Essential Guides for Early Career Teachers: Special Educational Needs and Disability. Anita Devi
series is to distil some of the key topics which occupy the thoughts of early career teachers into digestible, informative texts which promote discussion, contemplation and reflection and will spark further exploration into practice. In each edition, you will find a series of practical suggestions for how you can put the ‘big idea’ in each chapter into practice – now, next week and in the long term. By offering opportunities to bring the learning into the classroom in a very concrete way, we hope to help embed many of the principles we share into day-to-day teaching.
When NQTs are asked about how well they feel prepared for the realities of the classroom, time and time again the same theme emerges. Almost all NQTs report wishing they could feel more secure in teaching children with SEND. In so many ways, this is entirely unsurprising. If you were to ask a teacher five or ten years into the profession, or even a teacher about to retire, where they felt most vulnerable in their practice, you might expect a similar answer. Why? Because no two children are the same and so, quite naturally, no two children with a special educational need are the same. As Anita points out in this book, the job of learning about SEND is never done. It is a lifelong professional endeavour. What Anita does so brilliantly here is to introduce you to some key principles which will start you on this process. Every journey starts with a few small steps and this book is the perfect place to start.
I hope you enjoy exploring this book as much as I have enjoyed editing it.
Emma Hollis
Executive Director, NASBTT
Acknowledgements
Writing a book is a journey that brings together the past, the present and the future.
From my past, I wish to thank the teachers and leaders, who inspired me to pursue the boundaries of curiosity. They taught me not only to ask questions, but how to ask the right questions. This stood me in good stead when as a teacher I came across children and young people, who for whatever reason struggled with learning and personal development. My heartfelt gratitude goes out to those who believed in the hidden potential they saw in me. I have been blessed with many great mentors … you know who you are and the difference you made. Thank you.
Publishing this book has been a team effort. For this moment in time, I am grateful to NASBTT for the opportunity and Critical Publishing for the pathway. Emma Hollis, your passion to improve teacher education is motivational and visionary. Thank you for creating a space for new and necessary conversations to take place. Julia Morris, ‘attention to detail’ people are a gift to the publishing world. I value and appreciate your tenacity and patience in supporting me through this process. My gratitude is also extended to Clare Owen, production editor at Newgen Publishing UK. I appreciate you keeping me on track Clare. None of this would have been possible, without the support of family and friends. These are the precious gems of my life. Over the time span of writing this book, I lost one dear family member. For her generation, my mother was ahead of her time. If she had not encouraged me to step out, take risks and fly … I would not be doing half of what I am able to do today. I dedicate this book to Nima Pujara (1938–2019), a legend to many. Thank you for teaching me, so that I learnt to teach others.
Finally, to the future, I am grateful to you as readers, teachers and future leaders. Over a decade ago, I was invited to a meeting to review a repository of teacher training materials around special educational needs, inclusion, and disability. The meeting was chaired by a high-profile professor. Before starting the meeting, this professor looked me in the eye and said, “Tell me where you see yourself in 5 to 10 years’ time?” As a young consultant, I was taken aback by the question and asked her to share the reason behind the question. Her answer was simple and pure, and it has stayed with me since. “I want to make sure we leave the education sector in safe hands!”, she said. Fast forward and I am in that place too. New teachers are more than just the future – my hope is they will develop the profession to be far better than we ever have. This is my heart for the readers of the book and those I work alongside; may they excel beyond me to do even greater things.
In the words of Reinhold Niebuhr (1892–1971):
Father God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and wisdom to know the difference.
Introduction
»How much training and information on special educational needs, disability and inclusion should trainees and those new to the profession be given?
This is a much-debated subject with varying answers, from intensive programmes to defining ‘just enough’ in some of the shorter training programmes. My own view has been that trainees and early career teachers need to be given a strong foundation, which they can build upon throughout their career. In effect, we need to establish basic knowledge, skills and understanding so as teachers progress in their careers, they continue to add to and develop their expertise in this area. Many will go on to be leaders and so this training needs to cover both effective classroom practice and the basics of leadership. The field of special educational needs, disability and inclusion continues to evolve from a legislative perspective, and in terms of policy direction and best practice.
In 2017, a team of us with diverse expertise in teacher education and special educational needs started to define what a strong foundation might look like. We combined legal frameworks with research from the field and policy documents to construct 18 key concepts. These concepts were grouped into three themes (Professional Practice, SEND Expertise and Support). For each concept we curated materials and resources that would support providers to improve and develop the quality of their training programmes. This became known as the NASBTT ITT SEND Toolkit. It also included an audit tool for providers to benchmark their provision and define a plan for improvement.
During the month of September, I am regularly invited to talk to trainees and observe them present their research on different aspects of special educational needs and disability (SEND). The presentations, in the main, are of a top quality and it was encouraging to receive a call in 2020 from an NQT provider sharing how they need to change their programme because newly qualified teachers are coming in more skilled and knowledgeable than ever before. This is what we aspire to see.
This book is designed to build on these strong foundations of training and support teachers through the early career framework. The book begins by presenting some fundamentals we would expect all teachers to know in light of the Children and Families Act 2014. However, the book takes teachers further by deepening their knowledge of the four areas of need, cited in Chapter 6 of the 0–25 years SEND Code of Practice 2015. This has been an intentional decision to enhance timely and accurate identification of needs by teachers, as well as to ensure our classrooms are dominated by good practice models of provision. This should lead to children making better progress and developing into adults with a degree of independence.
Throughout my three-decade teaching career, understanding the holistic needs and development of the child has also been a much-debated issue and yet it remains an area we have failed to address successfully, especially in the field of SEND. Too often, connecting the dots is lost in the paperwork! Our focus should be good classroom practice. It is my hope that this book will enable teachers to also think more holistically about the needs of children and young people and their development. We are seeing a greater level of complex needs in schools, with children presenting with more than one need. Teachers need to be knowledgeable and equipped to deal with the increasing level of complexity in the classroom. There are no easy answers, and this is a continuous work in progress. However, the content in this book is intended to take teachers a step further in their careers.
Chapter 1 Fundamentals of special educational needs and disability in England
Overview
In this chapter, you are guided through four fundamental concepts that underpin special educational needs and disability (SEND) provision for children and young people in education. Each of these fundamental concepts should be applied to the four areas of need discussed in subsequent chapters.
It