This piece wasn’t originally written for my blog site, but I have decided to share and publish it here, as there has been much debate about the SENCO role recently, notably at the @WomenED #SENDed conference on the 23.09.2017 and during @UkEdchat via twitter on 28.09.2017

The Special Educational Needs Code of Practice (1994) was the first document to mention the management of SEN provision and formalize the Special Educational Needs Coordinator (SENCO) role. A role that has been well documented as changing over time (Robertson & Morewood 2011, Rosen – Webb 2011 & Done et al 2017), from that of an ‘in house’ expert on all SEND provision for all pupils with SEND, to a wider remit of middle or senior leadership responsibilities which can include an organizational overview, identification of continuing professional development (CPD) requirements, managing and deploying staff and completing performance review.

A change in statue law (Regulations 2008) stated that a SENCO, should be a qualified teacher and from September 2009, undertake a National SENCO qualification (NASENCO), within three years of appointment (unless the post was held prior to 2009). The NASENCO is the only school based role after QTS, where further study is required, as the National Professional Qualification for Headship (NPQH) was removed as a statutory requirement for Headship in 2012.

Between 2009- 2014 twenty-five providers were accredited to deliver a NASENCO, by the Training & Development Agency (TDA) who funded places. It offered guidance on what SENCO development at the time should be through common program outcomes and it stipulated that the award must be validated at post graduate level and recognized by an awarding body, which would be able to authenticate the award at a master’s level for sixty credits.

The NASENCO is no longer funded and Schools/settings are required to finance the training themselves, with would be SENCOs opting for different versions depending on their circumstances. Some would be SENCOs undertaking an online version, such as the one provided by Serco, with The University of Wolverhampton or face to face programs which require attendance over a certain amount days (eg ten days over ten months) and may include some local elements such as the Staffordshire focused program delivered jointly by Entrust and The University of Birmingham.

During the early days of the NASENCO, many SENCOs were not receiving support from the Senior Leadership team or were not members themselves and were therefore ‘working in difficult circumstances’ (Cole 2005), the program had to recognize that each SENCO had different experience and some SENCOs had not undertaken scholarly activity since their undergraduate degree course or PGCE (depending on which ITE route they had taken).

Having been involved in delivery of the NASENCO since 2010, I have observed changes over time, for example three of the first cohort in Staffordshire, were Head Teachers who were SENCOs and had assistant SENCOs supporting them. I have seen less Head Teachers (if any) attending, but more SENCOs with additional designated titles such as Assistant or Deputy Head Teacher. However although advised and endorsed by groups such as The Whole School SEND consortium, not all SENCOs today are on the SLT, however in bigger schools, where SENCOs have large departments, it  may not always be necessary or essential to be.

The NASENCO went through re-validation in 2014 due to the new SEND Code of Practice (2014) and the subsequent SEND Reform which took a new stance, by introducing the notion that ‘every teacher is a teacher of SEND’. Throughout chapter six of the Code of Practice, the SENCO role is referred to a Leadership and Management role, for example, ‘the SENCO has an important part to play…in determining the strategic development of the SEN policy and provision in the school. They would be most effective in that role if they are part of the School Leadership Team’ (p6.87) and notably would be supporting all school staff to become ‘teachers of SEND’.

To preserve the standards required for the NASENCO, the providers (mostly Universities) formed a provider group chaired by nasen who appointed a working group to develop and maintain quality standards of the NASENCO, including producing a self -evaluation document which is used by providers to quality assure their own provision. The nasen working party has concluded a recent evaluation of the NASENCO and its outcomes and will be publishing these findings shortly.

Two sets of researchers (Pearson & Gathercole 2011 & Griffiths & Dubsky 2012), although pre SEND Reform, evaluated NASENCO programs and found that SENCOs believed that the program content of the NASENCO contributed to an increase in their understanding of the management aspects of the role, for example deployment of TAs. SENCOs also reported that engagement with research and policy literature deepened their understanding of their own practice and its rationale. Testimonials from the Staffordshire lead program indicate similar levels of satisfaction, for example, ‘The Support from Colleagues, Delegates and Tutors has enabled me to increase my skills, knowledge and understanding’ and ‘I have a much greater understanding of how to do my job well! Completing the course over a year has meant I have been putting into practice what I have learnt but been able to come back and ask.’

Today, we are facing an uncertain future in Education, and concerns are growing around how school budgets are going to meet the needs of all pupils in schools, especially when many schools already have made key support staff such as Teaching Assistants redundant. The evolved training route which is the NASENCO, continues to support SENCOs to be effective in their current roles and beyond into senior leadership, however with funding cuts biting hard on schools, all that hard work to create a fit for purpose qualification which offers support and guidance for a multi-faceted role may disappear along with the school mini bus, and the swimming pool.

 

 

COLE, B, A (2005) Mission Impossible? Special Educational Needs, Inclusion and the re-conceptualization of the role of the SENCO in England and Wales. European Journal of Special Needs Education, Volume 20, pp 287- 307

DEPARTMENT FOR EDUCATION/DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH (DfE/DoH) (2014) Special Educational Needs and Disability Code of Practice, London : HMSO

DEPARTMENT FOR EDUCATION AND SKILLS (2001) Special Educational Needs: Code of Practice. Annesley : DfES Publications

DONE, L, MURPHY, M & WATT, M Change Management and the SENCO role: developing key performance indicators in the strategic development of inclusivity. Support for Learning, Volume 31, Number 4, 281 – 295

GRITTITHS, D & DUBSKY, R (2012) Evaluating the Impact of the new National Award for SENCOs : Transforming landscapes or gardening in a gale. British Journal of Special Education, Volume 39, Number 4, 160 – 172

KEARNS, H (2007) Exploring the experiential learning of Special Educational Needs Coordinators. Journal of In-Service Education, 31 (1)

MOREWOOD, G, D & ROBERTSON, C (2012) Editorial. Support for Learning, Volume 27, Number 2, 51 – 52

ROSEN-WEBB, S, M (2011) Nobody tells you how to be a SENCO. British Journal of Special Education. Volume 38. Number 4, 159 – 167

 

See also

Statutory Instruments 2008. No 2945. Education England.

