[senco-forum] literacy

But Eddie my job as SENCO isn't just literacy.

My role is wide ranging - I have to deal with issues around speech and
language, behaviour, statementing, maintaining endless lists, data
generation and analysis, ADHD, ASD; teacher training & INSET on a wide range
of SEN topics; dealing with parents, SLT and governors; recruiting,
supporting, training and discipline; and writing policies for behaviour, SEN
TAs etc, all of which requires time that is increasingly at risk and has to
be fought for.

Yes literacy is important, it is a key responsibility but my guess is that
most of feel that it is an area we do have some knowledge of where as some
of the other areas we feel less knowledgable of - and therefore appeal for
support from the collective senco-forum mind.

That isn't to say we know everything (or even very much) regarding literacy
and can't learn from some lively debate.

Richard

-----Original Message-----
From: senco-forum-bounces at lists.becta.org.uk
[mailto:senco-forum-bounces at lists.becta.org.uk]On Behalf Of eddiecarron
Sent: 11 December 2006 18:24
To: senco-forum at lists.becta.org.uk
Subject: [senco-forum] literacy

The point of my suggestion was simply that it was self-evidently the case
that literacy promotion was not a topic of significant interest to forum
members. I took the view that such a literacy forum would attract back many
of the dissatisfied deserters who were unhappy with the status quo. I must
however accept the reality that those whose professional responsibility is
to resolve our abysmal national levels of  illiteracy are more concerned
with such weighty matters as non-contact time, policies for T.A.,
statementing etc. I wonder why it is that I always think of Nero fiddling
when I look at the SENCo forum topics?

Many people cannot understand why illiteracy is so high in the UK when
countries in Scandanavia, Japan, Korea and Romania routinely achieve 98%
literacy. They would surely have no difficulty in understanding why this is
the case if they just perused the discussion topics favoured by the main
group of teachers in the UK with the principle responsibility for resolving
this problem!

I did receive an email from someone who managed a forum for literacy and
reading in particular, but the invitation came with a warning that
contributors have to be 'respectful and polite'.  Needless to say, I won't
be subscribing.   I do know that teachers prefer a 'nice' debate where
'nice' people can correspond with other 'nice' people, essentially telling
each other how 'nice' they are.  I do not believe that a debating forum is a
place for the faint-hearted - it is a place where professional beliefs and
practices are challenged and subjected to the most rigorous scrutiny and
where appropriate, changed.   I don't see much of that on the forum nor do I
detect any significant level of interest in a forum for literacy so I will
return to my sarcophagus before the first rays of the morning sun reduce me
to a pile of ashes.

Eddie Carron

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