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- Herausgeber: Crown House Publishing
- Kategorie: Bildung
- Sprache: Englisch
- Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2019
In On the Fringes: Preventing exclusion in schools through inclusive, child-centred, needs-based practice, Jackie Ward opens up the debate surrounding school exclusion and its link to special educational needs (SEN), and shares action-oriented strategies designed to bring about a more inclusive approach. Too many of our vulnerable young people are being excluded even those with SEN and the very young who are only just on the cusp of school life. And having seen first-hand the impact that exclusion has on children with often unmet medical needs such as autistic spectrum condition (ASC) and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) Jackie explores in this book the realities of what exclusion means to each of us and its impact on wider society. Jackie examines this critical issue through the lens of her experiences in both mainstream and specialist settings and presents practical, solution-focused guidance to help schools deliver the inclusive education that every child deserves. Drawing upon a range of sources, Jackie's wide-reaching analysis is backed up with case studies, up-to-date research and anecdotal reports setting out a balanced view focusing on the stated and underlying needs of schools, staff, parents, children and other agencies. On the Fringes scrutinises exclusion procedures and reviews the SEND Code of Practice in depth, particularly highlighting the role of early interventions in detecting underlying SEN and medical needs. Jackie also explores a range of pre-emptive and alternative approaches that can be employed as part of a whole-school approach to pastoral care and behaviour management that develops pupils' self-awareness and self-regulation. In doing so she offers informed inspiration to teachers and SEN practitioners working with some of our most vulnerable children who, without our care, compassion and tailored provision, are too often destined for lives on the fringes of society. Suitable for teachers, school leaders, SEN professionals, policy-makers and parents.
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Praise for On the Fringes
This beautifully crafted book has a heart. A heart which is driven by the need to get the best available support and help for the most important people in our schools: the children and young people we teach.
In On the Fringes, Jackie Ward creates an immersive environment for us to understand the common challenges and frustrations met by pupils, parents and teachers in the complex world of SEN. The thorough research which Jackie shares in the book helps illustrate the many underlying issues within our education system and culture, and this is to be highly commended.
On the Fringes is for any teacher, parent or educationalist alike – you will not be able to put it down. It’s a personal perspective as well as a professional reflection on what we need to do in order to ensure that every child in every school has their individual needs met to the best of our ability.
Thank you, Jackie, for a thoroughly enjoyable learning journey.
Nina Jackson, author, award-winning speaker, mental health ambassador and education consultant, Teach Learn Create Ltd
On the Fringes is a book into which you are drawn right from the outset, as it begins with a real-life, personal account of what inspired the author to write it.
Packed with useful tips and advice, this solution-focused resource delves into why some groups are more vulnerable to exclusion than others, with a specific focus on those children and young people who have significant undiagnosed needs and complex mental health difficulties.
Jackie paints a detailed picture of the alternative education provision offered in a PRU setting and describes the components of a caring, nurturing approach designed to develop pupils’ self-esteem and self-confidence. She also emphasises the paramount importance of early intervention and its value in curtailing the progress of challenging behaviours, and discusses the need for staff to develop empathy and emotional resilience in order to best help vulnerable children and young people.
To close the book, Jackie provides a ten-point manifesto on how the exclusion of children and young people can be prevented so that a better future is made possible for those who would otherwise be left on the fringes.
Cherryl Drabble, author and Assistant Head Teacher, Highfurlong School
I could provide so many stories to support this very important book. Jackie Ward rightly reminds us that the children who need love the most will ask for it in the most unusual ways. As a consequence, schools need to seek unusual ways to teach such young people. I use those words deliberately: schools and teachers are paid to teach children, not to stand them in corridors, sit them in isolation booths or send them out on the streets. However, high-stakes testing – coupled with high-stakes accountability – has led to some schools using hostile, reactive strategies with those children who often have quite specific social and emotional needs. On the Fringes rightly suggests that there is another way – based around more creative and proactive child-friendly strategies that allow every child to feel that they can succeed.
Will Ryan, education consultant and former assistant head of school effectiveness and Excellence in Cities coordinator, Rotherham Borough Council
Jackie Ward
On the Fringes
Preventing exclusion in schools through inclusive, child-centred, needs-based practice
Acknowledgements
I would like to thank the following people for all their love, help and support in enabling me to write this book. It has been a long-held dream and ambition of mine to communicate my passionate beliefs and ideas about helping children and young people who are excluded from education and society.
