Colours14th September 2010 headline:
Ofsted says special needs used too widely
14th September 2010 The DDC alternative headline:
Less need for ‘Special needs’ label, if schools focused more on teaching for all their children.
Not quite as catchy and nowhere near as emotionally evoking as the headline this morning, but a lot nearer the true message of ofsted comments and much nearer the truth itself!
Head lines that are stated such as this are not helpful and are very stressful for our special needs children or the parents of special needs children, especially those who are fighting really hard to get special educational needs recognised in their children!
In my opinion the truth is that our children in the main are not taught in a way that meets their individual learning styles, there is too much ‘talk and chalk’ style teaching in the classroom and not enough hands on practical teaching in and out of the classroom.
Teachers should be given access to a team of specialists in their school who have knowledge & experience of all the ‘Special Educational Needs’ and not just one person who is the Special Educational Needs Coordinator (SENCO). It is also pertinent to point out here that the SENCO in a lot of schools usually has to teach a certain number of hours a week as well as carry out the role of SENCO, for the whole school!
