[senit] House of Lords meeting

Hello everyone,

On 7 Feb 2007, at 13:50, Lesley Rahamin wrote:
> Hello everyone,
> If like me, you do not want to see the momentum generated by the  
> meeting at the House of Lords and the Lobby of Parliament grind to  
> a halt, I suggest you might like to email Ivan Lewis MP to let him  
> know your particular take on the situation - how ICT has helped  
> your students with special needs, how support has dwindled (if it  
> has), what support you would like to see etc.  I have just done  
> that.  I found his email address at:
> http://www.parliament.uk/directories/hciolists/alms.cfm
> And just for good measure I sent a similar email to my own MP.   
> Most MPs have email addresses in the alphabetical list.
>
> Lesley Rahamin
> Education Consultant

Lesley, many thanks for the contact info, I've actually sent a  
message to Martin Littler to be forwarded, so Martin, do let us know  
if you'd rather we went direct!! I've copied the message below for  
info for people on the SENIT list, and in fact would be interested  
for myself and a colleague if any people have local experience of the  
same drop in nursery aged referrals that we're experiencing in our area.

Two issues I have tried to highlight relate to the loss many years  
ago of specialist Initial Teacher Training for people working with  
disabled children (particularly those such as at schools like Frank  
Wise School), and the radical move away from special school  
placements as acceptable practice in 'Early Intervention'.
If you take a look at Martin Littler's speech:
http://www.addysg.org.uk/merlinjohnonline/news.php
  you'll see a stark description of how the loss of Government led  
assistive technology expertise leaves us on the brink of a crisis. If  
we combine the aging population of teachers who were trained with the  
skills and knowledge to teach these children, with the picture of  
technical expertise dispersed, lost and retiring, then with no help  
from the Government we can only predict a catastrophic collapse in  
provision for our most vulnerable children.

> Hi Martin,
>
> I thought your speech came over very well, as clearly did Merlin  
> John judging by his blog. Many thanks for organising the meeting,  
> and to everyone who helped.
>
> I've already sent you my response to Lord Adonis' piece in SEN  
> magazine, which I'd be very grateful if you'd pass on to Baroness'  
> Walmsley and Morris and to Ivan Lewis.
>
> Can I also ask you to pass on these further thoughts, having had a  
> chance to at least speak on the day to Baroness Walmsley and  
> emphasise one key point about ITT for those working in our field.
>
> On the very day of the meeting Estelle Morris was writing in the  
> Guardian about how "80% of what we know about how the brain works  
> has been discovered in the past 20 years and the national debate  
> should be about how we are using this cutting-edge knowledge to  
> transform the way we teach this group of children."
> I felt that this resonated with my call for the re-establishment of  
> specialised Initial  Teacher Training aimed at those who wish to  
> work with children who have severe and complex learning  
> difficulties. Estelle Morris was calling for "a new Warnock" on the  
> same day that you and the rest of us were decrying the loss of  
> Government-led provision such as the SEMERCs and ACE Centres.
> Ivan Lewis himself accepted that Assistive Technology needs a push  
> with higher status at Ministerial level, and the strength of  
> feeling of the meeting certainly agreed with that. On the other  
> hand, he did attempt to deflect some of the stark points raised in  
> your speech by, as he put it, "Contextualising the discussion." He  
> chose to draw on what he felt was a good record for this Government  
> in terms of Early Intervention, including the Sure Start scheme. I  
> don't have the information to take issue with how successful Sure  
> Start may have been, but I must pick up the broader thread of Early  
> Intervention.
> In North Oxfordshire, where I work, there has been a steady decline  
> in numbers of children entering our Assessment Nursery provision  
> (school for children with severe and complex learning  
> difficulties), including the ironic situation that our successful  
> integrated nursery provision based at a local mainstream school had  
> to close due to lack of numbers. At a time when complex births  
> continue apace one might ask if this is just due to a fortunate  
> change in the statistics of babies being born with severe  
> developmental difficulties. However, instead what has changed is  
> two things: The age at which children with glaringly obvious  
> learning needs actually get admitted has gone up; and the number of  
> children being admitted at ages such as 5, 7, and 11 has gone up.  
> Essentially, the new inclusive approach to Early Intervention has  
> led to some of the most vulnerable children being denied suitable  
> education and resources for several years. The task of the teacher  
> in such cases then requires perhaps even more specialised skills  
> and knowledge than for teaching those pupils who came into the  
> school through more conventional routes. I would be extremely  
> interested in responses  as to the national picture on this from  
> any or all of the members of the Houses of Parliament who were good  
> enough to attend the meeting.

Sean O'Sullivan
sean.frankwise at easynet.co.uk
Deputy Headteacher
Frank Wise School, Banbury
http://www.frankwise.oxon.sch.uk

http://www.parkroadict.co.uk