Quirky Teacher: 'How I wish more parents would read my blog'

[allchildrenreading]

wp.me/p5b7Us-4w

This teache is always worth reading but this one is particularly relevant for parents - it's a good read, too! It will be interesting to hear Mumsnetters' response.

Oooh, I really really hate it when people try and get the clicks on a blog up by stealth by linking it on Mumsnet.

Haven't read full thread but isn't op a bit off??

I don't see why a Mumsnetter shouldn't link to a blog they found interesting. Often I think this can provoke very interesting discussions, because there is more in a blog post. Why would you think it is just to get clicks? I can promise you that the OP isn't the author of the blog (I know this from her posting history).

I thought that blog post made a lot of good points. I like traditional teaching, as does my DD, who is thriving in a "traditional" French school.

Southampton schools used to have crap results and low exclusions.

Then they reorganised their PRU system and got massively improving results, massively increased temporary exclusions and minimal permanent exclusions.

OFSTED and the DFE slagged them off for both variants.

The fact is that the latter variant works better for almost every child.
The ones sent to the PRU benefit from specialist support and care.
The ones left in the school benefit from the lack of disruption.

Evidence based policy.

Something that is utterly lacking in both that blog and most education politics.

DH works with SCITTs (see the blog if you do not recognise)
most of the people are untainted by the real world.

Really well resourced PRUs is I think part of the optimal system. Places where kids get the help they need and have a chance to overcome their obstacles before returning to normal schools. My children are in a totally comprehensive system now (no special school at all for example) and I worry about the children who obviously need more support as they just seem to drop out later on.

Like dd's friend who lived with an abusive, alcoholic mother and was showing all sorts of dyfunctional behaviours but clearly wanted to do well (she liked hanging out with dd apparently because she was so 'good' - ie went to every class and worked hard). Or ds's friend who self medicated his ADHD with marijuana and just slowly opted out. Their school just didn't have enough support available to help them, and they will live a sort of shadow life now until they are able to finish school (lots of schemes out there to help, but you have to opt in, which I think will be a huge struggle for them both).

I knew a wonderful PRU teacher in the UK, she was amazingly committed and obviously really enjoyed reaching out to these very troubled children and helping them turn around.

Nooka
My children are in a totally comprehensive system now
I bet they are not.
There are PRUs all over the whole of the country.
Just they are not shouted about - which is a shame because they can work wonders.

DH visited one that was solely for gang members excluded from school for violence - he found it utterly uplifting.

There are also special schools covering the whole of the country :
NO LA keeps violent kids in mainstream schools : the secure schools all show up on the Dfe data, but most parent do not spot them as they do not publish exam results.

I'm not in the UK anymore Talkin (I live in Canada now). Where I live there really aren't special schools with the exception of either private or charitable schools in some of the big cities (our town is only 90,000). At school there are suites with some specialist teachers for the children with additional needs, but as far as I can see nothing like the sort of special school that my nephew/niece went to in the UK, or even like the unit at my children's primary school in London.

There is something a bit like a PRU, and you are right there doesn't seem to be very much publicly available information about it, although I know it takes children who have been suspended. There's also lots of distance learning opportunities.

Inclusion has been taken to an extreme here. I think it's very worrying.

nooka
So what do blind / deaf / CP / Downs / severely brain damaged kids do?

Some of the schools DH visits have kids with massive physiological / neurological damage who would never, ever fit into a normal school.

It's parental choice Talkin and many choose mainstream schools for their child.

I can confirm that my children have been in the same classroom as children that fit some or all of these : blind/deaf/CP/Downs/severely brain damaged, in mainstream schools.

mrz
Parental choice is all well and good, but surely the school has to take into account the education of ALL the children in its catchment.

Not many kids in strait jackets in mainstream schools but that is an essential piece of kit in some schools - "inclusion" is fine up to the point that it benefits, but it should not be forced where it is not.

Sadly the Blog poster is pontificating with about as much knowledge of the variety of children in the real world as have many politicians.

A school can't refuse to accept a child with CP/Downs syndrome/ severe brain damage or any other condition if there are places and that is what parents want.

Fairy nuff, but in the UK there is decent provision for special needs - I'd be surprised if any school system tries to integrate children who have no communication. I guess most countries just expect the parents to HE and wash their hands.

Not all parents want special school provision and availability is patchy.

Two years ago I had a child with Down's syndrome in my mainstream class. The child was developmentally 4 years behind, so in nappies, unable to eat solid food so needed to be fed, pre verbal (we used Pecs and we're introducing Makaton) monocular vision so unable to distinguish obstacles, unable to walk or sit up unaided his parents choice to keep him in mainstream until secondary.

I have read most but not the the ft.

I find it interesting that some posters say how much more respect there was in the past. Who had respect for whom? What does respect mean? Is / was respect based on fear or strength? Who gains to win from respect and who looses out?
I had a read through the blog and find the way it's written unconvincing. The bit about Rousseau is totally simplistic and polemic.

I sometimes get the feeling that education is treated like the NHS, there is so much negative talk and fear mongering which erodes the publics trust in the state system. Who gains from that I wonder.

Talkin I really don't know. My niece at 18 effectively has the cognitive development of a toddler (with no speech or sign language), I cannot imagine that she could possibly have been sent to a mainstream school, special unit or not, but as I said there are no special schools in my town and no special units at all at primary level. There were some children with disabilities at my children's primary here, but nothing very different to their UK community school (eg children with autism, adhd, downs etc, but nothing severe or complex).

The advocacy groups are all very focused on inclusion, and while I do think that inclusion is generally very important it is not always appropriate.