SEND: Guide for Early Years Settings

If you follow the education press at all, you can't have failed to notice that as well as the new EYFS, this is the week when the new SEND Code of Practice has come into effect. The reforms involved are wide ranging, but the overall intention is to give children with special educational needs and disabilities and their parents a greater say in the support they receive.

Now the DfE has just released a guide for early years settings, outlining the duties and responsibilities of providers when dealing with children with SEND and their families. The guidance can be accessed here, and should be read alongside the full revised SEND Code of Practice.

If this area is of interest to you, take a look at NASEN's SEND Gateway - this is a recently launched portal offering education professionals "free, easy access to high quality information, resources and training."

Children and Families Bill

Today sees the publication of the long-awaited Children and Families Bill. Like most legislation it's a long, complex document, but the main areas it covers include adoption, family justice, special educational needs and childminders.

You can read the full text of the Bill by clicking here. An overview of some of the proposed changes are included in this Community Care article.

The Way We Are

To mark it's 50th Anniversary, the National Autistic Society has just published The Way We Are: Autism in 2012. The Society descibes the report as "the largest ever survey into autism, in order to show what life is like in the UK for people affected by the condition."

To access the report for free, click here.

Good Practice in Autism Education

Features that represent 'good practice' in autism education have been identified in new research published by the Autism Education Trust. The report, which was written by a team from the IOE's Centre for Research in Autism and Education, examined practices in schools which Ofsted had judged to be 'outstanding', with a view to making recommendations for other institutions. Among the features identified were a unique curriculum and the importance of staff training and support.

The full text of What is Good Practice in Autism Education? is available now. If you have an interest in this topic, then these previous posts from November 2008 and April 2007 should also be useful.

Helping Schools with Special Needs

New research from the Specialist Schools and Academies Trust argues that schools need to change their teaching methods to meet the needs of children with increasingly complex special needs; as more disabled children are surviving to school age, so schools need increased support in providing education to these pupils.

For now only the recommendations from the research are available to read online. From next week a dedicated website with further information about the Complex Learning Difficulties and Disability Research Project will be available.

Support and Aspiration - SEN Green Paper

Today sees the publication of the new green paper on special educational needs (SEN), which sets out the government's plans for reform to the support available within schools. The proposals are wide-ranging, covering plans to replace SEN statements with education and health care plans, and assessing children in a single get-together rather than having them attend a series of meetings.

You can read more about the plans from this BBC article, and this piece from the Guardian.

To read the full text of Support and Aspiration: a New Approach to Special Educational Needs and Disability, click here. An executive summary is also available. Those with an interest in the paper have until 30 June to contact the Department for Education with a response to the proposals.

Busy Week!

A bumper post today, to reflect the number of interesting studies that have come out in recent days. Without further ado...

• Last Friday saw the publication of the government's independent review into poverty and life chances, chaired by Labour MP Frank Field. Among the recommendations are parenting classes for new mums and dads, as well as a host of other suggestions. The report is entitled The Foundation Years: Preventing Poor Children Becoming Poor Adults, and can be read by clicking here.

• Also on the subject of child poverty, the Joseph Rowntree Foundation has published their annual Monitoring Poverty and Social Exclusion report. Among the findings of this year's volume are the discovery that while the number of children living in poverty has fallen, the number of children in poverty despite having a working parent has actually increased. You can read the full report here, or a summary of the content is also available.

• Still on the topic of poverty and life chances, new research from the Institute of Education argues that social class has a larger effect on children's performance at school than 'good parenting' techniques; the data in the report is drawn from the Millennium Cohort Study and it can be read in full by clicking here.

• New research from the OECD concludes that the UK is slipping down the world education rankings in a number of key subject areas, despite spending some of the highest amounts per student. These findings are part of the PISA 2009 report which can't be accessed in full, but you can read an executive summary, as well as an overview of the OECD assessment of UK schools.

