Traded services (or how to cut deaf children’s services by stealth)

A new menace is sweeping specialist support services for deaf children across England and the protagonists claim they’re doing so with the Government’s approval. It goes by many names. But most people refer to it as “traded services”.

Definitions vary. But when I refer to traded services, I refer to it as the practice whereby local authorities stop providing specialist support services for children with special educational needs free of charge, and instead start “selling” or “trading” their services to schools who must now buy them back in. Warwickshire council, for example, charges up to £85 for an hour of Teacher of the Deaf time and up to £285 for a day with a specialist Teaching Assistant.

Why is this a problem for deaf children?

1) Because deafness is relatively uncommon, most schools will rarely come across a deaf child. How will they know what to buy?
2) How are they going to pay for it? If budgets are split between all schools, regardless of whether they’ve got a deaf child, then the schools where there are actually deaf children present are not going to have enough money to buy the help that deaf children need.
3) It produces a whole set of distorted incentives. Schools are incentivised to save money for buying support “on the cheap”, like a general teaching assistant, rather than a specialist teaching assistant. Councils are incentivised to spend more time “marketing” their services rather than actually giving deaf children the help they need.

In Warwickshire, these problems are particularly acute because of (in my view) the incredibly cack-handed way in which the service has made the shift to traded services. A sub-group of deaf children have now been shifted over to “traded services.” 3 reasons to be angry with the council are:

1) Schools haven’t been given ANY extra cash to help pay for the help they are now expected to purchase for deaf children. The council repeatedly refused to answer questions on this issue and the council only admitted there was a funding cut when forced to through a Freedom of Information request.
2) Headteachers were told about the move to traded services for some deaf children over the summer break. When the school was closed. Many may only have got the letter once school term started.
3) Parents weren’t initially told. Many parents only found out when they discovered their child was no longer getting any help from a Teacher of the Deaf. The council has been remarkedly reluctant to meet with parents.

Warwickshire’s attitude has been incredibly cavalier. These deaf children are now the responsibility of the schools, they say. It’s a pretty shocking state of affairs when a council can just wipe their hands of a group of deaf children that they had until recently been supporting.

Parents are rightly upset and outraged. They’re petitioning the council to think again. And on Saturday, there will be a campaign day of action in Stratford-upon-Avon. The National Deaf Children’s Society is supporting their campaign to reverse the move to traded services. The help that deaf children receive should be determined by what they need, end of. Not by what their school is able or willing to buy back. And any cuts should be openly and honestly (or not at all). Not through reckless changes to funding systems or by stealth.

How I started to lose faith with the Government on deaf children

I can’t really pinpoint the moment when it happened. I started with really high hopes. But slowly, I’ve personally been getting more and more exasperated with the Government. The trickle of inconsistencies. Assumptions. And, above all, the lack of urgency on protecting help for deaf children when 1 in 5 councils are making cuts to the vital services on which deaf children rely.

My main gripe is the increasing tendency for the Government to say it’s a “matter for local authorities” to arrange provision for deaf children. That councils are expected by the Government to protect funding for “vulnerable learners”. If deaf children are not getting the help they need from specialist support services for deaf children and/or where massive cuts are taking place, it’s the nasty councils’ fault. Don’t blame the Government.

The Government can’t do everything, obviously. But at the end of the day, where else does the buck stop? The Government has the legal powers to intervene in specialist support services for deaf children. But even when faced with evidence of councils making swingeing cuts to vital services and not following legal processes, it has seemed quite relaxed about the impact on deaf children. Whenever asked to intervene, we hear that the Government can only intervene in “limited circumstances”. What those circumstances are remain a mystery – the Government has refused to be drawn, despite several attempts.

I wouldn’t mind so much if this was a principled approach on not intervening. But it isn’t. Instead, there’s a rather arbitrary way of categorising what’s for local authorities to sort out and when local authorities can’t be trusted. For example, the Government appear quite unapologetic about apparently imposing academies on poor performing schools, regardless of the views of the local community – if this article is anything to go by.

The Government’s main defence is that they have a massive programme of reform underway with the Special Educational Needs and Disabilities Green Paper. But many of the proposals will only benefit the quarter of deaf children that have a statement. The proposals come with a lot of risks that haven’t yet been properly assessed or mitigated. Throughout it treats children with special educational needs as a homogeneous group; there’s little in it that is directly focused on the unique needs of deaf children. But most importantly, if so many councils are making cuts, what’s going to be left by the time the Green Paper is implemented?

