Give special educational needs changes more
time, say campaigners
Source: guardian.co.uk, Monday 4 June 2012
12.32 BST
Pilot schemes are not being allowed enough time
to test SEN (Special educational needs )proposals, say charities, teachers'
unions and pressure groups
慈善機構，教師工會和壓力團體說，SEN試驗計劃沒有充裕時間來檢驗
兒童和家庭部長 Sarah
Teather說，她的部門提出30年來最大的改革，以幫助殘疾和特殊教育需求的兒童“。攝影：Dan Kitwood / Getty Images
The government's radical shakeup of
England's system for children with special
educational needs (SEN) is facing mounting criticism from charities,
teachers' unions and pressure groups, who say pilot schemes set up eight months
ago to test the proposals have yet to begin, and are not being allowed enough
time before legislation is introduced.
After a green
paper published in March 2011, the government's plans for change were
included in last month's Queen's speech. A draft bill will be published during the summer,
and the Department for Education says it aims to have new arrangements in place
"for 2014".
To test the reforms' key elements, 20
"pathfinder" schemes, involving 31 local authorities, were
announced last September. At the time, Sarah Teather, the children and families minister, said her
department was "proposing the biggest reforms in 30 years to help disabled
children and those with special educational needs, so we need to make sure we
get them right". She was also "looking forward to seeing how the
pathfinders progress over the next few months to test out how we can make our
proposed changes a reality".
為了檢驗改革的關鍵要素，涉及31個地方當局的20個“探路者”計劃在去年9月宣布。當時，兒童和家庭部長SarahTeather說：她的部門提出30年來最大的改革，以幫助殘疾兒童和有特殊教育需求，所以我們需要確保我們能獲得他們的權利”。她還期待著看到如何在未來幾個月的“探路”計畫能怎麼進一步測試，才能使我們的建議改革真實呈現“。
Eight months later, SEN experts and
campaigners warned that despite plans for pilot projects to deliver interim
findings in the autumn and conclude by the end of March next year, many of them
have yet to introduce their new arrangements, or even decide which families
will take part.
8個月後，特教專家和社運人士警告說，儘管測試項目計畫在秋季發表調查結果並在明年三月底公佈結論，其中還有許多人迄今還未介紹他們新的安排，甚至決定將採取哪些家庭。
The proposed changes will affect around 1.7 million children. They include such measures as
personal budgets for special needs provision, and the replacement of the
current model of special educational needs with "single plans"
covering education, health and social care.
Freedom of information requests about the
pathfinder projects were lodged in late March by Fiona Nicholson, founder of
the home education consultancy Ed
Yourself. In April and early May she received answers from all 31 local
authorities involved. They showed that at least 11 had yet to recruit any
families for the schemes.
Ed
Yourself.家庭教育顧問的創始人Fiona
Nicholson菲奧娜·尼科爾森在三月下旬提出，有關探路者計畫自由信息的請求，。在4月和5月初，她收到了來自31個地方當局參予者的答案。他們發現，至少有11個還沒有置入招聘任何家庭。
Jane McConnell, the chief executive of the
special needs advice service Ipsea (Independent
Parental Special Education Advice), said: "We are finding it very hard
to get any pathfinder local authorities to tell us exactly how many parents
they have successfully recruited to which pilots.
"Even if all the planned number of
families were in place by the beginning of June, that would only give children
six weeks in school before the summer holidays to even start considering the
effect of a single assessment, or plan, or personal budget. School would return
in September. So at best, families would only have been using the piloted
system for a matter of months before they are supposed to be providing evidence
on which a whole new system will be based."
“即使所有的家庭計劃在六月初到位，只會在暑假前在學校給孩子六個星期的時間，同樣開始考慮單一的評估，或計劃，或個人預算的影響。學校將在9月回覆。因此，最好的情況下當他們試行一個全新的計畫制度大約幾個月以提供證據的基礎而求被支持。“
She continued: "A key issue is that
identifying a child's needs, defining what additional support they need, and
putting it into place takes time. Staff have to be recruited and trained in
many instances, and schools have to implement change. This does not happen
quickly and time has to elapse for the results to be evaluated. The fundamental
thing with this group of children is that they do not learn or react to change
as ordinary children do. It takes them more time. They cannot be
hurried."
他繼續說：“一個關鍵問題，確定一個孩子的需求，定義他們需要什麼額外的支持，並需要花時間將他定位，工作人員必須被招募和接受各種情狀訓練，和學校必須實施變革。這不會迅速發生，經過一段時間對結果進行評估。這一群孩子基礎的事情是他們像普通孩子一樣不學習或反應來改變。這需要更多的時間，他們不能操之過急。“
A spokesman for the Department for
Education said the pathfinder schemes were "a key part" of testing
the proposals, but they were "not starting from zero knowledge", and
cited past reports on SEN, and consultations that preceded and followed the
green paper.
教育署發言人表示，探路者計劃“”是測試的建議的一個關鍵部分，但他們“不是從零知識開始”，並列舉了過去對特殊教育的報告，綠皮書之前和之後的協商。
The spokesman said that "in many areas
it has taken time to establish strong partnerships across services and engage
parents in planning", and claimed that "most pathfinders will be
recruiting families by June".
這位發言人說，“在許多地區需花時間去建立強有力的夥伴關係以跨越服務並鼓勵父母參與規劃”，並聲稱探路者“6月將招募家庭參予”。
The spokesman went on: "We would not
expect to get royal assent before 2014 – so there is plenty of time to learn
from the pathfinders, drawing on the experience of families."
發言人接著說：“我們不期望在2014年之前得到御准 - 所以有充足的時間來學習探路者對家庭的經驗。”
Among the local authorities piloting the plans is East
Sussex. The council's pathfinder lead, Jenny Clench, said that its pilot
had recruited 50 families, but would not be up and running until September.
In its freedom of information response, North Yorkshire county council said its pathfinder
project –
focused on young people leaving special
schools at 16, and a large group of disabled children under five – was intended
to be "relatively small scale, in order that we can achieve something
realistic in the time available – now only 12 months".
Christine
Blower, general secretary of the National Union of Teachers, said:
"Sarah Teather should wait for outcomes from the current SEN pathfinders
before jumping to conclusions about what will work. Taxpayers' money is being
invested in SEN pathfinders across the country. It is needlessly hasty to
announce a draft children and families bill this summer."
“
一般全國教師聯合會秘書Christine
Blower，說：“Sarah
Teather在跳出來說對什麼工作應該被做的結論之前，應該先等到目前的特殊教育探路者的成果出來。納稅人的錢被投資在全國各地的特教探路計畫，它不必要匆忙的在今年夏天公佈兒童和家庭草案預算。“
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