• Finally, a new report from the Policy Exchange thinktank claims that the right support for children with special educational needs should take priority over a policy of 'inclusion in mainstream education at all costs.' To read the full text of Special Educational Needs: Reforming Provision in English Schools, click here.
  

Special Educational Needs 2010

The Department of Education has just published Children with Special Educational Needs 2010: An Analysis. This is the second edition of an annual report which provides detailed information on children with SEN in England.

Already the report has made a few headlines for claiming that almost one in four primary school boys has special educational needs; this is a particularly interesting statistic in light of last month's Ofsted review which claimed that currently thousands of children have been misdiagnosed with SEN (see previous post for details). However, the new publication also contains plenty of information on topics such as achievement at different key stages, breakdowns of SEN pupils by factors such as gender or ethnicity, and data on exclusions.

To read the report, click here.

The Special Educational Needs and Disability Review

A major review from Ofsted has grabbed the headlines this morning, after it concluded that thousands of pupils are being wrongly labelled as having special educational needs. The report argues that as many as half of the 1.7 million children regarded as having special educational needs are wrongly diagnosed, and simply need better teaching or pastoral care.

The full text and a summary version of The Special Educational Needs and Disability Review can be accessed from this link.

Something for Everyone

Bear with me, today's update is going to be a monster. I've been away for a week, during which it seems that the childcare sector has gone into overdrive, so here's a simple update of significant news stories and new research with summaries where available:

• Today the government have announced a review of the Early Years Foundation Stage, which could have wide-ranging implications for all professionals who work with young children. Yet the results of research published today by the Daycare Trust show that the EYFS has strong support among childcare providers.

• A brief research report looking at free schools in Sweden (the model for the proposed changes to many schools in the UK) argues that they have no impact on the achievement of poor or immigrant children. The summary of research evidence by Rebecca Allen of the Institute of Education can be read here.

• This week (Monday 5th July - Sunday 11th July) is National Childhood Obesity Week. To find links to previous research on this topic, take a look at the 'Hot Topics' section in the right-hand column and click on 'Child Obesity.'

• Eurydice has published a new, extensive report entitled Gender Differences in Educational Outcomes: Study on the Measures Taken and the Current Situation in Europe.

• ICT bods may be interested in new research from the NFER entitled Children and Young People's Views on Web 2.0 Technologies.

• The National Centre for Social Research has published Characteristics of Bullying Victims in Schools, which assesses the relative importance of a range of factors that can lead to the bullying of young people.

• Engaging for their Futures and our Society is the title of a new report from the Children's Communication Coalition, and examines how to improve the life chances of children with speech, language and communication needs.

• The Centre for Policy Studies has published Cutting the Children's Plan, a report which suggests areas where savings in children's services can be made in the forthcoming public sector cuts.

• The latest official set of statistical data on children with special educational needs has just been released; very useful if you have an interest in this area!

• Teaching enthusiasts may find Behaviour for Learning useful; this is a research anthology which examines the different learning styles of pupils and teachers' attitudes towards them.

• The National Childminding Association (NCMA) has launched a free childminder engagement tool, to enable childminders and children's centres to collaborate more closely.

Lamb Inquiry

In a year that's produced a string of reviews and inquiries, it seems that there's still time for a final one before 2009 ends. The latest one is the The Lamb Inquiry, which looked at how the delivery of SEN system within England could be improved. In particular, the Inquiry focussed on the needs of parents of SEN children, and has concluded that the existing services need a radical overhaul. To read the full text of the final report, click here.

SEN / Childcare Providers

Here are details of two new reports from the DCSF, both of them of interest to those of you looking for figures / statistics:

Children with Special Educational Needs 2009: An Analysis is a hugely detailed study of SEN pupils in the UK, with information on attainment levels, prevalence among different ethnic groups, different types of SEN etc.

Childcare and Early Years Providers Survey 2008 is the latest of an annual series of reports with information on all different types of childcare and related issues such as costs, workforce development etc.

Review of 2008

As this is the period when reviews of the year are published, today's post gathers together some of the most significant childhood and education reports and events from 2008.