The Education (Special Educational Needs Coordinators) (England) Regulations

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2008/2945/pdfs/uksi_20082945_en.pdf

With an addition about supporting pupils with SEND
I am not the only person who asks the ‘so what?’ question when questioning why we are undertaking research, it is used by Booth, Colob, Wiiliams & Fitzgerald (2016) in a publication called The Craft of Research.
I have started a research project with Robert Morgan from the University of Greenwich and we are looking at ability groups in primary schools.
We have initially asked students completing placements on ITE programmes and the twitter community, to tell us the names of ability groups in the classes they teach and to which ability each group relates.
So, what if we find out that most groups are named after colours?
So, what if we find out that only pupils in year one are named after biscuits?
So, what if we find out that the bigger the animal, the more able the group is considered to be?
So, what if we find out the more sides a shape, the less able the group is considered to be? 
At the moment, this is just data collection.
It gives us some interesting chats on twitter and anywhere else we may talk about our research project and it gives us lots of qualitative data on how many red groups and shape groups there are in the sample.
But the ability to make a graph on this, does not help us to identify how this may or may not affect every day classroom practice or provide us with any scope to consider how we might link it to improving Teaching and Learning.

 

The three step process used by Booth et al, 2016, to develop the so what question, is a good tool to expand the research question beyond a ‘so what’ and a possible superficial data collection exercise.

Foci could be thus,
1. Name the topic: I am trying to learn/find out about …
2. Ask an indirect question about the topic in order to identify what you do not know about the topic
3. Answer So What? by motivating your question by asking a second indirect question that explains why you asked your first indirect questions.

Worked example answer based on the ability group project,
1. Name the topic: I am trying to learn/find out about …
I want to find out about ability groups in primary schools

2. Ask an indirect question about the topic in order to identify what you do not know about the topic
Because I want to explore if unconscious bias exists once these groups are named and set up

3. Answer So What? by motivating your question by asking a second indirect question that explains why you asked your first indirect questions.
Because I want to know if incorrect assumptions are made about these ability groups how ‘fixed’ are they across the curriculum, especially if SEND needs are being appropriately planned for, i.e. a pupil with dyslexia may have strengths in the Maths Curriculum but may not have in parts of the English Curriculum but may be in the ‘red group’ for both subjects

This is a good process for not only looking at research questions, but also in developing knowledge and support for pupils who are experiencing difficulties, and as practitioners we want to explore why. I have used the four boards areas of the SEND Code of Practice, to illustrate the examples, these are by no means exhaustive, or the only examples.
Here is how I think it could work not only for supporting pupils, but could be written in a CPD format to aid Professional Development.

(Don’t forget we have a teaching standard that mentions scholarship!)
Cognition & Learning Focus
I want to develop an understanding of literacy interventions because I want to find out the most effective literacy intervention to deliver to a pupil who is finding reading a challenge.
Social, Emotional & Mental Health Focus
I want to observe playtime activity to implement some strategies to improve playtime behaviour because I want to identify what works for a pupil who finds it difficult to socialise during unstructured times
Sensory and/or Physical Focus
I want to develop a knowledge base around supporting pupils with physical difficulties, so that I can work with the teaching assistant staff to support a pupil in my class
Speech, Language & Communication Focus
I want to understand alternative communication systems such as PECs so that I can support a pupil with SCLN in my class
Therefore, Research and SEND equals @ResearchSEND
Join us at our next event in Sheffield

Reference

Booth, W. C., Colob, G., G, Williams, J. M., J., B., & Fitzgerald, W. T. (2016). The Craft of Research (Fourth Edition). Chicago: The University Of Chicago Press.

 

 

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/researchsend-conference-tickets-35258705738

 

I have been talking about a research project for a few months with a Robert Morgan from The University of Greenwich.
It started when we shared a car journey, and were talking about school based practice and ability groups.

We have both visited a lot of classrooms in various roles and we both thought that colours were the most common ability groups names. However, we questioned if this was just our experience, and believed that we could not make judgments based on just our view.
What if other colleagues were using inventive names?

How would we know if we did not ask?
Furthermore, what’s in a name? Is there some unconscious bias for example, around a certain colour, shape or animal?
So, our research project started.

Robert was to ask some of his departing students, what the names of the ability groups were in their placement schools, which he did and I was to look at a different sample and use social media through #AskTwitter. Robert completed his task some weeks ago, I’m starting mine today.
Both myself and Robert are research literate, Robert has worked in a University for many years and I am cofounder of @ResearchSEND, working towards a PHD, but for this research we are very much at the consumer stage of the #CUPID model (consume, use, produce, involvement & disseminate).

