[senit] House of Lords meeting

Hello SENIT members

Thanks Lesley and well said Martin.

Sally
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Lesley Rahamin" <lesley.rahamin at btinternet.com>
To: <senit at lists.becta.org.uk>
Sent: Wednesday, January 31, 2007 3:27 PM
Subject: [senit] House of Lords meeting

> Hello SENIT members
> Yesterday I attended a reception at the House of Lords hosted by Baroness 
> Walmsley and organised by Martin Littler and Inclusive Technology.  The 
> meeting was to raise awareness of the decrease in support for SEN and ICT. 
> I think we should be grateful that Martin has raised this issue at such a 
> high level.  I have asked Martin's permission to share his speech with 
> SENIT members and he has agreed.  The text is below.
> Lesley Rahamin
> SENIT Co-Moderator
> lesley.rahamin at btinternet.com
>
> The House of Lords   Tuesday 30th January
>
> Introduction - Martin Littler
>
> I would like to thank the many members of the House of Lords and the 
> Members of Parliament who are attending this debate today.
> Sitting alongside you are over ninety special educators and people with 
> assistive technology expertise, quite a few with more than twenty years 
> experience in this field. They were in at the very beginning, when 
> teachers and government first realised the huge potential of new 
> technology to help learners with severe and complex special needs to 
> communicate, learn, and live independently.
> Twenty years ago, when I started as Director of Manchester SEMERC, 
> practically every LEA had an expert SEN/IT Advisory Teacher. These were 
> supported by four regional resource centres like mine, and a National 
> Special Needs Software Unit to develop the software they needed. None of 
> this exists now.
> In addition, children without speech and with other communication 
> handicaps had the two ACE Centres offering specialist support too. This 
> structure was set up by far-sighted officials at the Department of 
> Education.
> This era, twenty years ago, gave rise to much of the expertise we have in 
> this room today. And most of the resources we have to hand.
> This era carried us forward to today. It gave many of us our start. One by 
> one the initiatives were withdrawn but we have coasted on. Today it seems 
> to me the brakes have been applied and we are about to go into reverse.
> Expertise in this field has disappeared from QCA, then from the DfES and, 
> last year, we even looked like losing the Inclusion Team at Becta. A team 
> we looked to for leadership and our voice in Government.
> In the last few years Special Education seems to have been systematically 
> omitted from every Government education initiative that involves ICT.
> In the latest evaluation of Curriculum Online, for instance, Secondary 
> Schools are mentioned 173 times, Primary Schools 168 times, and Special 
> Schools not once.
> The New Opportunities Fund provided ICT training for every teacher, but 
> the needs of Special School teachers were initially omitted entirely.
> And by March 2008, we are told, every child must have access to a Learning 
> Platform. As nothing currently available has any relevance to children 
> with Severe and Complex special needs, what will be available for them? I 
> have asked this question of both the DfES and Becta. Neither was able to 
> tell me. "Every child" just does not include these learners.
> Nowhere is the lack of priority more damaging than in the help we provide 
> to children with communication difficulties.
> Having no speech is one of the biggest barriers a child can face; barring 
> their path to learning, making independent choices, or living life to the 
> full.
> The early progress made in this field was spectacular. Children could be 
> given a voice and the ability to write and communicate - even though, as 
> is often the case, they have additional crippling physical and sensory 
> handicaps.
> When reporting on SEN last year, the Parliamentary Education and Skills 
> Committee said that children were being failed by a system "not fit for 
> purpose" they may have had these learners in mind.
> The Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists now speak of the 
> "devastating de-prioritisation of speech and language therapy services" 
> with 78% of speech therapists having their budgets cut last year and 80% 
> of newly qualified speech therapists failing to find a job.
> These children are losing the therapy they need and the Communication 
> Devices too. I have an advanced draft of a devastating report from Scope, 
> which concludes:
> "It is of great concern that the government has no plans . to provide 
> communication equipment to children . who need it to be able to express 
> their needs, wishes and views... This position seems contrary to much of 
> government's rhetoric about inclusion, reducing disadvantage, and enabling 
> 'choice and voice'.
> Over the top? Well last year the Government finally withdrew funding from 
> the two ACE Centres who advise on the communication aids children need. 
> This saved a measly £340,000.
> At the same time they axed the CAP programme, costing just £5 million a 
> year, which provided communication aids on permanent loan to children. 
> Nothing replaced the programme.
> A House of Lords ruling has meant that local authorities can now take 
> resource implications into account when considering their duty to provide 
> speech aids. So if a local authority is short of funds then a child will 
> literally not get a voice.
> It is clear to me that children with Severe and Complex Special Needs, 
> including children without speech, have just disappeared from the 
> Government's agenda.
> I would like to see them back on that agenda.
>
> 