In schools, the Special Educational Needs Coordinator (SENCO) could be considered a key policy implementer of special educational needs and inclusive policy. Issues related to time, status and the ...effective facilitation of the SENCO role have been reported on extensively, yet literature has predominantly focused on the role prior to the introduction of the Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) reforms in 2014.
This paper reports on research which explored the SENCO role post‐reform. The research aimed to understand how widely the role varied across differing educational settings and phases, whilst also exploring the breadth and depth of the role, post‐SEND reform. The research design was mixed methods and had two phases: online focus groups (n = 15), followed by a national online survey (n = 1903).
The findings suggest that the facilitation of the SENCO role remains problematic post‐reform. Constraints include the time to undertake responsibilities, the increasing breadth of the role and how the role is understood by others. This combined with increased external bureaucracy, budgetary constraints and a lack of consistency nationally has led to a situation where only approximately one‐third of SENCOs intend to remain in the role in five years’ time.
Special Educational Needs: A New Look by Mary Warnock was initially published by the Philosophy of Education Society of Great Britain in 2005. In this new edition, Warnock has updated her argument, ...Brahm Norwich has contributed a counter-argument and Lorella Terzi has provided an introduction and afterword, drawing the two debates together. The issues debated in this new edition of Special Educational Needs: A New Look include: The statement of special educational need The concept of inclusion Special Educational Needs: A New Look raises issues which will be of interest to all involved in special education and inclusion, including teachers, policy makers and educationalists.
The pandemic induced a radical shift to online learning with increased parental involvement. This study investigates the challenges that students with specific learning difficulties (SpLD) ...encountered during the pandemic and the mediating role of parental stress. A total of 294 parents of children with SpLD (mean age = 10.6; SD = 1.5) were recruited. Parents reported concerns over their children's difficulties maintaining learning routines, lack of suitable environment for online classes, and ineffective remote learning. Results of mediation analysis showed that online learning challenges, SpLD symptoms, and emotional and behavioral difficulties positively predicted parental stress. In turn, parental stress negatively predicted children's self-esteem and family quality of life. The study implies that parents of children with SpLD need both psychological and technical support under suspension of face-to-face teaching.
Inclusive education has become increasingly popular based on the assumption that it has multiple benefits for students with special educational needs (SEN). However, contradictions remain regarding ...the widespread nature of these benefits, particularly when it comes to academic motivation.
In this large-scale cross-sectional study, we relied on the Big-Fish-Little-Pond Effect (BFLPE) to assess the links between inclusive education and students’ academic self-concepts and learning interests in the mathematics and verbal domains.
The sample consisted of 21,219 German elementary school children in Grade 4 who were enrolled in three groups: students without SEN attending regular schools (n1 = 19,069), students with SEN attending regular schools (n2 = 933), and students with SEN attending special education schools (n3 = 1214).
Doubly latent multi-group multilevel structural equation models and tests of latent interaction were performed to test the BFLPE.
Results supported the BFLPE for both outcomes and domains. However, no BFLPE was identified for learning interest in the verbal domain among students with SEN attending special education schools, although the size of this effect did not differ significantly from that observed among students without SEN. In regular schools, the BFLPE was almost two times stronger among students with SEN than among their peers without SEN.
Results support the generalizability of the BFLPE to students with SEN, while casting doubts on the motivational benefits of inclusive education for these students. Interventions targeted at attenuating the BFLPE should thus be tailored for both regular and special education schools.
•We generalize the Big-Fish-Little-Pond Effect to self-concept and learning interest.•We test the BFLPE among students with and without special educational needs.•We test the BFLPE across regular and special education schools, and in mathematics and German.•The BFLPE was supported across outcomes (but stronger for self-concept), subject, and samples.•The BFLPE was stronger for students with special educational needs in regular schools.
The Irregular School Slee, Roger
2011, 20110419, 2010, 2014-05-14, 2011-04-19
eBook
Should disabled students be in regular classrooms all of the time or some of the time? Is the regular school or the special school or both the solution for educating students with a wide range of ...differences?
Inclusive education has been incorporated in government education policy around the world. Key international organisations such as UNESCO and OECD declare their commitment to Education for All and the principles and practice of inclusive education. There is no doubt that despite this respectability inclusive education is hotly contested and generates intense debate amongst teachers, parents, researchers and policy-makers. People continue to argue over the nature and extent of inclusion.
The Irregular School explores the foundations of the current controversies and argues that continuing to think in terms of the regular school or the special school obstructs progress towards inclusive education. The book contends that we need to build a better understanding of exclusion, of the foundations of the division between special and regular education, and of school reform as a precondition for more inclusive schooling in the future. Schooling ought to be an apprenticeship in democracy and inclusion is a prerequisite of a democratic education.
The Irregular School builds on existing research and literature to argue for a comprehensive understanding of exclusion, a more innovative and aggressive conception of inclusive education and a genuine commitment to school reform that steps aside from the troubled and troubling notions of regular schools and special schools. It will be of interest to all those working and researching in the field of inclusive education.
The article presents the opinion of teachers and parents concerning the educational situation of students with special educational needs at general education schools. The qualitative research, which ...was carried out by means of a semi-structured interview with teachers and parents, helped to determine that students with special educational needs are included in the general education school on a theoretical rather than practical basis. Despite the fact that the school advocates the inclusion of students with special educational needs and provides various special support services, informants observe a number of weaknesses in the system that do not provide an opportunity for the subject to receive the support one requires. It is alleged that teachers working at general education schools are not trained to work with such students and there is a lack of means and facilities for individual work. There are too many students in classes. Due to the following reasons, education that the subject receives is not always efficient. It was also revealed that specialists working with the subject have difficulties in communicating with each other and working as a team in order to set and achieve a common goal. All interviewees work as they think is best. Poor parent-subject work at home was also emphasized. For the given reasons, there is a lack of continuation in the education of the subject, which is one of the most important factors influencing the educational success of students with special educational needs.
Parents of children with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities in the UK (
n
= 241) were asked to describe the impact of COVID-19 on their own mental health and that of their child. An ...inductive content analysis of the data was undertaken. Both parents and children appear to be experiencing loss, worry and changes in mood and behaviour as a result of the rapid social changes that have occurred. Some parents reported feeling overwhelmed and described the impact of child understanding and awareness. Finally, a minority of parents reported that COVID-19 has had little impact on mental health in their family, or has even led to improvements. Implications for how to support these families in the immediate future are discussed.
There is little empirical attention in the literature to how beginning teacher perceptions in relation to inclusion change as they progress from the pre-service to novice teacher year. This paper ...reports on a panel study of a cohort of pre-service teachers in the Republic of Ireland, which tracks their transition to the novice teacher year using a new scale. Analysis of the data indicates that this transition results in a significant drop in attitude, perceived knowledge and self-efficacy in relation to inclusion.
•There is little empirical evidence about how reality shock operates in teacher education for inclusion.•We measured how attitude, knowledge and self-efficacy change between the pre-service and novice teacher year.•There was a significant and large drop in these in our sample of 122 teachers.
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