For blogs about #CUPID see

Dr Gary Jones Blog

Michelle Haywood Blog
Our challenge if this research is going to mean something and not be an exercise in curiosity, is to move from ‘consuming’, were we have collected information from a range of classroom practitioners, have cast a ‘critical eye’ over it, and drawn our own conclusions to doing something with the information.
Our starting point may be in considering the work of Wallace and Wray, 2016 in Critical Reading and Writing for Postgraduates (3rd edn) around identifying the components of an argument,
An argument consists of a conclusion (comprising one or more claims that somethings is, or should be, the case) and its warranting (the justification for why the claim or claims in the conclusion should be accepted). The warranting is likely to be based on the evidence from the author’s research or professional experience, or it will draw up on others’ evidence as reported in the literature. p36
If for example, we find from our sample group that one group of ability is named prominently after one colour, we will want to triangulate this information with other sources. This could be further searching of library catalogues and reading about groups, on how they are set up and how they operate, for example.
We may not follow the #CUPID model in its linear form, but move onto produce, involvement and disseminate quite quickly, as we may find some striking results which warrant a written paper and wider dissemination.
We do however need to beware of illogical or incomplete arguments, especially if we choose to go for wider dissemination with what we find, for example drawing conclusions without evidence or insufficient warranting for the conclusion.
Wallace & Wray (2016) can help us out again here, with their ‘flaw in the argument model’, which the made up examples demonstrate,
1. Conclusion without Warranting – The Diamond group makes the most progress
2. Potential warranting without a conclusion – Attainment data from the Diamond group shows that this group makes the most progress. The School is a good school.
3. Warranting leading to an illogical conclusion – The Red group made less progress. Pupils don’t like the colour red.
4. Conclusion not explicitly linked to warranting – The wolf group are spending insufficient times on homework. The wolf group should be set more homework
5. Conclusion with inadequate warranting – Pupils learn more effectively when their group is given positive feedback. A pupil survey of year 6 pupils indicated that pupils preferred praise to criticism
This to me is where the difference may lie from consuming research and then drawing conclusions from what has been consumed, and moving our understanding further. The examples show how easy it is to make a statement (I made all these examples up!) and believe they may be research informed.
Is this what happens if we don’t read beyond the headlines of a piece of research?
I think it might.
As myself and Robert progress further with this research, we will be able to share with you our journey.

In the meantime if you would like to provide us with information on your class ability groups, we would welcome them to increase our sample size.

Please email us for more details

michelle.haywood@wlv.ac.uk
R.A.Morgan@greenwich.ac.uk

 

 

As the end of the School year draws near, whatever role you hold in school, you will be evaluating the work that you and your pupils have completed and will be celebrating achievement.

You may already be looking forward to the next academic year.

How much of this reflection and forward planning, includes the link between good teaching and research? How many times over the last year have you used research to inform practice? How often have you discussed educational research with colleagues and used research outcomes to formulate a training/INSET session?

Most schools allocate about five days a year to whole staff development, on which several will often focus on delivering some aspect of curriculum content, others will focus on statutory responsibilities and the operational aspects of the role. Very little of this time, if any, is spent on translating research findings into effective classroom practice.

There are organisations, however, working to create a culture of researchers and make us more research literate, such as ResearchED and more recently The Chartered College of Teaching which aims to create a knowledge based community to share excellent practice and to enable teachers to connect with rigorous research and evidence. There seems to be an acceptance that we do not have an active culture of research in Education, and maybe we don’t but our professional careers did not start off this way (remember that research based course work on your PGCE? The dissertation on your B’Ed/BA?).

Using identified and published pieces of research can transform practice, and when teachers undertake their own research, it changes not just what teachers do, but what they think as well. The use of research contributes to gains in knowledge and encourages reflection and analysis of personal performance and in doing so, helps to understand and improve outcomes for learners.

For SENCOs and SEND Leaders in School, Research knowledge is invaluable in providing evidence of the success of research based interventions but there is no doubt that undertaking continuous professional development (CPD) which impacts on practice is a challenge, with limited time to undertake it and other demands on time getting in the way.

So, start the new year with a plan.

Use @ResearchSEND to get your School Research Journey started.

@ResearchSEND was launched with a Conference at The University of Wolverhampton in February 2017. It was developed to promote and recognize the importance of research in meeting the needs of learners with SEND.

There is research and researchers who are writing widely on the challenges facing learners with SEND and @ResearchSEND believes that some of this research is not widely known and used. @ResearchSEND believes that for all Learners, every day counts and that we as practitioners should have a repertoire of skills, strategies and interventions at our finger tips to support all learners in our classrooms.

@ResearchSEND has three strands,

Researching the bigger picture considers research undertaken across the educational landscape and considers research undertaken by large research organisations such as EEF, commissioned research projects and large scale work undertaken by Universities.

New researchers. New voices encourages teachers undertaking their own personal research to have the space to share that work.  This maybe to support their CPD and may be part of a further study project, for example a Masters Degree.

ChangeMonday uses the hashtag #ChangeMonday to make research accessible enough to be able to change practice, if that is what is required, easily and simply

Speakers at @ResearchSEND are a combination of professionals from each strand; class based teachers, Senior Lectures with Specialisms in research and specialists working with identified groups of learners with SEND. Speakers have included, Rob Webster, Bart Shaw, Jon Reid, Helen Curran, Christopher Rossiter, Jenifer Donovan, Roseanne Esposito, Nancy Gedge and Marc Rowland, Margaret Muholland, Dr Joanna Vivash & Professor Philip Garner

All believe in a system leader approach to sharing professional knowledge and expertise to make the learning experience count for all our learners.

@ResearchSEND events host a panel of members who have undertaken extensive research on education pedagogy. The first panel included Professor Michelle Lowe, Kerry Jordan Daus, Dame Alison Peacock and Sir Toby Salt.   Panel members are able to address a range of research topics including, integrating research findings into classroom practice, the challenges of being a teacher researcher and future thinking and development.

The next ResearchSEND Conference will be held on the 18^th November at Sheffield Hallam University from 09:30 to 15:30 (GMT)
Sheffield Hallam University – City Campus
Howard Street
S1 1WB Sheffield
United Kingdom

Book your ticket for @ResearchSEND

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

SEND: Built in, not bolt on.

On Friday I attended the UCET (Universities’ Council for the Education of Teachers) Conference for SEND (Built in, not Bolt on) at Swiss Cottage School, for Initial Teacher Education (ITE).

Early in the day, delegates were asked, when in their teaching career did they feel confident to work with SEND pupils. A straw poll survey demonstrated that it was around three years after completing an ITE course.

Throughout the day, there was continued recognition that ITE was the start of a journey and for New Teachers; their teaching journey is just beginning in their NQT year. I had last week submitted a commissioned piece on integrating SEND into the NQT programme, for a professional magazine. To continue the debate, I have included a version of the piece here.