Rather appropriately, it seemed like there were a lot of reviews being published this year - the Bercow Report looked at services for children with speech, language and communication needs, while the Byron Review examined ways of ensuring children's safety while they are online. There were even two competing reviews with regards to primary education - Sir Jim Rose has been commissioned by the DCSF to carry out a review of primary education and his interim report appeared this month, with the final version set to appear next year; meanwhile, the Primary Review from the University of Cambridge generated a string of reports on various aspects of education throughout 2008, and its final report is also due next year.

From an international perspective, UNICEF's recent report The Child Care Transition caused a bit of a ruckus by placing the UK only about half way in a league table comparing children's services in developed countries. UNICEF also published its annual The State of the World's Children report (a new one is due next month), while UNESCO released Overcoming Inequality: Why Governance Matters, which looks at access to primary education in developing nations. Those of our students who carry out research into education in other countries should also be interested in a piece of DCSF research entitled Comparison of the Core Primary Curriculum in England to those of Other High Performing Countries.

With regard to contemporary issues, two major studies on children's play were published in 2008. Play and Exercise in Early Years: Physically Active Play in Early Childhood Provision is available to download online, while Play England recently released a mammoth study entitled Play for a Change - Play, Policy & Practice: A Review of Contemporary Perspectives. As there is currently a lot of talk about the concept of childhood wellbeing, readers may want to look at a DCSF study entitled Childhood Wellbeing: Qualitative Research Study. Elsewhere, a snapshot of the future of staff roles within the childcare sector is provided by For Love or Money: Pay, Progression and Professionalisation in the ‘Early Years’ Workforce, while you can read about current perceptions of the sector in Childcare and Early Years Survey 2007 Parents’ Use, Views and Experiences.

Two major changes with regard to professional practice have taken place this year. In September the new Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) was implemented in schools - you can find full details about the EYFS from its website. And last month, the Children & Young Person's Act 2008 was passed by parliament; these explanatory notes should help clarify some of its main points.

A round up of some random other useful items: The Sure Start Journey: A Summary of Evidence is an independent assessment of the progress of the Sure Start project; Ofsted's annual report is the first review of the organisation under it's new remit of assessing early years care as well as schools; Harnessing Technology is Becta's annual review of ICT use within schools; Becta were also behind a report entitled A Review of the Evidence on the Use of ICT in the Early Years Foundation Stage; and the ever-present topic of child poverty was covered by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation's annual publication of Monitoring Poverty and Social Exclusion.

Within the College, since the summer all students now have access to the CCInform service, which provides access to detailed information for professionals who work with children and young people; take a look at this previous post for an overview of the service and a link to a user guide.

Finally, it seems an odd thing to mention in a review of 2008, but the most regularly viewed post on the blog all year has been one about something that occurred 30 years ago. So in case you missed it the first time, click here to read about how you can access the full text of the 1978 Warnock Report, a study on special educational needs which proved to be something of a landmark.

That should keep you all going for the holiday break - for child-related festive fun, try taking a look at the Peanuts site, which gives you free access to the archives of this legendary comic strip. Merry Christmas to all our readers!

Educational Provision for Autistic Children

The Autism Education Trust (AET) was launched last year by the DCSF, to investigate improve educational support for children in England who are on the autistic spectrum. Today the AET publishes Educational Provision for Children and Young People on the Autism Spectrum Living in England: a Review of Current Practice, Issues and Challenges, a comprehensive look at existing provision in this area, which concludes that many teachers and support staff are unfamiliar with the needs of autistic children and so struggle to teach them effectively. The research for the report was carried out by the Autism Centre for Education and Research, which is based at Birmingham University.

For further sources of information on autism, try looking at this previous post.

DCSF Research

Usually around this time of year, our final year degree students are expected to have some idea of what topic they would like to focus on for their dissertation. In recent years one of the most popular areas for research has been to look at the provision which is available to gifted and talented students, so if you're thinking of studying that topic (or just have an interest in the subject), then you might want to look at a new report which the DCSF has just released. Click here to have a look at the report, or a 3 page summary of the findings is also available.