The article I mentioned earlier includes this quote from a Department for Education spokesperson:

“We can’t just stand by and do nothing when schools are sub-standard year after year.”

It’s a shame they seem content to stand by and do nothing for deaf children when their services are being slashed.

SEN / Disabilities Green Paper – rolling blog

Michael Gove with deaf young person. Image courtesy of NDCS (2008)

5.35pm Lots of very interesting ideas in the SEN Green Paper, some of which seem to have been inspired by NDCS’s Hands up for Help! report, which is nice. Though the devil will be in the detail, I think there’s much to welcome and much that will, if done carefully, make a big difference for deaf children. But that’s just my view – what do you think? Inspired or disappointed by the Green Paper? Leave a comment below to have your say.

As a reminder, check out NDCS’s initial analysis of the SEN Green Paper. NDCS will be adding more information to their website about what the SEN Green Paper might mean for deaf children soon, once the dust has settled, so watch this space.

I’m now going to wrap up this rolling blog experiment and have another cup of tea. Thanks for joining us and hope you enjoyed the ride.

5.08pm Praise be, I’ve finally made it to the end of the SEN Green Paper. Phew. There’s going to be a 4 month consultation – longer than usual – which is good. Though you may need it – the consultation asks 59 questions.

5.04pm Perhaps it’s because my brain is turning into mush but I’m not sure I understand the Department’s proposals on a “national banded funding framework”, what it’s meant to do and how it will work in practice. Alarm bells are ringing again though.

4.51pm NDCS has been pushing really hard for regional commissioning of specialist support services for deaf children (it’s one of the recommendations in the NDCS Hands up for help! report) and it’s great to see this get a mention in the SEN Green Paper. Too many local authorities, particularly the tiny ones, are trying to meet the diverse needs of all deaf children in their area. This is nonsense – far better for them to join forces and offer a comprehensive service across borders. This already happens in Berkshire where six local authorities have joined forces – the Berkshire consortium gets a positive mention in the paper. The Green Paper says the Department will explore how to encourage this kind of thing.

4.35pm You had to wait to chapter 5 to get to it, but there’s finally a mention of the important role of specialist support services for deaf children and other children with low incidence needs. Apparently, organisations will be asked to help improve availability of specialist advice to parents and teachers in relation to specific impairments.

There’s also a recognition of the importance of sorting out the funding for these services over the long-term. Something else that NDCS had been banging on about for a while. There will be a separate consultation on this this spring. This is an important one to get right because of the risks involved. Most specialist support services are funded by the local authority – but if schools split from local authority control, it risks draining this funding away from these vital services.

4.27pm Hmm. Alarm bells ringing. The Department will “simplify” statutory guidance around SEN and disability. One person’s ‘simplification’ is a loss of important rights to someone else – so it will be something to watch out for.

4.21pm Something tucked away towards the end (yes, it’s in sight) of the green paper is something quite interesting but which I haven’t seen picked up elsewhere. The Government is proposing to create a new “body” called HealthWatch which will allow disabled young people to feed in views on local health and social care services.

4.15pm Very exciting. NDCS is soon going to be doing a live interview with BBC Radio Berkshire. This is to talk about the Berkshire service for deaf children which gets a mention in the SEN Green Paper. Berkshire is a great example of how small local authorities have sought to work together to meet the needs of all deaf children across the area.

I will look out for a transcript later for those of us with defective ears or who just don’t like radios.

3.43pm I’m now on chapter 4: “Preparing for adulthood.” Having been reading the SEN Green Paper all day, I feel I should be preparing for bed but anyhow. First thing that leaps out is a goal to ensure a well-coordinated transition from chidlren’s to adult health services. Cannot overstate how important this is for audiology services for deaf children. NDCS’s Over to you project has been looking at this. I’ve met a lot of deaf young people who don’t get any preparation for the big transfer up to adult audiology services and can be a very worrying time.

3.29pm NDCS has been banging on about Ofsted inspections for so long that I was beginning to feel almost sorry for Ofsted. The key concern has been that deaf provision is not always inspected by someone with deaf expertise. Well, it seems that by banging on about it since time immemorial, the Department has noticed. The Green Paper says that:

“For mainstream schools that run resourced provision or special units, the Department for Education and Ofsted want to ensure that this provision is appropriately assessed by inspectors with the necessary specialist expertise.”