ITE, NQT and the GBBO

As an NQT takes ownership of their classroom for the first time, they face a technical challenge, not dissimilar to baking an item on the GBBO. A new teacher on an ITE programme, will have started their teaching journey by choosing a recipe book and then modelling skills and styles suggested by their chosen book, but they will not have had time to learn all the technical vocabulary in the book and put it into practice.

After undertaking around a hundred and twenty days of teaching practice on an ITE course, of which an NQT will have taught another teacher’s class or classes, worked within existing structures and routines and following schemes of work created by someone else, an NQT will have a class of their own. This will be the first time they will have worked with a class from the beginning of the year, or the beginning of the term and it may not be until an NQT opens to the door to their own classroom for the first time, that they are aware that some of the key components to complete the technical challenge are missing.

The one key component that is commonly considered to incomplete is around working within SEND processes and providing provision for pupils with SEND. All ITE programmes, whatever form they take, address SEND and are obliged to prepare all new teachers to be able to support SEND in their classrooms. Some courses may include placements in Specialist provision, but these are not always available, so many of the skills and strategies that have been introduced may have only been observed in a narrow context.

The coverage of SEND content on ITE programmes, is not the only area which warrants more input, it does sit alongside other classroom preparation, which is equally valid and important and needs ample time spent on it, such as, planning & assessment, national assessments & exams, child development & learning, managing pupil’s behaviour, early reading, assessing & evaluating teaching and the use of evidence and research to inform teaching.

The ITE programme should be considered a starting point, and then the responsibility for the next stage of the journey lies with both the school to which the NQT is employed and the NQTs themselves. It has been advised in the Standards for Teachers Professional Development, that teachers ‘keep their knowledge and skills up to date, take responsibility for improving teaching through appropriate professional development, responding to advice and feedback from colleagues and demonstrate knowledge and understanding of how pupils learn and how this has an impact on teaching’ (DFE 2016). This links to the School Development plan (SDP) for every teacher’s performance management and for an NQT this will be no different.

The continuous evaluation of SEND processes and provision should be a feature of the School Development Plan (SDP) as part of SEND Reform (2014) and its focus on ‘every teacher is a teacher of SEND’. An NQT will be part of this process, and will undertake the same activity, but they should also have their own professional development plan which will focus on their development as a class teacher and supporting pupils with SEND should be part of an integrated programme of support.

Existing teachers will already know what ‘best endeavours’ are and who the designated person for coordinating SEND is in their school. An NQT will need to know how the school assesses the progress of pupils, how the school identifies the pupils who are making less than expected progress, what this looks like and interventions are available to support pupils.

Supporting an NQT to becoming a Teacher of SEND

An NQT will have a mentor during their induction year, who may or may not be the School SENCO. If the SENCO is not involved in the support package then this should be adjusted to make them an integral part.

The school SENCO should not be planning all the interventions for each individual class, but they will have an overview and knowledge of the provision that is taking place and what strategies can be used and this overview should be the first part of the induction process, from then on, the school SENCO with the mentor should develop a specific support plan for SEND which could include the following,

School Policy

• Plan sessions on school policy, including how SEND pupils are identified, how they are supported and procedures for Statutory Assessment
• What provision is available across the school and how is it allocated. What is available for the year group/subject that the NQT is currently working with
• How to informally and formally gather evidence to demonstrate a pupil’s needs
• Undertaking an assess, plan, do, review cycle
• Managing TA staff and managing without a TA in the classroom

Understanding SEND Process & Procedures

• Explain the process of acquiring an Education Health Care Plan (ECHP) and the statutory responsibilities around these.
• How to integrate individual targets into lesson planning
• Assessing pupils who are not working within the National Curriculum. Many schools are still using P levels, but others may be using other methods
• Attend an Annual Review as an observer

Learning from others  

• Plan times to visit other classrooms across the school and within other schools.
• When visiting other colleagues, ask NQTs to observe the support pupils with SEND are receiving, how the room is organised, what resources are used
• Spend time looking at children’s individual support plans and ask class teachers to explain how they support individual pupils in their classrooms.
• Find opportunities to meet with external agencies, such as Educational Psychologists and Speech and Language Therapists. Some MATs hold sessions for NQTs where specialists are invited, if available, encourage NQTs to attend.
• Visits specialist provision, such as Special Schools and PRUs

Managing personal professional development

• Read key publications such as TES, Guardian Education, SchoolsWeek, TeachSENCO
• Consider joining membership organisations such as The Chartered College, Nasen & The British Dyslexia Society
• Sign up to news updates from Ofsted and the DFE, as well as organisations specifically supporting SEND such as Whole School SEND and the Driver Youth Trust
• Attend networking events such as Teechmeets and ResearchSEND

 

• Join twitter and follow some of the key voices and advocates for SEND, for example, Special Needs Jungle, Starlight McKenzie, Barney Angliss, Nancy Gedge, Gareth Morewood, Cherryl Kidd, Natalie Packer, Maria Constantinou, Lorraine Peterson, Marc Rowland, Simon Knight, Alison Peacock, Rob Webster, David Bartram, Michelle Haywood

 

• Sign post to information areas such as The SEND Gateway and key publications such as Inclusion for Primary Teachers by Nancy Gedge

 

Ultimately when supporting an NQT in school, ensure that they do not become overwhelmed and impress upon them, that teaching as a profession is a learning journey, and we are always learning. There is always a new recipe or a variation to learn.

NB – The next ResearchSEND event will be held on the 18^th November at Sheffield Hallam University. To be added to the mailing list please email fehwevents@wlv.ac.uk and put ResearchSEND in the subject line.

 

 

 

 

 

Have you ever wondered as a teacher about the pupils you teach and what becomes of them? In the secondary sector, you may have some idea, as you will be aware of GCSE and A level results and destination data, but what about in Primary, when the pupils leave in year 6? Can you predict where they may end up?

