Let’s talk about how we can make changes in schools to improve them for everyone involved.

[SchoolsMustChange]

Having binge-read the WFH/attendance thread, I feel it important to have a positive discussion about changes schools can make that will improve things for everyone.

As a mother of autistic children, a couple of whom have school refused to the point of us being threatened with court and fines, and feeling totally unsupported by school, and ending up home educating because there felt like no other options, which also meant claiming more benefits to be able to do that.

I feel there are alternative options that would help schools become less chaotic, ease the stress on SN families (much of which comes from gaslighting and lack of support from within school) and improve outcomes for most children involved.

Lack of special school spaces is obviously an issue that must be addressed at some point, but for this thread let’s focus on mainstream schools, which seem to be really struggling right now.

At my youngest child’s school there was a high % of ND children, mainly because the local choice of schools is a draconian academy which manages out children with support needs, and this school, which is now riddled with attendance and behavioural issues. When I deregistered my son he was the 11th child in his year group to be removed, in a small school with under 60 per year group. My son’s attendance was nearing 50%.

What would have worked for him? Streaming lessons. Using technology already set up in the school during Covid lockdown. Allowing my son and others like him to login and register his attendance, and attend school and in a way that he could cope with. If he felt he genuinely had a choice to access education in this way he would have thrived. In days where stress levels were lower he could attend school and register as normal. If the day got too much he could come home and log in for afternoon lessons without it affecting his attendance and worrying schools, OFSTED and government. With this arrangement I know that his attendance, and that of loads like him, would be 100%. He wants to learn, but he can’t always do it in school.
Edited to add: this would also work for children who are ill who should be at home instead of spreading their germs to everyone!

I also think this plan could go further in dealing with increasing behavioural issues in the classroom, by being clear to parents that any issues (a lot which will be caused by unsupported SN) and their child will do lessons in a quiet room, streamed to a device with headphones (isolation room was often full of children who couldn’t cope in a loud classroom and who calmed down once there), and if the behaviour persists they can go home to learn there - if school is then not accessed they can be chased for their attendance, because a workable option is available.

Schools can then have a clearer line of acceptable behaviour with a real solution that’s not up for debate. At the moment lines are blurred and behaviour remains a big problem.

So rather than talking about the problem, can we have a discussion about potential solutions?

It’s depressing reading the frequent threads fighting teachers and/or children and/or parents.
Teachers are understandably not coping and are often blaming pupils and parents, children are not coping - as seen with rising rates of mental illness and poor attendance, parents are not coping because, especially those of us with SN children, we can see that they are not supported and we take the brunt of that once home. The system isn’t working for anyone.

So what can be done, because unless someone addresses the issues, instead of constantly pointing fingers at any other problem, this is only going to get worse for teachers, parents and pupils alike.

Any thoughts?

I think this is the issue with the very fast, very overwhelming advent of neurodiversity. I feel we’ve rushed ahead in developing it as a concept, before the science has had a chance to catch up. 10 years ago, I hardly ever heard the word autism, and ADHD was very rare. They had specific meanings and were diagnosed sparingly. Now I can’t remember the last time I heard of a diagnosis that wasn’t autism, ADHD or anxiety. And they’ve all been stretched to incorporate so many behaviours without any hard science to suggest this spectrum of behaviours and varying presentations are in any way related to one another. Everyone seems utterly confused as to what anything means anymore as it’s become a brain difference, a disability, an identity, a superpower and a genetic state all at once. Then add in masking, spiky profiles, sensory profiles, PDA profiles, anxiety profiles etc and the whole thing seems very tangled and convoluted.

Given the above I can see why accurate, appropriate treatment is borderline impossible.

I understand that streaming a lesson, on zoom or other, isn’t necessarily the simple solution, but surely streaming a lesson as it is would allow an anxious child to access more education than they are right now, and allowing these children more flexibility could solve the attendance issues very quickly.