Lovely.

3.20pm NDCS media team seem very busy…

2.59pm A burst of excitement in the office. NDCS Deputy Director of Policy and Campaigns (aka my boss) is quoted in the Guardian article on the SEN Green Paper, warning about the impact of cuts. The quote is:

“Our main concern is that this taking place after many local authorities have made their budget decisions. We have received information about cuts to frontline education services. We are very worried that local authorities are making decisions that will seriously affect their ability to deliver these proposals.”

The Guardian don’t seem to have picked up on my concerns about the scheduling of the Green Paper with the first day of Lent though. Am sure it was just an oversight.

2.47pm I was going to give up tea for Lent. Well, I think the SEN Green Paper has killed that idea. I’m still only on chapter 3 and it’s only vast quantities of sugary tea that’s keeping me going.

2.33pm Parents should have “real choice” over where to send their child to school. The Green Paper recognises this doesn’t always happen now, but is not wholly clear about how it’s going to expand choice on this. Where are all the schools going to come from in a climate of spending cuts? Free schools are mentioned but is it realistic for parents of deaf children to be able to set up their own school if they don’t feel the local authority is providing enough choice? I think the jury is out on how this is going to be achieved.

SEN Green Paper does say though that parents must be able to express a preference for any school they want their child to go to – and local authorities must consider this. Will this help parents who strongly feel their deaf child will benefit from going to a special school for deaf children, outside of their own local authority?

2.15pm Lots of positive blurb about the need for more information and greater transparency on local SEN services in the SEN Green Paper. This is music to my ears. The Department will also legislate to amend current rules on what information local authorities need to provide. The big question for NDCS will be whether local authorities will be required to produce this information or their “local offer” broken down by type of need – so that parents of deaf children can see specifically what’s available for deaf children.

1.38pm The one thing that has caused the biggest intake of breath so far for NDCS was the BBC quote from earlier that I mentioned:

“Ministers will also look at involving state-funded voluntary groups in co-ordinating the support packages families need. This might mean a deaf children’s charity co-ordinating the package of need for a child who has hearing problems, for example.”

“A deaf children’s charity? Who could they possibly mean?” was my initial thought. Needless to say, this was new to me and to NDCS more generally.

Now seems as if the proposal is around involving charities in the assessment process in order to ensure greater independence. Many parents complain that those who pay for help for deaf children (the local authority) should not also be deciding what that help is. The Green Paper also says that charities could also have a role in providing information to parents and advocating for their rights.

All very interesting, and a proposal that comes with a range of challenges and opportunities. Be interested to see what other people think. Should charities, such as those who support deaf children, who shall remain nameless, be taking on a greater role like this?

1.34pm Allfie – the Alliance for Inclusive Education – who are very pro-mainstreaming are taking a strong line on the SEN Green Paper. Their press release runs with “Alliance for Inclusive Education says Govt SEN Green Paper proposals mean business as usual – BUT WORSE!” Possibly the best press release heading ever.

1.31pm Nope, the Sun is still running with the Katie Argie Bhaji story about the fight in a curry shop.

1.23pm I promised earlier I would post NDCS’s official take on the SEN Green Paper here. So here’s our press release for the media guys and a longer piece giving our initial analysis of what the Green Paper means for deaf children. I’m awaiting with interest to see if any of this knocks Katie Price off the front page of the Sun.

12.47am “A rolling blog? Easy!” was my thinking earlier today. But now having spent the morning reading the SEN Green Paper, tweeting about it, helping prepare an official NDCS response whilst also providing a sarcastic side-look here is much harder than I expected. So time for a lunch break. More to follow later.

12.05pm Single assessment will apply to SEN children from age of 0 to 25. This is good news for

a) children under the age of 2 – currently the SEN framework only applies from age of 2, even though early years support is most vital for deaf children’s futures
b) children at age of 16 – currently the assessment process varies according to whether you are at a college or 6th form or apprenticeships. I don’t understand how it’s currently meant to work and I’m not sure the local authorities do either.

Providing the assessment is done right, and is regularly updated, these single assessments and health, education and care plans could, I think, make a big difference.