 

I know what some of the first pupils I taught are doing. I can thank Facebook for that.

 

But do the teachers who taught me at the inner city comprehensive I went to, ever think of the girl who used to avoid the cracks in the pavement, who walked home alone and thought of a better life?

 

Do they think about the girl who wrote about being a silent and ignored white working class girl for inclusion in a publication called ‘learning without labels’ and then went to the book launch at The Honourable Society of the Inner Temple? Did they ever have such high expectations of me?

 

Do they know that the girl who wrote ‘cracks in the pavement’ describing what it was like to be a working class girl, was a girl they taught and were they aware that the girl used dream that she had a different life?

 

A life where parents where available to pick her up from school and drive her to music and ballet lessons.

 

A life where she could catch the school bus with friends.

A life where she could bring friends home and have sleep overs.

A life where if a friend asked her to do something that cost money, she would not have to say no

 

A life where she did not have to sit in lessons with pupils who did not want to work , or where others were allowed to steal your belongings and spit in your hair (yes this really did happen, pupils also spat sweets and chewing gum as well, both of which are very difficult to remove!)

 

A life where she did not have the free school meals and make her own clothes.

 

A life where she could fit with the other children who had aspirations to be more than cleaners and workers in factories, because they knew about other occupations

 

Instead, how much did my teachers understand about the girl who walked home alone, her mother too busy with her siblings and her Dad working shifts in a factory.

 

Did my teachers think what impact this might have on support for homework or when I was younger who listened to me read? Or did they consider that reading with someone was impossible with two smaller demanding siblings, and one parent, as the other was either at work or sleeping.

 

Did the teachers know that I shared a room with my sister, who was disruptive and could not sleep through the night, so consequently I would not sleep through the night either and some days would be very tired

 

Did my teachers know that I would walk to the library alone to change books so that I could read books, but often I did not know what I was choosing ? (which led to some interesting choices)

 

 

Who is claiming the prize for my social mobility?

 

I have decided that I’m claiming this prize. Its mine.

 

It could have been that I had a comprehensive education, and a Grammar School would have suited me better, but something made me self motivated and hard working, and that was poverty. It was not having things that I thought others had, and to someone poor this is material things, because this is what I could see. This is what I imagined when I thought about falling down a crack in the pavement and into another life.  

 

In the Learning without Levels book, edited by Marc Rowland. I list ten things which I believe could support working class children like myself, prepare for University, and considerations for  teachers.

We have to remember that we all bring different experiences, family backgrounds and values to our teaching, and it may not be the same as the children we are teaching.  

 

Disadvantage should not be a barrier to achievement. Being poor should not stop children from going to University, but it nearly happened to me.

We can learn from this and not let it happen to other children in similar and much worse situations.

 

For many more examples of Improving Outcomes for vulnerable pupils, do read a copy of Learning without Labels, Edited by Marc Rowland.

 

It is now just over two weeks since the launch of #ResearchSEND, and four weeks since I finally recognised that I was quite ill and needed to be signed off work. I am returning to work tomorrow (Monday) and will be picking up all the work I have not been able to do. But before I do that I want to share what I would probably have said if I had been well and introduced #ResearchSEND, with my colleague Professor Michelle Lowe.

(I have added some information, though that I have come across since #ResearchSEND, which I would use if I was introducing the event tomorrow)

Whilst putting together #ResearchSEND, I have come across lots of different views on teacher research, for example, who should be doing it, who shouldn’t be doing it, teachers aren’t researchers, teachers haven’t got time to research, and what teachers do is inquire, not research.

During this time I also spoke to a group of teachers who said they would not know where to start if they were asked to undertake research, nor would they know how to access or read current research. They thought that research was about testing something, usually an intervention, and as most of the research we are likely to come across if we don’t go looking for it, is research findings from groups such as the EEF, this is possibly a reasonable view to hold.

We do, though, have traditions of research within education, and we like qualitative approaches such as action research, observation case study and what we call small scale inquiry. Whereas the sciences favour the quantitative approaches which test and measure things. As many teachers are not reading full journal articles but reading summaries on social media or in Educational Publications,  which are not peer reviewed journals, they often are not aware of how the study was conducted, who with and how the results were measured. When research is published in summary form and not in its original format, it can tend to be result focused, or as we know from Rob Webster’s experience reported incorrectly. If we rely on this kind of reporting to inform us about research, we could be making quite significant errors of judgment ( ask Rob about North Carolina)

My blog ‘Teachers as Researchers’ was written in response to and to support teachers like these to run small-scale research projects in their schools,  and based on some work I led with the Entrust SEN & Inclusion Service and James Mannion from Praxis. The blog  is not comprehensive, and is a starting point, although the guidelines are based on lessons we learnt though running a research project with sixty specialist consultants, many who have post-graduate qualifications and who had a wide range of experience in SEND. We found however that everyone had different views on research and what it meant to them, and this shaped how they undertook their research project. Unsurprisingly there was a significant amount of ‘testing’ undertaken. The ‘Teachers as Researchers’ blog was used by Alison Johnson from Entrust to structure a parallel session on my behalf at #ResearchSEND, around a whole School/Organisation’s approach to research.

Whenever ‘Teachers as Researchers’ is mentioned on social media, there are comments about teachers’ workloads and statements which indicate how time poor we all are and that it is not a priority. However comments have centred around what we currently consider our priorities to be, which seems to be mostly marking. Of course teachers are also planning, but less is said about the demands of this activity. Subsequently when we have all finished the marking we are required to do, there is no time for us to read the TES or Schoolsweek and certainly no time to consider any research related to what we do.

