[senco-forum] Extract from DRC reaction to Select Committee critical SEN report

From Brendan King

 
>From Brendan King 
Following on from the SENCo Forum  thread on what prospective teachers  
should be expected to know about SEN in schools -- I thought this Disability  
Rights Commission (DRC) press statement might be of interest: 
Liz Sayce, Director of Policy and Communications at the DRC, said: 
“For some disabled (SEN) children it is a real lottery as to whether  they 
have a good experience of school, be it mainstream or special school.  Whilst we 
welcome the call for a national standard of SEN provision, with the  funding 
to match, we must have higher expectations of the education system than  just 
asking that the basic minimum be delivered". 
“Training our teachers to deliver a good education for children with Special  
Educational Needs is an imperative. One in five children is identified as 
having  an SEN, so it is hardly a minority issue. Yet many factors militate 
against  these children getting in and getting on in today’s education system when 
the  major drivers for a successful school revolve around league table 
results. 
“We need to galvanise the education system and find the political will to  
move the agenda on from whether disabled children should be in mainstream  
schools to focusing on how we develop an education system where these children  can 
flourish and grow. 
“The Select Committee missed a real opportunity to reposition the schooling  
of Special Educational Needs children from a niche issue that is often viewed 
as  problematic to a more holistic view of developing an education system that 
truly  delivers to the changing demographic of the classroom.” 
I agree with this whole heartedly -- the full press release can be found on  
the DRC website --Brendan King