Gove does it again....

[StarlightMcKenzie]

and so does the Daily Mail

Main Board discussion here

If people worked together with clear aims instead of going no further than 'in house' low level whingeing, there would be much more accountability.
One needs to be clear on what one wants and to work withing the context of current legislation and bureaucracy-tedious but necessary.
I know this throguh my own personal and professional experiences. Thus if a PTA/governers of a special school asked the local s/lt dept. for a presentation on evidence based practice say, they would have no choice but to respond.

s part of the machine, I can see huge changes afoot. Calls everywhere for increased transparency and accountability, evidence of process and progress (or not). Professionals such as teachers and s/lts are feeling very anxious because as Agnes says, they don't know waht good practice looks like and nor have they been taught basic processes of measurement. They should be feeling angry about that and its glaring omission from their training. Talk to a teacher-noone will have taught them about current evidence based practice about reading and yet this is stuff that a quick google will reveal to anyone. Similarly, most s/lts are clueless about the evidence base for ABA which far exceeds anything available for the current raggle taggle approach. The Cochrane Review states quite emphatically that the evidence base for paediatric s/lt provision in its current form is curently non existent.

You can't rely on outfits like NUT (the name says it all) fronted by the odious Christine Blower (a woman who went on tv to rail against phonics despite then admiting that she didn't know what it was) sticking up fro your kids. NUT exists primarily to protect the interests of its members and thier interests are not yours.

Nor can dissatisfaction with the staus quoe turn into a witch hunt against perople who know no bnetter because noone has bothered to equip them for the job. No wonder they are defensive. They're terrified of being exposed.

Honesty is the way forward.
An hoest admission that what we have now is by and large ineffective and horrible expensive. I do not think the agenda is one of low quality provision at low cost. It's a false economy becasue if we fail to equip our children to be as independent as possible, then the costs continue and sare borne by the taxpayer.

The advantage of behavioural interventions is that they are evidence based and cost effective ad change will occur, which not only benefits the child but is hugely reinforcing to the person supporting them as they realsie that they really can make a difference.

Where I work, interest in new transparent, measurable and evdience based ways of working is greeted with open arms and huge relief by scores of peopel in both the LEA and the NHS.

Zzz, most people are not like you.
They are not like me.
They can not or do not pour every ounce of their energy into improving their children's lots in life.
I cannot recall a day in the past 10 years when I have not worked with either/both of my children on some aspect of their education/language in a formal way. They wouldn't be able to do what they can if I hadn't.

Veritate
I am not saying he is a saviour. He is a man doing his best.
The changes I see afoot every day in my work in the field of SEN are a reflection of the things I have pointed out in my earlier post.

I think free schools are a fantastic opportunity to shame the public sector into providing something far better and I applaud Gove for introducing them in the face of appallingly filthy tactics by the unions and odious characters like Fiona Millar. There's a caring carrot if there ever was one.
I loathe her and all she stands for.

I have to agree with moondog there.
We are unusual in the work and effort we put into helping our dc...most other parents don't, honestly :(
I know so many kids both in my wider family and at my sons school who have sn/sen but their parents attitude is that the schools should help them as its their job and if money is even mentioned they go mad. Why should we pay attitude, even when they can easily afford it.
Shrug.
It's sad, but there you go.
I have lost count lately of the number of threads on mnsn recently wrt dyslexia that are about kids in year 8/9/10....how on earth do you not realise your child has issues until then????!
How??!

And statements should be hard to get hold of because then those that get them deserve to know it is a document that is taken seriously. They were handed out like sweeties at a party for years (see my link to Centre for Policy Studies paper) which not only devalued them but also lessened accountability from the NHS and LEA.

Kid can't read/write/count/sit still/pay attention?
Of course he can't. he's got special needs.
Nowt to do with the way he is(n't) being taught.

Write off another one.

And yes, I would rather spend the hours and hours of my time that I have spent on familiarising myself with dreary documents, practicing handwriting, going over and over tables and teaching reading on drinking wine, painting my toenails and testing out new recipes. God yes!

But those that are tasked with the job aren't up to it.
Noone taught them how to do it properly (and believe me, it is not rocket science) so, like the little red hen, I do it myself. I am advantaged as a practitione/researcher in the field of SEN but 90% of the useful things I can put into practice were funded by me outside of worktime in the form of an MSc.