This was reinforced this week, when Mr Pink @Postivteacha found that there is little to no expectation that we read anything to do with our profession, which he outlines in a blog entitled ‘Teachers : We should read more’ ( allearssite.wordpress.com ). In a  twitter poll he found that  47% of the respondents (224 teachers)  thought it was unreasonable for school leaders to read educational research/books outside of school hours. We know it is very unlikely that teachers have time in the school day, as they are teaching(! ) the conclusion is that if this was scaled up, we could potentially have nearly half of the profession, not reading anything about their chosen subject or age range.

In other professions, reading the latest research is an expectation,  and we expect it of our doctors and dentists, as we would expect to be treated using the latest medical research. I am testament to this, as it is the latest medical research which has helped me overcome my recent illness. Just over fifty years ago, women with my illness, would not have been treated, as there was no cure. I am currently taking some medication which has been trailed in the USA and  recently been introduced in the UK. If my Consultant had not read the British Medical Journal, or any other peer reviewed journal she uses to keep her medical knowledge up to date, she may not have known about the new treatment and I would likely still be ill.

Some organisations within education have attempted to  create a ‘reading research’ culture, where it is expected of teachers who hold specialist dyslexia qualifications and wish to be considered for  professional accreditation. For example to become an Associate member of the British Dyslexia Association (AMBDA) Specialist teachers must demonstrate their professional development in order to gain the Status and maintain it. Professional development is recognised by way of not only attending training sessions, but also reading and responding to the latest research on specific learning difficulties. If this is not completed and evidence every three years, then a Specialist teacher may be unable to keep their membership (although Specialist Teachers do have to pay to be assessed). However this specialist CPD route is only open to teachers who have become Specialist through a range of dyslexia focused diplomas and is closed to all others.

There are organisations, however, working to create a culture of researchers and make us more research literate, such as ResearchED and more recently The Chartered College of Teaching which aims to create a knowledge based community to share excellent practice and to enable teachers to connect with rigorous research and evidence. There seems to be an acceptance that we do not have an active culture of research in Education, and maybe we don’t but our professional careers did not start off this way.

All of us have undertaken an ITT course to be able to enter the profession, and within these courses we have considered some forms of research, especially those who have joined the profession recently, as the current Initial Teacher Training Criteria and Supporting advice (Information for accredited Initial Teacher Training Providers, February 2017) state on page 17,’Training may be delivered in schools or other settings,  and is likely to include a combination of unobserved and observed teaching, taught sessions, seminars, workshops, tasks and assignments, and engagement with academic/professional research. The content of professional programmes might include, for example:

• The role of the teacher 
• Planning and assessment to ensure pupil progress 
• National assessments and examinations 
• Child development and learning 
• Priorities, such as managing pupils’ behaviour, early reading, and special educational needs and disability 
• Assessing and evaluating teaching 
• The use of evidence and research to inform teaching.’

Research therefore has sat firmly within academic institutions and we have all undertaken it, but there seems to be no legacy left by this input as when teachers move to QTS and beyond they forget or don’t have time to consider research and search out peer reviewed journal articles to read in their leisure time. Research becomes something that someone else does.

However every teacher is a teacher of SEND, so we are undertaking research every day. We are always looking for what works towards supporting a child/young person (cyp) with SEND and whilst we are working out what works for a cyp with SEND, our work resembles a piece of research.

As research takes many forms, so does a pupil with SEND. Adopting a research approach to a cyp’s need would develop responsive teaching and the ability to adapt teaching methods. There are many teaching approaches and interventions which could be used under the umbrella of research, which support teachers to ‘use their best endeavours to make sure that a child with SEND gets the support they need – this means doing everything they can to meet children and young people’s SEND (6.2 SEND Code of Practice 2014)

Replicating research which has worked on groups of pupils with SEND, may be an effective way to support pupils, however it is difficult to deliver something which may have been very tightly controlled. For pupils with SEND, the following process could inform practice

1. Examine effective interventions and reasonable adjustments in the classroom, through observation, and through discussion with cyp
2. Reflect on why some things work and others don’t 
3. Focus on the things that work
4. Research to see if there is more guidance and information available on the things that work
5. Integrate new findings into practice
6. Reflect regularly if the strategies and interventions used are contributing to success and the reasons why

With cyp with SEND, there may be little success at first, as each cyp is different, but if for example this process was used for a cyp experiencing literacy difficulties, who was not making the same progress as the rest of the class, the investigation which would take place to why. If mapped onto the above model, this could for example, involve  undertaking diagnostic assessments, talking to parents/carers and undertaking an observation, all techniques recognisable as research approaches. Often the approaches used for pupils experiencing literacy difficulties, are based on interventions which require dynamic assessment; continuous assessment and evaluation to plan next steps, which is not a dissimilar approach to ones used by researchers such as EEF when researching the effective use of interventions with pupils in larger pieces of research.

We have launched @ResearchSEND to make a space and to recognise the importance of research in meeting the needs of cyp with SEND. There is research out of there to help us to do this, but is not widely used, we want to change that as we believe that every day counts, and we as practitioners should have  a repertoire of  skills, strategies and interventions at our finger tips to support all learners in our classrooms. We know as my friend and colleague, David Bartram, says the expertise is in the system and we need to share it out to benefit all our learners,  and if we get it right for our Learners with SEND we usually get it right for all cyp.

From our initial start from the Institute of Education (IoE) within The University of Wolverhampton, we anticipate we will grow and will be working with a range of organisations to make this a reality, such as The Chartered College, Nasen, Whole School SEND to name but a few.

Thank you for joining us in creating a new vehicle to improve the outcomes of cyp with SEND. Look out for our blogs, publications and future events.

Follow us on Twitter @ResearchSEND

 

Teachers as researchers, is a recent phenomenon.

Research into education pedagogy and practice, as often been undertaken by others, and as Hattie as recently as 2015 in the TES suggested that Teachers should avoid becoming researchers in their classrooms and leave the job to academics (TES April 2015)

Research is not a mystery, but maybe the myths around it, make it easy to see why. It might not be common practice in schools, however with a rise in ‘research schools’, research events and an Ofsted focus it is becoming more of an expectation.