12.02pm “Disjointed and confusing assessment processes” for post 16 support for children with SEN. Possibly the understatement of the year.

11.56am “New single-based SEN category for children whose needs exceed what is normally available in schools.” Could this mean that deaf children are more likely to be formally recorded as having a special educational needs if they get help from a visiting Teacher of the Deaf? A lot of people seem to think that all deaf children have statements when in fact it’s only around a quarter.

11.38am Some nice blurb about how those who work with disabled children should have high expectations of them in the paper. Very important. Very frustrating that some people think deaf children can’t do well, with the right support – deafness is not a learning disability after all.

11.34am Some debate going on here about what the Green Paper says about Disability Living Allowance. It implies that an assessment for DLA could be part of the single assessment for the new education, health and social care plans. If the assessment is done in the right way, this could be good news for parents of deaf children. It’s a big if though. Unsure if the paper is suggesting that DLA could be included as part of personal budgets. Hmm…

10.49am Phew. Well, I’ve read the executive summary. Lots of interesting proposals. Very gratifying to see some of them are very similar to those NDCS suggested in their response to an earlier consultation on SEN, particularly around making education, health and social care services work together more. Currently, the statementing process focuses on education when what happens with audiology, social care, speech and language therapy services is just as important.

The new education, health and care plans would be statutory, just like statements are now which is good – many parents like the sense of legal entitlement that a statement gives, especially when there are cuts happening left, right and centre.

9.44am It’s out and it’s big. Over 100 pages long. I may be a while…

9.38am The ATL teaching union have been making the point, likely to be made elsewhere, that overhauling the SEN framework is all very well, but when local authorities are making cuts to their specialist support services, is anything going to change for the better?

Over the past few months, NDCS has been trying to find out what’s happening to funding for help for deaf children, and putting this on our “map” . The current state of play in England is that 12 local authorities are confirmed as making cuts to education services for deaf children, 19 rumoured and 68 where we haven’t yet had enough information.

9.03am Apparently, Radio 4 today did a big splash on special educational needs. I say apparently because my ears don’t work and my colleague was in the shower when it was on. If your ears are fully functional and you’re now fully bathed, you can hear what they said here.

8.55am The Secretary of State for Education will be saying something in Parliament today about special educational needs, I’m told. His written ministerial statement will be the official launch of the green paper. Not sure what time this will be though.

There’s also ministerial statements today on the EU Education Council and Tobacco Control Plans. This could be a bad day for smokers.

8.51am It seems years ago but was in fact only last October when the National Deaf Children’s Society set out their views on what should go in the green paper. I shall have it to hand today. Maybe play a game of bingo with it when the full green paper finally comes out.

8.47am Apparently, the official name of the green paper is: Support and aspiration: A new approach to special educational needs and disability.

I like “aspiration”. Hopefully, this means a focus on higher expectations for deaf children.

8.37am The Guardian also seem to have had a preview. Hmm… Their interesting titbits include:

* Schools required to publish more information about provision for children with special educational needs
* Simplying the SEN framework – from 3 levels to 2.
* Encouraging parents to set up their own special needs “free schools”.
* Reviewing post-16 support.
* Improving early diagnosis.

Well, what do we think about that?

I had a quick look at the Sun newspaper too. Apparently, the moon is closing in on the earth and Jordan Price had a curry. I may need a moment to digest all of this.

8.17am Other interesting titbits from the BBC news article:

* Statements of educational provision to be scrapped in favour of a new education and health care plans.
* An end to endless assessment – just a single assessment from now on.
* Piloting this new approach in 25 areas.
* More mediation where parents and local authorities disagree.
* Personal budgets

The BBC are also asking people to have their say on the plans.

8.10am BBC news have an article on the SEN Green Paper and they seem to have already had a preview. Clearly, their persuasive skills are superior to ours. Anyhow, it includes a very interesting quote:

“Ministers will also look at involving state-funded voluntary groups in co-ordinating the support packages families need. This might mean a deaf children’s charity co-ordinating the package of need for a child who has hearing problems, for example.”

Crikey. This is going to be one of those days.

8.04am Before we go any further, I should probably point out that this is a personal blog and any views expressed in this blog on the green paper are mine alone. So if I say or do anything naughty, please don’t blame NDCS. Blame my parents. Or society. Or Canada.