I Honestly don't know how many hours I have spent over the past 4 years helping ds1 with his literacy and other issues.
Hundreds.
We have also spent about £3k on therapies like ait, rrt etc.
And it's paying off.
Finally.
We are thrilled obv, but it's been a long hard slog and we have had no help at all from the very agencies paid by the state to help us.
Not everyone is as militant confident as I am and would be wary of teaching literacy, overseeing neuro developmental exercises etc.
Not everyone can find the money even though I would have gone into debt to fund it to do what we have done.
I "opted out" because I was sick of the crap that parents of sn/sen kids have to wade through just to get their kids some help.
And it was the best decision I ever made :)

Moondog...it's actually terrifying how little teachers - even very good teachers - know about sn/sen.
And it's not until you are sat opposite them all in a meeting that you realise they aren't going to help you, not because they don't want to, but because they don't know how
Was a bit of an epiphany for me tbh....

Moondog: you keep saying Gove is doing his best, but I repeat - how? Is waiting 2.5 years to produce what is, frankly, a dreadfully poor piece of legislative drafting really his best? If so he should resign now. Despite a number of invitations and a number of posts you have not managed to point to anything he is doing to help children with SEN. Sorry, woolly stuff about accountability doesn't cut it. Free schools teaching children Latin don't cut it either.

That's it Badvoc.
Precisely.
It's a terrifying realisation but in many ways somewhat liberating because at least you know where you are.
Honesty is always the best policy. It's naot nice to be told by someone that thry haven't got a clue but it at least doersn't send you into a parallel sinister Emporer's New Clothes scenario where people repeat that your child is receiving the best possible provision ad nauseam.

Veritate, no one politician can change the world or an entire system.
I like free schools. I agree with getting rid of statements. I agree with the increased call for accountability and see it reflected in the practice of teachers, headteachers and other professionals connected with the LEA on a daily basis. I applaud the way he has taken on the unions and pushed for more evidence based practice.

I am not familiar with the legislation you cite below but please feel free to elaborate as my opinion seems to matter to you.

'the draft legislation (apart from elements such as the extension of EHC Plans to 25) will bring about an improvement? How? Because Gove has wimped out of making the social care element either appealable or enforceable, the EHCP is nothing more than a watered down version of the statement; it will be more difficult to get and, without the requirement for specificity and detail, will be much more difficult to enforce'

Moondog, it is not that your opinion matters massively to me, but that you have come onto this thread to voice your very strong view that Gove is our "last chance" without producing one single instance of anything that he has done that can be demonstrated to have helped children with learning difficulties. I'm willing to consider such evidence seriously, but you have yet to produce it. The fact that you now say that you have no knowledge of the draft legislation on SEN which his department produced only very recently does rather demonstrate, with every respect, that your views are not evidence-based.

It actually is immensely liberating!
I don't play the LA game. I don't accept what the teachers tell me (which makes me really popular as you can imagine!) and I don't have to put up with any of it anymore :)
No more meetings, no more begging for provision he needs that they won't/can't provide...
It's great :)

5 years ago our local school was classed as failing.

It had failed once before & been reopened under a new name. The school was fails every time due to having an intake of 50% SN & English as a second language + inadequate support for those 2 issues. 4 years ago the parents of my local Primary School occupied it, some Mums even sat on the roof. It made the media.

Their pleas for accountability of the sort Moondog wants had been falling of deaf ears for over a decade. They'd done all the PTA type stuff it was possible to do using the regular channels of statement applications, petitions to the council, LGO, Ofstead blah, blah, blah.

The school was closed and will open in 2014 as a free school run by outsiders answerable only to Gove, with even less accountability to local parents. No additional funding or support has been put in place for SN or EAL & having questioned the founders face to face, it's blatently clear that their application has been approved in part due to their total ignorance of the issues impacting the standard catchment intake (others who did know summat were rejected). Eye rolling central iykwim.

It's a classic case of the more everything changes the more it stays the same.

In other news - The Saturday & local Home school groups run by local are thriving and growing in strength year on year.

Hmmm...I home schooled ds1 for a year in 2010 and would do so again in the blink of an eye.
My faith in the school system...ANY school system has been radically challenged and damaged by my experiences.
It's ok for now...in fact ds1 is thriving but who is to say that will continue?
The middle school he goes to next sept has just become an academy.
I have no idea whether that is a good or bad thing, I like to think its simply a funding allocation change (?) but await next year with some trepidation...

What gets me is the lack of financial logic in the whole free school business. How has it happened that some free schools haven't opened at all because they can't attract enough pupils, or have opened but are only half full? And how are others being allowed to open in temporary and grossly unsuitable premises? Surely it must be absolutely fundamental that anyone wanting to open a free school should be able to demonstrate both that there is a need for more school places in the area in question and that they have viable plans including having at least identified suitable school premises? It's the ones that don't open which really annoy me, because the founders must presumably receive a lot of funding to recruit staff, set up the school etc, and that is money thrown away. When Gove is blatantly doing his best to take money out of SEN provision, how come he has so much available for his friends people who fancy opening free schools?