However we  have some work to do. We cannot become Teachers as Researchers, without preparation and planning, which could be done through professional development models, integral to the school.

Firstly though developing a Teachers as Researchers Model for Professional Development should start with some myth busting for example,

1. The level of research does not have to be to the extent, that it produces a paper for publication for a peer reviewed journal. That is for academics, and people undertaking masters and PhDs
2. Teacher research does not have to be action research, there are other strategies such as interviewing, observation and questionnaires which can be used, and can  enhance practice
3. Teacher research does not have to test things, i.e. interventions to see if they work. There are plenty of interventions, with their own research history such as ARROW to show that they work and many are mentioned in publications such as ‘What works for children and young people with literacy difficulties – the effectiveness of intervention schemes’, Greg Brooks (2013)
4. Research can be short and can take a few hours, for example using the hashtag #asktwitter and prosing a question to the twitterai  , could lead to some positive outcomes and increase understanding of a subject within a few days
5. Research can be simple and can use principles of lesson study for example, where teachers collaboratively plan, observe lessons and evaluate together
6. What works in another piece of research, may not work in another setting with different pupils and teachers

Once myth busting has taken place, to start to embed school based research projects into the fabric of the school, it might be a good idea to work with all staff on developing their own research projects.

We worked with James Mannion from Praxis, to set up a day for all staff to start the research process. We considered and worked on  the following,

1. Before attending a whole setting research day, ask all staff to consider their views on research, how much do they read, has it changed what they do in their daily practice? Have they undertaken any research?
2. Ask staff to think about the subjects/concepts they would like to research and reflect on their current professional development and how research may support and enhance this practice
3. Set up a whole setting research day and introduce everyone in the school/setting to the notion of research, what is it? What do we already know? Who has undertaken research before? Go through the types of research that can be undertaken and how research evidence can be collated in a school, i.e. what systems are already in place that would support this
4. Give teachers time in the session to undertake some internet research, either on topics that interest them or predefined ones to demonstrate that some peer reviewed articles can be found through internet searching. There may be paywalls, but often an abstract is available, which gives an indication if the full article would be useful
5. Ask teachers who are members of professional associations, to bring in their associations’ publications, as many have their own peer reviewed journals, ie nasen and The British Psychology Society  It could be that there  is more access to academic journals than anyone realised!
6. Ask teachers to define what they would like to find out, and what do they know already and ask teachers to identify how they could do this
7. Work in small groups to identify a research question, how the research question will be explored, encouraging teachers to think beyond intervention, and then what actions they will take to find out more.
8. Remind staff that the collection of baseline information is optional, and some of the research projects undertaken may be about understanding their own practice, so measurable data does not need to be collected
9. Set follow up sessions, so that the research is supported and continued. This could be short sessions whereby teachers present their findings, or a small group discussion about what was learnt from the research
10. All research work can be collated, some schools produce their own research magazines, blogs or vlogs

Some small scale  examples undertaken by our team.

1. Attention please – A skilled practitioner was interviewed about the strategies she used when delivering whole group activity to groups of three to four year olds
2. #AskTwitter – A question was posed on twitter asking what SEND should be taught to trainees on a PCGE course.
3. Singing Instructions – Staff sung several instructions to pre school children and noted the reaction

NB: The Ethics around each  piece of research should be discussed, and will be the subject of a future blog

 

An Edited version of this blog, will appear in a future issue of nasen Connect

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It must be the numbers.

I like counting down and now that Christmas and New year are over, I’m counting down to #ResearchSEND.

This morning there are twenty days to go.

We all know as teachers, that we go to a training session and we make notes on what we have heard and what we discussed and then we go home. This week I had the pleasure of listening to a session delivered by David Weston on Teacher Professional Development, he recognised that we all take notes (he has done it himself) and when we go home we put them into a box.

The box of shame.

The box we know we should do something about, but never do.

My box of shame, is more like my office of shame. I have more than boxes, I have piles and folders and shelves full of professional development materials, and I if I open one box, and then another, and another I will find it full of  course notes, my notes from the courses, pages printed from the internet, and sometimes, but not often, to do lists.

Do I remember the learning? Did I embed it into my practice? I’m going to say its unlikely, as I can barely remember the content.

There is no doubt that undertaking effective continuous professional development (CPD) as a teacher can be a challenge. Days are often set aside for professional development activities, through whole school INSET days, or attendance at conferences and courses to support classroom teaching roles, where instruction is given on the teaching strategies across the school, or a new data management system, or to update on statutory functions. All have to be done and all are completely valuable, but once these have been delivered it leaves little time for sustained professional development programmes.

The recent publication of the Standards for Teachers Professional Development (DFE 2016), is about to change that and will be instrumental in the CPD culture change with its expectations about professional development; namely, that teachers should:

• keep their knowledge and skills as teachers up-to-date and be self-critical;

• take responsibility for improving teaching through appropriate professional development, responding to advice and feedback from colleagues;

• demonstrate knowledge and understanding of how pupils learn and how this has an impact on teaching;

• have a secure knowledge of the relevant subject(s) and curriculum areas;

• reflect systematically on the effectiveness of lessons and approaches to teaching; and 

• know and understand how to assess the relevant subject and curriculum areas.

Our first #ResearchSEND  event  at the University of Wolverhampton on the 11th February is our reaction to the CPD standards for teachers. We recognise and acknowledge that the standards promote research as a way of providing effective professional development of teachers, creates a culture of scholarship and provides a structure for teachers to support one another, which all leads to effective teaching and positive outcomes for pupils.

 There are a growing number of research events across the county, but there is little input on research around the SEND agenda, for example at ResearchED in September 2016, there was one workshop which focused specifically on SEND research.

