[senco-forum] What are we for? (very long

Hello everyone

Hi Biff
  Yes - I can see why you say that we have to ask 'why must this be endured'.  I think my answer is that I see myself as having to use the system in order to get what my pupils need.  If that means twelve page reports, so be it.  What I can then do is complain bitterly about the length of them.  What I can't do is just not do them because that would disadvantage the pupils.
  And I agree that some people need to be reminded about the difference between the law regarding SEN and what the LA tell you is possible.  
  Amanda
  Secondary SENCO
  Cornwall

Biff Crabbe <ba at biffc.vispa.com> wrote:
  I've been a subscriber for about the same length of time, Amanda, and seem
to remember periodical discussions about the purpose and nature of the
forum.

I have to admit to being an ex-SENCO, but I work with children who are
excluded from schools through ill-health - physical or emotional - or by way
of formal exclusion. Although the setting is different, the core work still
involves teaching children and young people with special educational needs,
within the context of a system that frequently does not serve or meet those
needs.

So I must admit that I fervently wish to see 'changes in the system'; and
I've been happy in this forum (a place where matters of public interest and
concern can be discussed) to advocate and argue for change.

I don't agree that when I do so I'm necessarily preaching to the converted -
experienced SENCOs with your breadth of knowledge are not a growing band -
and it seems evident that while many newer SENCOS have unquestionable
commitment, some have accepted unquestioningly what their LA has told them
(and accepted that the system's problems are beyond their sphere of
influence).

You ask for 'the strength to endure what must be endured'; others ask 'why
must this be endured?'

I have a sense of genuine regret that postings of this nature should cause
you to consider 'leaving' the forum - I find that other types of posting
have given me similar cause for thought. But ultimately, I think that the
diversity of the forum is its strength - SENCOs do not have a monopoly on
practical advice about supporting children with special needs.

The forum has lost some excellent contributors over the years, but it's also
shed one or two horrors (at least from my perspective). The one that I
really miss is Brian Hepburn, who had the knack of reminding us not to take
ourselves too seriously.

Regards

Biff Crabbe

----- Original Message -----
From: "Amanda" 
To: "senco-forum" 
Sent: Sunday, October 29, 2006 9:56 AM
Subject: [senco-forum] What are we for? (very long - sorry!!)

> Hello everyone
>
> Time to declare myself, I think.
> What has happened to senco-forum? Where's the wit, the humour, the
support factor? Why does it seem to be full of people who are shouting into
both my ears? What has happened to the SENCOs who used to answer? Have we
almost all turned into lurkers?
>
> I try to live my professional life by this, my adaptation of an old
saying:
> Oh Lord, give me the will to change what must be changed
> The strength to endure what must be endured
> And the wisdom to know which is which.
>
> I've been on this Forum for years. Since 2001, anyway. People come and
people go - many find the sheer number of postings difficult to deal with.
Some retire - get ill - get a different job. I've stuck with it because I
really like talking with people from everywhere and I have got some great
advice over the years.
>
> But I have never felt so strongly that we seem to be dividing into two
sections.
>
> There are those who want to change the system and see the Forum as a
means to do this.
> There are those who are working to make an inadequate system work as
well as possible for current students in the circumstances that exist now.
>
> Please - if you want to change the system go and talk to those who
control it. This Forum doesn't have the power to change policy at a local
or national level. Plus SENCOs only have the power to change practice
within schools if there is the will to do this at Senior Management level.
Telling the Forum how to change the system is not helpful to us who are
SENCOs. We need instant, practical, specific advice which comes from
practice not theory. And we are already 'the converted'. Preaching to us
is a waste of your energy.
>
> I am proud to say that I am a 'generalist'. I think I work like a GP,
seeing every kind of problem and, usually, knowing how to solve it. When I
don't, I refer upwards to those who do. If there is a waiting list, I do
what I can in the meantime. The difference between me and a GP is that
'what I can do' involves affecting the behaviour of other teachers, parents
and pupils and not just a patient.
>
> Just an idea of what I have on my books at the moment - dyslexia,
dyspraxia, Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy, APD (yes, I do deal with this), ASD,
ADHD, attachment disorder, MLD, SLD, access arrangements, transfers in and
out of the school - oh and I teach classes for 19 out of 30 lessons a week.
I run a team of 14 TAs, not all of whom are full time, liaise on a daily
basis with two teachers of the hearing imparied plus the HI TA and manage
all the liason with outside agencies dealing with pupils with SEN. I'm an
AST (though I don't do a day a week out of school at the moment). I'm on
the school's policy committee (middle management level) and I am spending a
year on the SMT (one HoD a year joins SMT). I'm one of two teacher
governors. I don't say this to make people feel sorry about my work load -
I love the job and the extra work - but to show that the role of a SENCO is
a complex business, much more so than some of the posts from non-SENCOs seem
to suggest or, indeed,
> understand.
>
> I am going to have to start auto-deleting the posts of those who want to
affect national and local policy because it is driving me mad. I feel that
I am being shouted at about problems I can do nothing about and it is
getting in the way of me doing my job as best I can. At the worst, it will
drive me off the Forum. It has already meant that the Forum has lost some
excellent contributors not to mention a sense of humour. What happened to
the Friday funnies? And I'm a SENCO - the very people this Forum was set up
to support. If you are a SENCO and you have read this far - thanks. And
have a good run up to Christmas.
>
> Tirade over. I'll go back to lurking. All answers to the whole Forum
would be appreciated.
>
> Amanda
> Secondary SENCO
> Cornwall
>
>
> Amanda
> Secondary SENCO
> Cornwall
>
>
> --
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>

Amanda
Secondary SENCO
Cornwall