An educational revolution. Placing special educational needs and inclusion at the heart of mainstream teaching and learning.
Date 23 April 2024
The Accessible Learning Foundation was launched in September last year by the then Health Secretary, Matt Hancock, to support individuals with dyslexia. It was seen as a ‘beacon of hope’ for those with the learning disorder.
What does an academic think about this and special educational needs and inclusion? With plans for two new SENI/SEND schools in Northamptonshire, Tereza also talks about what’s needed to best support and understand children who have special educational needs and requirements, and what she would do with a bottomless pot of money to achieve this.
I’ve worked as an early years practitioner, as a secondary school teacher, special educational needs and within inclusion education – I took a bit of a roundabout way into my career, but I got there in the end!
I have a very strong sense of justice. I was always the person to intervene amongst my friends, supporting them with their relationships, and I’ve always felt that was the role that would suit me and why I do what I do. But in an ideal world, I don’t feel there should be a separate, special education service. It shouldn’t be someone coming in with their ‘special educational needs hat’ on and doing something as an afterthought – it should just be happening anyway. These are individuals who live amongst us, they could be us, our family members.
Matt Hancock’s statement earlier this year about the Accessible Learning Foundation is what kicked off this blog – it annoyed me on many different levels! I agree that the Foundation – generally seen to be his ‘baby’ – is a valid thing and there should be better diagnosis of dyslexia, but his statement read like an advertisement. It also seemed ironic that attendance formed part of the campaign around this, but considering the Government that’s behind him, they don’t look at their own attendance in parliament! The people who should be present when these issues are discussed are not – to me, that’s a statement itself.
Aside from that, this focus they have on this waiting list and that the Foundation will tackle this diagnosis issue is all fine and good, but none of the problems end with an assessment. The big issue not being touched on is the poor resourcing after the diagnosis – getting that and then being sent off to go your own way isn’t effective. We need to look at the whole system and think you know what, we need to reform this – the funding itself is minimal, it hardly scratches the surface. Responsibility and accountability should be there on the part of the Government – when do they take ownership if school attendance is so low because they’re not doing what they should, because they haven’t provided the funding for small class sizes for people to learn and feel safe. It’s like having an open wound and only using a sticking plaster to treat it.
For more from Tereza, listen in to her podcast.
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Tereza has worked in education for over 21 years. She is currently Senior Lecturer in the University of Northampton’s SEN and Inclusion department and engages in various projects with a focus on individuals with autism in higher education, employment, excluded students, and deaf and hard of hearing students.