There is value in taking notice of research in SEND, because if we get it right for SEND pupils, we usually get it right for all the other pupils too.  (Anita Kerwin Nye talks about this in detail in her recent SchoolsWeek Interview)  

At our #ResearchSEND event we are focusing on the link between research and practise, and will be launching the hashtag #ChangeMonday and we would like this movement to start a range of SEND research programmes which will sustain and embed practice, through individual and collaborative activity.

To launch #ResearchSEND and #ChangeMonday will be joined by leaders in SEND and SEND Research, who will all be leading a workshop session.

• Rob Webster – UCL
• Bart Shaw – LMKCo
• John Reid – Oxford Brookes University
• Helen Curran – Bath Spa University
• Christopher Rossiter – Driver Youth Trust
• Paul Elliott – Special School Head Teacher & Registered Ofsted Inspector
• Jennifer Donovan & Roseanne Esposito – UCL
• Laine Pitcher Smith – Secondary Literacy Specialist
• Nancy Gedge – TES Columnist and Driver Youth Trust
• Marc Rowland – National Education Trust
• Margaret Mulholland – Swiss Cottage School
• Dr Joanna Vivash – UCL
• Professor Philip Garner – Nasen

Some sessions are running in parallel so we are looking at ways to record them.

I will be hosting a panel, which will feature,

• Professor Michelle Lowe
• Kerry Jordan Daus
• Dame Alison Peacock
• Sir Toby Salt.

All of the panel members have undertaken extensive research on education pedagogy and by using the #ResearchSEND  hashtag during the day, we will collect questions to ask them around a range of research topics including, integrating ongoing  research findings  into classroom practice, the challenges of being a teacher researcher and future thinking and development.

If you want to join us at our first event, and be part of a movement, that truly believes that we should undertake CPD which enables us to #ChangeMonday and promotes the best practice for SEND.

Please lease reserve you place through – education-central.org.uk/events

I look forward to meeting you.

 

 

 

A much needed debate around the role of the SENCO/SENDCo was started by Nancy Gedge in the TES (09.12.2016), this debate interests me as I have been working in the area of SEND for almost of all of my professional life, including undertaking the role of SENCO, supporting the professional development of SENCOs and working with a Local Authority on the Statutory functions around SEND.

Every school has to have a SENCO, and  job descriptions vary, but generally a SENCO should be contributing to the strategic development of SEN policy and procedures across a School, coordinating provision, leading, developing and supporting colleagues and working in partnership with pupils, families and other professionals. The SEND Code of Practice (2014) for example,  envisages that a SENCO will provide professional guidance to colleagues with the aim of securing high quality teaching of pupils with SEND  and that a SENCO will therefore lead teaching and learning for SEND pupils within School.

A few years ago, there was a dedicated TV channel available for the teaching profession called ‘Teachers TV’ and one programme produced for this channel, followed a High School SENCO for the day. Although focused on a High School, the tasks she was undertaking could be considered generic and easily relatable to a SENCO in a Primary School. During the day, the SENCO, was accompanied by a man with a clip board who asked her about the tasks she was completing, and then given advice on better ways to manage these tasks.

She had filed her paperwork and was given tips on how she might do this better using a RAFT approach (Refer, Action, File, Tash). She had answered a telephone call around meeting a pupil’s needs, and was advised to record the conversation on a pro forma. She had also managed to hold a meeting with a group of teaching assistants as well as undertaking some class teaching. As a support for her, in managing these operational aspects of her role another specialist was drafted in, who provided a session on provision mapping. She was then shown the principles of provision mapping and introduced to a booklet produced by the National Strategies, which introduced waves of provision within year specific groups. Throughout the day there was no mention of the role being strategic, or how it would fit into the school management structure. In essence, the role was seen as operational with little emphasis on SEND leadership, as many SENCOs at time were not required to be part of the Senior Leadership Team.

Fast forward to 2016, and there is a different picture emerging of the SENCO role, with a number of different hybrid positions developing. For example, there are a growing number of Deputy Head teachers merging the role with their other duties or taking on the responsibility for overseeing the role. There are some head teachers, especially in small rural schools who were once SENCOs, adding it to their management roles whereas in larger groups of schools such as a Multi Academy Trust (MAT) a SEND Director is appointed to lead on SEND across several schools within the group.

These different versions of the role may have been prompted by the introduction of a revised SEND Code of Practice for SEND in 2014, which stated that ‘The SENCO has an important role to play with the Headteacher and Governing Body, in determining the strategic development of the SEN policy and provision in the school. They will be most effective in that role if they are part of the school leadership team’ (6.87) Furthermore, by mentioning the accountability of the role, within the School leadership structure ‘as part of any inspection, Ofsted will expect to see evidence of pupil progress.’ (6.72) As the role of SENCO is evolving within a new educational landscape, from an operational one to a Strategic leadership one, a title of SEND leader could define the role better.

SEN Leadership across a school now takes on a variety of forms, from assessment & identification, monitoring, tracking & evaluation, improving teaching & learning, efficient use of resources, developing expertise, working with pupils & parents to improving pupil outcomes. A SEND leader on the School Senior Leadership team would be able to monitor these themes as they are in a position to recognise the effectiveness of staff who work with pupils with SEND, they would be able to monitor the provision for pupils with SEND more effectively and they would be able to contribute more widely to leadership and management across their school.

However as SENCO roles have tended to sit within middle leadership, a change of focus is required in preparation for the role. The National Award for SENCOs, is usually completed after the role has been acquired, and this gives an overview of SEND, covering not only leadership and management, but also knowledge and sign posting around meeting children’s needs within the four defined areas of SEND within the code of practice. This is good grounding for the role, but the SEND leader does not necessary need such extensive knowledge when every teacher is defined as being a ‘Teacher of SEND’ however someone in the school should have experience of identification, assessment and intervention, and the statutory requirements around SEND and where better than the Senior Leadership for this person to sit.

 

An edited extract of this blog will appear in the 2nd Edition of TeachSENCO published March 2017