First and foremost, my lovely husband, Andy, has been a constant source of inspiration and unconditional belief in my ability to write. He understands my daily travails and supports me every step of the way, although this book has impinged on our time together.
I would like to thank my Twitter – and now real-life – friends, Cherryl Drabble and Lynn McCann (both published, prolific authors), for spurring me on when it all felt too much!
Big thanks to my editor, Louise Penny, for tough love when I needed it; hopefully this is a better book for it!
And finally, thanks to all the lovely schools I have worked with, including my PRU, for the marvellous experiences, including the frustrations, which have informed this book.
Preface
An 8-year-old boy was the inspiration for writing this book. Permanently excluded from his mainstream primary school, he came to our pupil referral unit (PRU) where he stayed for about a year before moving on to a school for children with social, emotional and mental health (SEMH) difficulties. John was a ‘naughty’ boy who struggled to cope in the classroom. He loved playing with his friends but found it difficult when they did not do what he wanted them to. He was able to access learning, but only on his terms. If he felt thwarted he would scream and shout and lash out indiscriminately at both children and adults and it took him a long time to calm down. His teachers were becoming desperate as he would often destroy school property along the way. When John came to us, he initially settled well in a class of eight children, supported by at least two adults at any given time, but before long he started to display the behaviours which were so challenging for his mainstream school.
John was autistic. He had no formal diagnosis but it was clear to us that this lay at the heart of his difficulties. His need to control was part of his condition and he was having major sensory meltdowns when this did not happen. He had complex underlying needs and required a referral to the paediatric service for further investigation. This should have happened as soon as he started having difficulties, but it took until he arrived at the PRU. As deputy head and special educational needs coordinator (SENCO) it was my duty to ensure that the children in our care received appropriate help and support, and many of our children needed statementing and sometimes a placement in specialist provision. As a regular participant in edu-Twitter debates, I know that assigning ‘labels’ to children can be seen as controversial but I am a pragmatist; at this moment in time there is no way of getting pupils the help they need without one. An education, health and care plan (EHCP) (what was once called a statement) has to include evidence taken from medical and educational sources and no child can access additional funded help in mainstream or specialist provision without one.
However, I know that the biggest challenge we face is giving our vulnerable children the support and strategies they need to help them develop life skills. As a very wise teaching assistant (TA) from the PRU once said to a child who was rhyming off a long list of his diagnoses, ‘No one will ever see these written on your back … you need to find a way to deal with them.’ An excluded child, whatever their issues, certainly does not need a free pass to behaving badly and, in my opinion, we need to ensure that strategies for emotional regulation and self-management are firmly in place, as lacking these skills leaves them at a disadvantage – both now and, especially, as an adult.
John eventually settled in our PRU. Pupil numbers were small and the adults were skilled and able to give him strategies to cope in a world which was challenging for him. John was hypersensitive to noise – not if it emanated from him, however – and his sensory meltdowns were distressing, both for him and for the people around him. These became more infrequent, although it was plain that he would need a similar environment throughout his education in order to reach his full potential; a return to mainstream would not be the best thing for him. In the course of his time with us he got a diagnosis of autistic spectrum disorder (ASD), or autistic spectrum condition (ASC) as some prefer to call it, and as I will throughout this book. It is indeed a condition, and a lifelong one. He was then offered a place at the local SEMH school, with the support of an EHCP in place. PRUs are only intended to be used for short-term placements – we used to be referred to as a short-stay school, which I think is much better than saying a ‘unit’. A unit sounds penal, whereas the term ‘school’ reminds us that the children are with us to carry on their education whilst learning how to manage their underlying conditions and behaviour.
Towards the end of the summer term in 2016, I was asked to deliver a workshop about exclusion at a local conference and I received permission to interview John and use his words in my presentation. I am afraid I broke down in tears at that point. I will be exploring his views in more detail later in this book but the words that haunt me most are the ones he wrote in my memory journal at the end of the year. I was taking early retirement from the PRU and setting up as an independent behaviour and special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) consultant as I wanted to work more closely with children in mainstream settings to prevent exclusion where possible. The children and staff wrote some lovely comments in the journal. John’s said, ‘hope you help children get back to mainstream school’. Cue more tears!