I can see why streaming 'lecture' type lessons might work (if you have a camera to film a fairly still teacher), but this just wouldn't work in primary. Teachers move continually, the camera would have to not be showing any other children, you wouldn't have any of the worksheets/books you'd need, it would need to focus on whatever was being shown on the IWB as well.

How on earth can a classroom lesson be streamed? Would the teacher just stand at the front and lecture while the students in the class say silently? This is not real life. There would be noise and interruptions. When the teacher moves who would be moving the camera? It really is a nonsense suggestion.

I would like a slightly longer school day to include more breaks to run around in and more focus on sports - this will free up some time spent doing extra curriculars.
In exchange I would like longer holidays in order for the kids to get more balance

The video or live lessons done during covid were aimed solely at online learning.

It’s a stupid idea for a vast number of reasons - and the praticalities are one of those reasons.

We have refused hybrid and home based education whilst the child remained on roll, as the school is then legally responsible for progress and safeguarding for parts of the school day when they have no oversight whatsoever as to what that child is doing.

I also think it results in a poorer quality education for those who need it most.

That’s the cash rise not the total budget. That’s how much of the extra funding is being added to the SEN pot.

What do you do for a job? The fact that you think teachers can simultaneously teach face to face AND online is laughable. Do you think you could do your job this way?
There’s now a myriad platforms out there for students whose parents don’t want them in school, just a glance at the homeschooling thread will attest to that. So if a parent doesn’t think a regular state school can provide the education they want for their child they have the option of opting out and homeschooling. Or pay privately.

there have never been so many special school places or ASD/SEMH wings of mainstream schools.

Why do so many of us not remember children with SN in our classrooms when we were in primary ? I don’t recall seeing children assault other people or being evacuated out of the classroom because someone has “kicked off” as it was too dangerous to be in a class where the furniture was being thrown etc. I remember children with physical additional needs but not children with mental health or ND. Were they all at home? Institutions ? Getting educated elsewhere ?

The institutions closed by the 1980s at the latest. A good 25 year gap between that and the uptick in SEN.

There’s been an absolutely massive rise in non verbal autistic children according to anecdata from basically every early years worker. I can’t remember a single non verbal child from when I was growing up, I know loads now even though I come into contact with fewer children.

Many special schools were closed in the late 1990s.
Children now survive with more complex needs, meaning spaces in special schools are 'taken up' by complex cases. Children with learning needs that would have meant a specialist provision, are now in a mainstream classroom, with no extra adults, less funding, and more children. No wonder it isn't working.

For children who should really be in special schools, and I know there are loads, then yes, it’s unworkable.

For children who need minimal adjustments and a level of flexibility (including around attendance) these can be met.

This is besides the point though, at the moment there are many SN children not accessing education, and I’d hoped that a bunch of intelligent, resourceful women might be able to come up with innovative ideas that might mean they can access the education they have a right to, and in the process maybe improve things for teachers as well.

I happened to be at primary school with a girl whose dad was a specialist teacher in a boarding school for children with disabilities. Some students belonged to the integrated Girl Guide company we both belonged to (this was in the early 1980s). Those children existed! But it was pure chance that I met them.

The boarding school still exists. I looked it up the other day. It takes only 100 children from a huge geographical area.

I think there was a lot more separation in the past.

So 1.56% of the extra funding going into SEN? That is not much of a headline.

Anyway, OP, to seriously answer your interesting question, perhaps it depends what we think schools are for? I am not sure there is much consensus on that these days.

We seem to have lost the sense of learning and developing being worthwhile for its own sake. It's a rare day when I get to talk to a student who's got genuine curiosity about what they're learning these days. They do exist of course (I specialise in sixth form so it does worry me as they're about to take their transactional attitude, where they have one, to university).

I see learning as a kind of serious fun. I want to always go on learning. My 80-something mother has and she's a very happy and fulfilled person.

I think also in the best schools (of whatever type) there is a sense of being part of something bigger than yourself - a joint endeavour.

The issue is that any sort of support requires more time or more money. There is not a lot of that going spare in schools right now.

