I was very interested to read the articles and letters in The Times regarding inclusion in education. I am a Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator in a large mainstream secondary school in the UK. The school features in the top 100 list of schools regarding academic achievement and we are fully inclusive.
The Special Educational Needs represented range from physical disabilities such as a full wheelchair user with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy, through to a large group of children with Autistic Spectrum Disorders, mainly Aspergers Syndrome.
We cater for visual impairments, hearing impairments, dyslexia and behaviour difficulties. Following a recent government Ofsted inspection, the school was reported as being outstanding with regards to Special Educational Needs; it was noted that the pupils with such needs achieve significantly better academically than their peers.
I work in the area of inclusion, and I believe in inclusion. However, inclusion comes at a cost that not all schools are equipped to deal with. We continually train the whole staff in teaching children with various needs. This is delivered on a whole school basis or in targeted groups, it may be in full-day or half-day sessions, it is also in the form of sometimes daily updates via our school intranet.
The Special Educational Needs department consists of 20 teaching assistants who work in the classroom. Some are general support, most are attached to individual students who cannot access the curriculum without intensive guidance.
On top of this, we also employ two specialist teachers with qualifications in teaching children with Specific Learning Difficulties (Spld). These teachers withdraw students on a one-to-one basis in order to give them skills to access their lessons independently. They are also able to deliver student assessments.
As well as an increase in staffing, we have had to have structural changes made to the school to improve access. This has included two disabled toilets with bidet facilities and a physiotherapy room equipped with a hoist and large sized physiotherapy table. The government supports us via a network of county advisors who visit regularly and supply resources for individual students.
These resources include laptop computers; portable word processors; electronic magnifies, both fixed and portable; soundfield systems in the science labs and ICT rooms, and a portable hoist for use on school trips and emergencies.
The cost is plainly high monetarily, but it is also a cost in dedication of the staff, both within the Special Educational Needs department and the whole school. Our staff are often asked to work in very demanding and stressful situations. Every day we have unpredictable issues that need to be dealt with immediately.
In May, I had the pleasure of attending a seminar lead by Baroness Warnock, the inspiration behind inclusion, and although she is still a strong advocate for inclusion, she now realises that it is not suitable for all children. Although I work in an outstanding department, we still have students that we cannot integrate into the system, that simply are unable to work within a classroom.
I love my work and I feel very strongly about the children under my care, but without good support structures, staffing and resources, this would be a very different scenario. Inclusion is a strategy that cannot be adopted lightly.