SEN & lack of training for teachers / prospective teachers etc - Should they consider volunteering as a means to access support and training?

[LifeIsFreeStyle]

Hi, It really is my first ever AIBU, so please go easy on me. Not intending the thread as inflammatory - just a genuine question.

There has been lots of debate recently about attitudes and capabilities of schools / school staff towards SEN kids and statements. One aspect of this seems to be a frustration from both parents and teachers at the lack of teacher training available on SEN and disabilities, ASC in particular.

So my question is really, AIBU to suggest that a period of voluntary work with disability organisations might provide the insight and training that will help everyone in the long-run? And by everyone, yes, I do mean everyone including classmates and support staff.

And, I am aware that many already do this but it doesn't appear to be commonplace.

I absolutely agree that there is a lack of training for teachers.

When I had a child with an ASC in my class I used the internet, including MN, and didn't have any training whatsoever.

My training on the PGCE consisted of one afternoon lecture when we had to write down as many SNs as we could think of and recognise that if we had a child in our class with a diagnosed or suspected SN or SEN then we should speak with the SENCO.

When are you suggesting the volunteering would occur though?

I'm a teacher and also agree I feel very ignorant about most SEN.

We didn't have a lot of training on the PGCE. We had a powerpoint with lots of acronymns, were given a handout with another load of acronyms, but no real strategies to help our students in the classroom.

I don't think a period of volunteering is necessarily the solution, but agree the training does need to improve.

Well, preferably BEFORE they go down the route of teacher training, but any time throughout their career as things change so fast and it would help to keep up with new theories or techniques. Plenty of youth groups or support worker sessions available that it shouldn't be too difficult to fit it in. Just that I know some fantastic voluntary groups that could be an extremely valuable resource and a safe place for teachers to work informally and get advice and support.

There are already some school staff that volunteer in our local area as well as students trying to figure out if it's the right career choice for them. These are the smart ones that really do want to do the best they can for the children and this is what made me wonder why it's not always the case.

frogspoon: I really do sympathise with the frustrating situation NQT's, for example, find themselves in. But the thought also crosses my mind that, in a private sector job, we would only make ourselves more commercially valuable with extra training, knowledge and experience, and if my employer wasn't able to offer it then I might consider going out there and finding it myself. Particularly if it made my day-job easier to deal with.

Although, in a private sector job, I would also consider a lack of training provision to be a potential lack of commitment on behalf of my employer to my career development, so might have to also question my own loyalties alongside my new-found skills.

Can I ask how long ago it is since you all did the PGCE? Has it improved at all in recent years? Also, what training have HT's provided since you qualified?

The problem is that there is no time for volunteering to take place. All the staff, both teaching and support, at my school work incredibly hard as it is, and there is just no scope for voluntary work on top.

Besides, I have two children. My son has dyspraxia and ticks some of the boxes for AS. My daughter has hearing loss.

Where could I, or anyone else, volunteer that would give me enough experience/knowledge/understanding to be useful in working with children dyspraxia, ASD and hearing loss?

And that's part of the problem. SN/SEN covers such a wide range of conditions/disabilities/difficulties that where would you even start?

I think 'they' take the approach that when you get a child with a suspected SN in your class/school that the school will organise specific training with that child in mind.

And certainly there is some of that. I've worked in schools with lifts, shower rooms, induction loops that have been fitted to meet the needs of an individual child and training will be organised, but it's very often retrospective training (the child has already been in school for some time when it happens) and there isn't training available for all SNs/disabilities anyway.

Training is expensive and schools don't have the budget to fund it.

It's just massive when you start thinking about it. And that's the problem.

I would never have completed work-based training in my own time, it's unfair to expect teachers to be any different. Also why should voluntary organisations pick up the slack for poor teacher training?

In my last organisation (private sector) certain types of training were mandatory. Not only that, but they had to be repeated every year. I honestly think it would be far, far more effective to train teachers properly than to rely on them undertaking voluntary work. And mandatory training would reach all teachers, not just the interested/motivated ones who may consider extra voluntary work. Because the ones that can be bothered are usually the OK teachers. The ones that think they have nothing to learn about SEN are the ones who tend to be awful teachers... and they wouldn't be the ones fronting up to be volunteers...

I absolutely agree that it would require both willingness and availability but, from those I have met, it's not entirely impossible. Voluntary organisations are a very rich source of, often free, training and support to everyone involved in the lives of disabled children. Many are disability specific and many more are diverse. If schools wanted to access / mine this as a resource, they often cost nothing or very little. But then it's up to the individual school to decide which staff they insist attends or who they offer it to.