It’s always been there, but I suspect more prevalent now due to a variety of reasons, including society being more difficult to navigate (explaining why so many adults, particularly women, are being diagnosed now), schools putting more pressure on children and cracking down on issues like attendance which, years before were overlooked and meant children like me years ago could be a bit more flexible without the threats of fines that’s so common now. We also had more formal teaching arrangements, less group work, more time outdoors.

Not everyone is confused by it, and some do amazing work with their ND pupils, being able to meet a range of needs - IME these are the teachers who have ND children and/or are ND themselves. It doesn’t work when people see them as defective neurotypical children.

Those with PDA profiles do find school particularly hard, and I believe is becoming a more prevalent presentation due to increasingly poor school environments, and behavioural issues and school refusal can be common, but by offering a virtual alternative and allowing them a genuine option could be groundbreaking, save money for schools and give them a much better outlook for their future.

As happens in threads like this people are very quick to say no rather than seeing if some alternative ideas might just have legs, or at least be considered to see if they lead to other ideas that might help schools to slow down this downward trend.

The NHS is failing under similar circumstances. It’s too big to be fit for purpose. It’s trying to deliver too much to too many, all of whom have a right to use it. But it lacks innovation and new ideas that might save it, so it slowly sinks with no viable alternative. It’s tragic and puts everyone at risk.

I would like to see better transition from primary to secondary. It's a huge shock and so stark in its difference.

More options at break times other than just bloody sport. This links in with other comments about the social aspect of education. This may be better at some schools that my DDs one though, would like to know how and what though!

Less punitive for ridiculous things!! Discipline should be very focused on behaviour towards both staff and other students.

As a mum of a yr7 DD who absolutely loved primary school and now absolutely hates school, the whole system is broken and for the first time in my life I wish I had the money to send her to a private school!

I’m not a teacher but I manage to work and home educate, sometimes at the same time, but I do get your point.

As an idea though do you think that for some children something like this would be a better option than no education at all?

Short of investigating why so many are out of education, and assuming that it wouldn’t be made pointless by setting the blame at parent’s feet, and short of overhauling education and creating more necessary special schools, how do you think these children could access lessons?

One more change to add... less homework in the holidays! Give the kids some downtime! I get it in yr 11 and possibly 10, but surely yr 7,8 and 9 especially can do without!

I know what you mean.
There were always those who weren’t interested in learning things, but I’ve often wondered if having instant access to the internet where anything and everything can be found has taken away a hunger to learn (although for me it’s the opposite! I love being able to find information and learn about anything I want!).

I think education for some reason doesn’t feel as much of a privilege as it maybe did at some point.

Differing parenting styles through generations has probably made a big difference (from benign neglect of boomers (which I think was actually good for children) through gen x and now millennials who seem to have a much softer approach than my parents or my siblings and I took with our children.

I suppose this is all just part of how life goes.
We hopefully identify the issues and try to fix them!

OP https://www.thenational.academy/pupils/years/year-10/subjects

Try Oak Academy, it was set up during the pandemic.

I think your idea is nice but won't work in practise. It would also further disincentivise attendance.

I’d love to access this, but the cost of things like this tend to be prohibitive to parents who generally end up in lower paid roles or on benefits in order to be flexible for their dc.

That’s why I wish there was something available as a part of the local school that children could access during times when they can’t go to school.

I can see why it seems unworkable, but it all seems so sad to accept that the current state of affairs means that thousands of children are going uneducated.

Schools were able to be a lot more flexible back in the day. I know I spent quite a lot of time out of the classroom doing various things.

There weren’t anywhere near as many subjects / expectations at such a young age, either.

I’d be a school refuser now, from everything I’ve seen and heard about today’s schools. But I wasn’t in the 80s/90s - so something has changed about the school system.

I’ll not rise to the bait of the NHS not being innovative, but the NHS’s biggest problem is people not looking after their own health and lifestyle, and expecting the NHS to sort out endless avoidable problems at zero point of use cost. Whether you draw parallels between the NHS and education is up to you.

Oak Academy is completely free OP.