[senco-forum] the bogey man

Team

You've all been watching too many horror films, haven't you? There's 
somebody waiting inside that dark room to get you. But it's not Jason, 
Freddie or Saw, it's the LA!

The LA jumps on you just as you're turning your childlike, innocent faces up 
to the light of resources,funding, recognition, appreciation or whatever 
else you're hoping for. (I know, it's a preposition at the end of a 
sentence, sue me!) The only way you can cater for the little lambs is to get 
more money from the LA, but will she co-operate? No, she's going to leap out 
when you least expect it and TURN YOU DOWN!

Why? Obviously because she enjoys torturing you. The LA hates all children, 
schools and especially SENCOs. She will do whatever she can to destroy you.  
She is never happier than when she can suck all the joy from your lives by 
saying no. She knows that without her, you'll never be able to meet the 
needs of those pathetic scraps of children. And she laughs her evil laugh 
every time she says no, because she gets so much masochistic pleasure from 
the your pain.

Deep breath, Brian.

OK, I've calmed down a bit now.

I've worked in SEN depts, I've worked with SENCOs in a LA support service, 
I'm now on the dark side working as an SEN officer. I've seen the SEN 
process from all sides. (I'm a parent and worked with parents of kids with 
SEN)

Just like there's no such thing as Jason, there is no such thing as the LA. 
It's a bunch of people, who mostly sit in an office and make decisons based 
on the paperwork schools send them and balance that against the Code of 
Practice and pressure from government .Believe it or not, they mostly (I 
don't know them all) have the children's best interests at heart.

It's not their fault your head won't spend the SEN part of the formula on 
SEN. It's not their fault that you don't even know what the SEN budget is. 
It's not their fault that, particularly in secondary schools, the kids are 
taught with no regard to the statement. It's not their fault that the 10 hrs 
provision is used to support whatever size group/class the kid is in, rather 
than the kid personally. It's not their fault that advice and support 
provided by LA support teams is ignored or not acted upon.

You want to listen to the parents who ring them, at their wits end because 
the school won't listen to the parents' concerns? Particularly when they 
know, since LMS, that the LA has no power and so can't make schools act on 
those concerns.

Ah, yes, there are always 2 sides to a story. In this case it's at least 4. 
Kid, parent, school, LA. And what's the easiest reaction when everyone's 
frustrated and tired? Let's get angry. Let's start blaming someone else.

I can see exactly why SEN becomes a battlefield. It's a microcosm of 
education. Thatcher and Baker turned education into a battlefield in the mid 
80s. Since then, any tinpot politician or Daily Mail editor has used 
education to score cheap points. The effect has been to create sides, to 
perpetuate the blame culture and to stop us all seeking out the real 
culprits.

And we fall for it. We fight amongst ourselves.

I give up. I'm going to help finish the bottle of Merlot. I'm going to eat 
last year's Xmas pudding (to make room in the cupboard for this year's lot) 
and take my last chance to watch I'm a Celeb for another year. (How do I 
live without Myleene in her white bikini?)

Have fun with the fighting

Brian

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