Well, I'm a SENCO and I view training as my role in school. Realistically it's nigh impossible to do training that is broad enough even to cover the most common SEN. Even some disabilities are still a huge learning curve for me after years in this job.

I'm not against it at all, just wondering as to the practicalities of it. We train in response to need. I'm aware some schools are very very poor at this but I'm not sure how the alternative would look. NQTS in our borough do get 3 days training in SEN in our three special schools but are still not prepared in reality for a lot of SEN needs.

I love my job, and part the reason I love it is the intellectual challenge it presents. I have to learn new needs quickly, research, seek out training and think outside the box a lot. It's demanding. I can't see how a bit of volunteering is for example going to REALLY have a big impact when child x turns up with the 1 in 2000 condition or child y has an asd but is also deaf and pushes every boundary.

Can anyone link to the previous discussions on this as mentioned in the original posters question?

The is most certainly a problem- but volunteering is not the answer. It will be a drop in the ocean.

I would like to see teachers able to specialise in SEN during their initial training (PGCE etc.), with a further year specialising in a particular area (ESBD, ASC etc.). I would then like it to be mandatory for every school to employ at least one specialist teacher (in addition to a SENCo) who will train staff on a rolling programme. It will be the school's responsibility to ensure that all staff, including the specialist teacher, receive relevant training.

The lack of knowledge of SEN is endemic, and will not be changed by volunteering which will be nothing but tokenistic unless the system changes.

Just to add the latest figures from the States are that 1 in 56 boys is on the autism spectrum so this area of teacher training is very important.

I should say that the problem is not just within schools- much of the training available to teachers and SENCos is woefully inadequate.

NQTS in our borough do get 3 days training in SEN in our three special schools but are still not prepared in reality for a lot of SEN needs.

That sounds a really good idea, unfortunately it is not widespread. Also, children in special schools usually have more profound and multiple difficulties and disabilities, whereas I would want to know strategies for children who have specific common SENs I am likely to encounter such as ASD.

I am doing my NQT year atm and I spend hours every evening and weekend planning and marking at the moment. Unless I was given actual time off work to do this volunteering, I would not physically have time to do it.

It would be a novelty in my area to find a Senco that has the slightest idea about Special needs let alone teachers.

Do you spend / make time for meeting with the parent/carer early on in your working with their child? Are you allowed the time to offer them? Do you LISTEN to them when they try to articulate how it might affect their child and what techniques they find work best?

OP I always have, and always will, view the parent as my first port of call. I always ask the parents what strategies and techniques their child responds to best. I tend to think a 'joined up' approach between home and school is the most obvious to follow. And the parents have lived with the child for their entire life. I will have them for a limited time only.

When my children got their dx, I sourced resources and charities that would offer support to the school because I knew they wouldn't have time to do it themselves.

Govt policy and LA trends seem to have gone round in circles regarding inclusion and special schools. Unfortunately, the backing up of inclusion with further training and support as mandatory does seem to be woefully inadequate from the viewpoint of both home and school, with the child most certainly stuck in the middle. So with expectations and disappointments of inclusion seeming to revolve around a lack of awareness and knowledge. What should be done? What should individual school staff do if they find their own school lacking in training support and provision? What would parents/carers like to see, within realistic realms of current economic constraints?

I think three days' generic SEN training over the course of the year is nothing.

Training should be specific, relevant, and ongoing.

The best way to do that is to put the knowledge into schools, so that the training happens all the time.

I think there should be a specialist team in each local authority which can go into schools on a very regular basis (at least twice per half term) and advise class teachers on particular needs for a particular child. So the expertise resides with this team - class teachers don't have time to become experts in an SEN but they would be good at spotting when a child in their class is struggling. This central team can come in and make sure the learning g environment and structure of work is getting the best out of the student. But the visits have to be very regular and each of the specialists should have a caseload so that there is consistency.
Inclusion works extremely well for many children with SEN.

My particular interest is autism and there are so many very simple tweaks that can be put in place to support learning.

I'd like to see schools as a source of knowledge and support for parents, not the other way round, as it is currently. Of course parents know their child best, but the responsibility for educating them effectively shouldn't have to fall on their shoulders; they have enough in their plate!

Parents should of course be listened to and included in provision planning, but they should not have to do the school's job for them, as is so often the case.

Actually, I don't think teachers should have to do more SEN stuff. Their job is to teach, not to provide SEN support. They shouldn't have to be an expert in that. There should be someone (SENCO?) at the school who can provide training to teachers as and when required depending who they have in their class.