Dept for Education new announcement - what do we think?

[AgnesDiPesto]

From Sarah Teather

"Hundreds of school support staff are to get degree-level and specialist training in helping children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), under a new £500,000 programme set out today by Children's Minister Sarah Teather"

SEN support scholarship

FAQs here

I see one of the accredited courses is ABA / VB basic course at beyondautism which seems to be the new name of rainbow school. Does anyone know what this course entails?

I really hope this is a substantive course. Having sat in a Tribunal where the Autism outreach teacher tried to convince the Panel she was an 'expert' in ABA because she had done a 2 day course and her colleague was also an expert because she was booked to go on the course - despite the fact neither had ever used ABA with a single child, I always worry that 'being on a course' will be passed off as expertise. When in fact you can only become an expert in something if other people in the same profession consider you to be an expert.

I am glad to see any investment in training - but we can all sit in a room and listen to a course. My worry with SEN is that the staff are then sent back to the schools with no support, supervision, mentoring or monitoring. No-one checks they are implementing what they have learnt correctly. Our ABA provider invests masses in training and all the staff really value the weekly supervision they get from experienced practitioners. There have been many occasions when a room of ABA 'experts' have had to brainstorm to think of how to get DS out of a particular rut. I just don't like the idea of individual TAs trying to practice new techniques in isolation. Its the same with TEACCH whatever my views on TEACCH and whether it works, I hate the idea that going on a 5 day course and being sent back to the trenches on your own to implement it is enough. The reason our ABA staff are so fab is because week in week out they get feedback from more experienced supervisors and consultants on their practice. You can't learn ABA just from a course, you also have to learn it on the job.

I just hope this isn't like the NAS accreditation scheme - something that allows LAs to pass their schools and staff off as autism (or ABA) 'experts' when in fact it falls a long way short of that.

Am i just being my usual glass half empty self?

More expertise and still paid peanuts. The usual.

I totally agree.
such 'degree level' training will not be at the same level as most teachers who are at post grad/Bed level.
Specialist teachers usually have post grad diploma and/or MA level in addition to their teaching qualification.

It seems like it will be a bit counter productive. I think if I was A TA with an opportunity to study for a degree etc then I might want to be going for a teaching qualification anyway.

good point starfish

Everything stems from the top. It doesn't matter in school if you have a really enthusiastic willing to learn staff if they are not supported in putting anything learnt into action.
That said, if the school are supportive at SLT/SMT level, the training doesn't really need to be at degree/post grad level anyway - it has to be practical and hands on so that they can do the job.
Ime, we have some TAs that are far more switched on and enthusiastic than some teachers. There are a lot of bright TAs out there

my thread has disappeared. If i post something will it magically come back???

Agnes, I have no doubt your cynicism is appropriate but I still see it as a step forward, if just a small one.

Yes I agree its great ABA is even on the list. Def gives it credibility as something to be on the mainstream radar. Harder for mainstream schools to argue its abusive etc
Just can see me having to argue even harder why I need my expensive ABA and not the cut price one. And my DS really does need the high level of expertise.

Everything in your OP hits nail after nail on the head, and there is much to be afraid of, but I'm still relieved to see some movement.

In reality, there won't be many that take this up, and certainly not in ABA. And quite frankly £500k won't go far.

I expect that at the end of this course they will probably know about 10% of what we have taught ourselves

I mean, what is so difficult about reading the SEN COP etc and applying it and some common sense?

No, well-intentioned but futile until more money is available to back up knowledge with proper, directed support.

Wet, my mum is here and killing herself laughing at your post.

But you're right. Forget the £500k 'training', just tell them to read the SENCOP and administer a test then tell them to submit a short essay at the end of the year on how they applied it. The OUTCOME would be much more effective in impact!

Gosh. They must be low budget courses.

All my comments relate to mainstream as I just don't have a clue how the average SS runs things.

Mainstream 1:1's will be left VERY vulnerable if they take up this offer. If "their" child's family move house or go to SS during their course they risk losing their funding as most are on fixed term contracts tied directly to the child they support. TA salary level's aren't high enough to cover that level of risk, given most have families.

Deffo agree that many capable of degree level study will choose to do a Bed or PGCE (if already graduates), partly due to the enhanced salaries of QT's over TA's.

Why not encourage more QT's to study special needs at masters level? Support staff remain exactly that - support to the QT. NO matter how good they are it's the teacher that dictates what happens in the classroom when push comes to shove.

Also £500K is peanuts compared to the numbers of support staff out there and most schools are trying to shed support staff numbers, not spend money on them at present.

It's nice to see ABA on the list of approved courses, as it may influence the odd tribunal.

Summary - a political soundbite that's pretty meaningless here in the real world.

I suppose I was assuming the school would pay the other half. Yes if the TA has to cough up I can see that would not work.
I think my LA would happily send every TA on a 2 day ABA course if they could persuade tribunals that they were then 'trained' in ABA.

Still I think its interesting that the only autism course on there is an ABA one, not a TEACCH course.

I can see the benefit of for e.g. the Down Syndrome or ICAN courses as they are just tacking one area at a time, not an entire condition