While I'm in rant mode, how come he's so keen on stricter numeracy and literacy tests for trained teachers, whilst saying that teachers in academies and free schools needn't have any teacher training qualification at all?

Veritate, I have cited several reasons why I believe that Gove is a good man.
I would (as I am sure would many others) welcome further clarification and explanation of the points you make about SEN legislation.

Bochead, having English as a second language is not a reason to fail academically. That is the biggest mistake of all to assume that pupils arrive set up for failure. I have referred repeatedly to Project Followthrough on MN, the biggest educational experiment in the world which blew such misconceptions out of the water time and time again. (It was of course quietly shelved. The powers that be could not contemplate the terrifying truth that failure could not, in all but the most extreme cases be blamed on anything but poor teaching.)

Moreover, what does 50% 'SN' mean? Who stated that they had SN? An SN label in many cases means that people simply stop trying with you. You are written off before you have even set out.

Currently, 1 in 5 children in England and Wales are said to have 'Special Needs'

ok back after avoiding the discussion of ironing

Moondog how is Gove going to guarantee our DC are going to be taught, supported,and understood. How is he going to guarantee the teachers/tas are going to accept their SNs or SENs and that the extra support is needed and follow it through.

Training how is Gove going to make sure the schools take the required training courses. Because DS first one just didnt bother doing them.

I can understand the statements being dished out willy nilly as you posted previously undervalued the importance of one. Its not the statement I am so worried about it is the treatment of the children, the way schools act and the fact that they blankly ignore to put the strategies in place. The parents having more control of their childs needs via direct payments (not the right term I know) How is a parent going to be able to guarantee the services will be applied?

My worry is without the right to request SA being solid or some sort of right to request those such schools are going to have a field day ignoring childrens needs.

I dont suppose that makes sense as I am on phone lol

I realise he is only one man and cant make it all foolproof but there is a lot of loopholes that the lax schools can jump on and the children suffer for it.

There are lots of loopholes and get out clauses already Coff.
Neither Gove (nor anyone else) will be able to guarantee that every teacher and every school offers what is says on the tin (more's the pity) but I do believe we are seeing a massive shift in attitudes, transparency and accountability that he is driving.
I see this in the wider context of the history of society's attitudes and beliefs about learning disabilities which is very interesting in itself.

I've just done another mountain of ironing but am now reinforcing myself with a large Negroni that I promised myself on the dot of 7.

Round here MOST mums hear their kids read, pay for Saturday schools, additional tuition etc. That's the norm. People want a DAMN sight more for their kids than a minimum wage job living on an inner city estate and devote themselves to securing a better future for their kids. They may not wear Boden but they tend to be a damn sight less complacent and even lazy about child rearing than many Mumsnetters if what I've seen on the main boards is representative of typical.

SN's being as high as 50%? I'm honestly not sure if it's that high, but it is certainly much, much higher than the norm even taking out things like dyslexia (round here your child is thick not diagnosed dyslexic). The LA has over 500 children diagnosed with ASD at Primary age, (Tribunal evidence used against me).

Healthwise things round here just aren't good & that's gotta be an indicator surely? We have the lowest average life expectancy for London. Most children grow up in overcrowded homes. We score highly in infant mortality rates statistical studies. There's a real campaign to prevent so many low birth weight & premature babies being born locally from the PCT. TB vaccinations are recomended here, whereas my sister living elsewhere was told her child didn't need one.

Statements are only issued to 1.5 % of children - it's not a generous LA on that front.

Moondog, in brief, the DfE has just produced draft SEN legislation which, if passed, severely weakens provision and protection for children with SEN. Gove may or may not be a good man. I don't understand why you claim that he is the best hope for children with SEN if you do not know what his department is proposing for them and you don't appear to be prepared to make the effort to find out. I don't see how you claim to know about and work in this field and yet are ignorant of something so central to it.

Gove has consistently left SEN to his sidekicks, he clearly views it as a good area on which to save money which is then handed out to his free school chums, and he gives the distinct impression that he is not interested in children with learning difficulties because he doesn't perceive that there are votes in it.

Links would be useful, as opposed to opinion.
I presume you have read mine?

CPS paper very interesting indeed - thanks Moondog.

It is very easy to use SEN as an excuse. Schools do it too. or use it because there is no other mechanism. My ds school HAS to provide english language teaching - alarmingly they mark these children as "SEN" as that helps their budget. But they have to pay for the resource to teach these children somehow. I also agree that teaching unions and other commentators would have thrown their hands up in horror and sneered no matter what Gove proposed.

I think it is time to get over to the SEN Legislation thread and see how we can make noise outside of the mumsnet sn thread.

Precisely 1950s.
It is an insult to all children-those who are perfectly and merely need proper teaching and not just lazy labels.
Also, those children with very real and severe needs, of the sort whose parents post frequently on MN.