Also new from the DCSF are a detailed report on services for disabled children, and a literature review on the subject of independent learning. Happy reading!

New Teachers & SEN; EYFS

If you are one of our PGCE students, then you will spend one of your three placements in an environment working with children with special educational needs (SEN). So if you have an interest in this area, you might like to take a look at a report which was published yesterday by Ofsted. How Well New Teachers are Prepared to Teach Pupils with Learning Difficulties and/or Disabilities examines what factors are required to ensure that training in this area is effective, and how such training can be best delivered.

Further to Monday's post, Teacher's TV has produced a 15 minute programme on the new EYFS, which explains the new framework and how it could affect professionals working in this area. Click here to watch the programme.

OnTheWeb - Reports from July (Part Two)

Continuing from yesterday's post:

• Anti-Social and other Problem Behaviours among Young Children is a Home Office report which examines risk factors that can lead young people into developing problem behaviours
• Comparison of the Core Primary Curriculum in England to those of Other High Performing Countries has been published by the DCSF, and should be of interest to students who are researching international education
• White Boys from Low-Income Backgrounds: Good Practice in Schools details the outcomes of a small scale Ofsted survey
• Barnardos has just published Family Minded: Supporting Children in Families Affected by Mental Illness; this is a fairly brief leaflet but it does contain some useful information and suggestions for further reading on the topic
• The London Development Agency has released Listening to Parents of Children with Disabilities and Special Educational Needs; a further report on the views of childcare providers is also expected shortly
• Young People and Social Networking Services is a fascinating report from Childnet International which evaluates how such online tools can be used effectively in education, as well as highlighting some of the difficult issues that using them can raise. Suggestions for further reading are also included.

Internet for Children / Guidance for EYFS Practitioners

The two reports in today's post both contain similar subject matter to other documents which some of my recent posts have referred to. So without further ado:

Harmful Content on the Internet and in Video Games is the title of a new report from the cross-party Culture, Media and Sport Committee in the House of Commons. The report covers similar grounds to Tanya Byron's recent research in this area (see previous post for details) and examines how children can best be protected from exposure to inappropriate online material.

Also new from the DCSF is the lengthily-titled Supporting Children with Speech, Language and Communication Needs: Guidance for Practitioners in the Early Years Foundation Stage. If you work in a school with young children, then you may also use the Teachernet site to order a free copy of this guidance which comes with a free, interactive DVD.

Bercow Report

A few months ago I posted about the Bercow Review, which was commissioned by the DCSF to look at services for children with speech, language and communication needs (SLCN). Today sees the publication of the final report, which you can access here; to read a summarised version, follow this link.

Among the recommendations in the report is a suggestion that all children should be assessed for speech problems at the beginning of both primary and secondary school. In response, the government has promised £40m for the training of early years staff. For more details, take a look at this BBC story.

Something For Everyone (Part 3)

Thanks to the excellent OnTheWeb service (click here for details), today's post contains links to no less than eight separate reports which have been published in recent weeks. The publications cover a wide range of topics, so without further ado...

• Safeguarding Children in whom Illness is Fabricated or Induced (DCSF)
• Building Brighter Futures: Next Steps for the Children’s Workforce (DCSF)
• For Love or Money: Pay, Progression and Professionalisation in the 'Early Years' Workforce (published by the IPPR; follow the link and then click on 'Download without registration'
• Access for Disabled Children and Young People to Extended Schools and Children’s Centres: a Development Manual (Council for Disabled Children)
• Effective and Inclusive Practices in Family Literacy, Language and Numeracy: a Review
  of Programmes and Practice in the UK and Internationally (CfBT)
• Gangs and Schools: Interim Report (NASUWT)
• Learners & Technology: 7-11 (Becta)
• Good Practice Guidance for the Providers of Social Networking and other User Interactive Services 2008 (Home Office)