This book is my personal account of how a culture of exclusion is failing our young people, and how their lives are affected as a result. It is not meant to be an edu-research piece; I will leave that to those more qualified in the field than myself. I pride myself on being solution-focused, as a great head once inspired me to be, and I hope that in the course of this book I can inspire others with strategies to help some of our most vulnerable children, who can otherwise seem destined to remain on the fringes of society.
I do draw on facts or figures here; however, I am much more focused on real lives than dry data. Indeed, it is an emphasis on the latter that has sadly been the downfall of many of our young people. At the heart of this book lie human stories rather than statistics. I am also not setting out to make a particular political point as I’ve concluded that all governments tend do what is expedient for them, which is often also the cheapest option. My passion is for our children, and I want to help them as much as I possibly can – this book is dedicated to them.
Contents
List of acronyms
ADHD – attention deficit hyperactivity disorder
ASC – autistic spectrum condition
ASD – autistic spectrum disorder
CAF – common assessment framework
CAMHS – child and adolescent mental health services
CYP – child/young person
EAL – English as an additional language
EHA – early help assessment
EHCP – education, health and care plan
EP – educational psychologist
EYFS – early years foundation stage
FSM – free school meals
HLTA – higher level teaching assistant
IBP – individual behaviour plan
IEP – individual education plan
LEA – local education authority
NAS – National Autistic Society
NEU – National Education Union
ODD – oppositional defiance disorder
OT – occupational therapy
PDA – pathological demand avoidance (a form of ASC)
PPA – planning, preparation and assessment (time given to teachers in the school day for this purpose)
PRU – pupil referral unit
PSHE – personal, social and health education
SALT – speech and language therapy
SATs – standard attainment tests
SEMH – social, emotional and mental health
SEN – special educational needs
SENCO – special educational needs coordinator
SEND – special educational needs and disabilities
SLCN – speech, language and communication needs
SPD – sensory processing disorder
SpLD – specific learning difficulty
TA – teaching assistant
TAF – team around the family
TESS – Traveller Education Support Services
Introduction
If I had to sum up my professional mantra, I’d say, ‘Be solution-focused, but remember the children are not the problem.’ Schools are faced with a harsh reality when attempting to access SEND provision, address behavioural issues and, ultimately, prevent exclusions. The system as it stands is beset with problems, but the children are not it. I know there are no easy answers but I do feel that much more can be done by individual schools to help the vulnerable children in their care and ensure that they are not on the fringes for life.
I came late to teaching – I was a mature student, beginning my degree course when my son was a baby and then following it up with a PGCE. My career commenced in pre-national curriculum days and teachers were basically allowed to choose what they did as long as they taught maths and English. In my early days of teaching, there was the freedom to cater for the individual and let them learn at a pace that was right for them.
Unless a child had a physical condition, special educational needs (SEN) were largely unrecognised in the way they are today – for instance, diagnoses of ASC and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and concerns surrounding mental health, were far less common. There were special schools and schools for children with behavioural difficulties, but the processes for moving children into these were less formalised than they are now. Statements existed but few parents and teachers knew how to get them before they became enshrined in the 1981 Education Act.1 Over the years, as procedures became more embedded in schools, there was much more inclusivity in mainstream and I feel I was a front-runner in terms of getting support for children who needed it via help from paediatric consultants and the statementing process.
Behaviour was similar to what it is now and, yes, there were disruptive children. However, I would argue that there was a greater expectation for teachers to ‘manage’ their classes, and I even encountered some heads who would tell new staff that it was their responsibility to sort out their classes. Exclusion was unheard of, although I did know of one child who spent some time in a specialist unit – this was before PRUs came into being in 1993 – until he was able to reintegrate back into school. It was only after the advent of Ofsted that heads started to look at whole-school behaviour policies and adopted the collective approach which is commonplace today.
I would suggest that schools have become far more prescriptive since I first started teaching, with a narrowing of the curriculum and of tolerance towards individual differences and needs. This is certainly part of the problem. I am not in possession of ‘miracle cures’ which solve every issue, but hope that I give a flavour of what can be done, despite the bureaucratic and financial obstacles which seem to stand in the way of success. I hope that schools will strengthen inclusive practices and have the confidence to employ strategies which contribute directly to a positive ethos with regard to SEN and exclusion. I will be referring to SEN throughout as these conditions can often be hidden, whereas disabilities are often more visible or evident.
