allocated over the three years 1999-2002 to recruit an additional 20,000 teaching assistants and support delivery of these induction courses by local education authorities.
A DfEE spokeswoman also pointed out that money from the Standards Fund, which goes directly to both LEAs and early years development and childcare partnerships, can also be used for SEN training. It is the responsibility of LEAs and EYDCPs to supply training according to local need, she said.
In addition, under the draft guidance to partnerships for 2001-2002, there is a proposal that every partnership should have an SEN co-ordinator and team. These could support teachers' assistants in schools as well as practitioners in other early years settings. 'The DfEE is also looking to produce an early years SEN good practice guide for partnerships,' said the spokeswoman.
But like NASEN, anyone concerned with the welfare of special needs children - and mainstream children, come to that - must hope that the revised Code of Practice on the Identification and Assessment of Special Educational Needs will 'reinforce the need for quality training'. Even with the most brilliantly taught SEN component, a four-day induction course is not going to be enough to help teachers' assistants cope with the most demanding SEN children.
Without investing in those who have the most one-to-one contact with (again, in NASEN's words) 'our most difficult and vulnerable children', we seem to be making a mockery of the integration of special needs children into mainstream schools.
History of special needs provision
Until 1970, SEN children were cared for in hospitals and homes rather than mainstream schools. Change came with the Education (Handicapped Children) Act, handing responsibility to local education authorities.
Special schools were established, but parents and educators increasingly sought integration and the Warnock Committee was set up in 1974 to review provision.
That led to radical change through the 1981 Education Act. It replaced the term 'Handicapped' with 'Special Educational Needs' and promoted integration - with appropriate extra help - into mainstream schools.
The Education Reform Act 1988 introduced the national curriculum in all schools, including special schools, but provided for SEN children to be given their own special needs-led curriculum if necessary.
Further legislation came with the 1994 Code of Practice on the Identification and Assessment of Special Educational Needs, which requires each school to report on its SEN policy, and appoint SEN co-ordinators.
A revised code of practice is due to come into force in September 2001, and aims to help local education authorities and schools to meet the needs of SEN children more effectively by encouraging earlier identification and promoting good quality provision without the need for the often lengthy statementing process. It is designed to help more SEN children either into mainstream schools, or into more specialised settings, depending on parents' choice.