NDCS will be doing an official response later in the day which I’ll post here.

7.43am Just for one day, I’m going to be experimenting with a rolling blog, prompted by today’s unveiling of the Special Educational Needs (SEN) and Disabilities Green Paper. On the plus side, I’ll be able to report on the latest throughout the day. On the downside, my inability to spot a typo is evidently going to manifest itself.

We’re expecting it to come out sometime this morning. Michael Gove, the Secretary of State for Education and Sarah Teather, Minister for SEN, will be launching it. The paper applies to children in England only. It was first announced last spring but the deadline for it has been pushed back several times. I’ve been told it’s been discussed at Cabinet level and the Prime Minister himself has taken an interest in it. I suppose it’s worth taking your time to get it right, though that excuse never always worked with my teachers when I was at school.

It promises a mega overhaul of the special educational needs framework. NDCS has been trying hard to get a sneak copy but our persuasive ways are clearly lacking. But we have a good idea what’s going to be included though. My bold predictions include:

* Individual budgets – letting parents decide what help their deaf child gets and from where
* Greater transparency and information to parents
* Tightening up the definition of special educational needs
* Regional commissioning – making local authorities work together to make sure they can meet the needs of all deaf children

But those are just punts. What are your guesses? Leave your comments below to have your say.

Of course, all of this takes place in the context of some fairly savage cuts across England so a question mark hangs over whether this is deliverable. We’ll see. Watch this space.

Good news on academies and help for deaf children

Clearly this blog is very influential and being read by people at the heart of Government. Because within a fortnight of my blog about academies and deaf children, the Government took action to respond to concerns on this. Bucks Fizz all round!

The risk was that deaf children in academies wouldn’t get the help they need because of the way that the silly funding arrangements work. And that specialist support services for deaf children would lose funding.

Clearly, the Government has been listening to these concerns because yesterday they wrote to all local authorities to announce that they would be tweaking the funding arrangements so that specialist support services for children with special educational needs would not lose funding. It’s a short term, one-year, solution, pending a review of academy funding, but still a very welcome one. Here’s the NDCS story on it. A good day for deaf children.

If any Government Ministers are reading this, I also think every deaf person should be given a free I-Phone. Ahem.

Government failing deaf children in academies?

I mused a long while ago in this blog whether academies are bad news for deaf children. The way the Government is going, the answer seems to be a pretty resounding yes.

I’m not anti-academies. If it delivered a good education, I wouldn’t care if deaf children were being educated in McDonalds. What worries me is that the funding system is set up in a way that risks deaf children in academies not getting the help they need.

Charlie Swinbourne’s recent article in the Guardian explains, but in a nutshell, imagine, if you will, a pie. The local authority normally looks after the pie and gives it out according to whoever needs it most. Now allow a group of schools that decide to become independent from councils and become academies, to take a chunk of the pie and split it evenly amongst themselves.

If everyone’s need for the pie was the same, there would be no problem. But when it comes to support for deaf children, the need isn’t the same. Most academies won’t have any deaf children and so will have no need for any pie. This bit of the pie gets wasted. But the academies that do have some deaf children are only getting a tiny piece of the pie. It won’t be enough.

Worse, the more academies taking a piece of the pie, the less that is left for the local authority to give out to deaf children in other schools. At some point, the service will become unsustainable.

Not all local authorities deliver a good service to deaf children. If they did, there wouldn’t be such a wide attainment gap. But without any changes to the funding arrangements, things aren’t going to improve and the pie isn’t going to taste any better.

What really hacks me off is that none of this is new. The National Deaf Children’s Society has been raising these concerns for ages. And the Government promised – in the Houses of Parliament, no less – that they would sort it. A year on, we are still no closer to a solution. And yet the Government is still expanding and accelerating its programme for more academies through it’s new Education Bill.

The message the Government is giving? Deaf children are an afterthought and it’s OK to leave them in limbo. Is this fair?

What does the Comprehensive Spending Review mean for deaf children?

Image courtesy of NDCS

It’s been two days since the Government announced it’s future spending plans and how it was going to slash the deficit, and I’m still not sure what I think. I suppose if you’ve been told that it’s going to be Armageddon and the end of the world, you’re just kind of dazed and relieved that you’re still standing and that the kettle is still working. In short, the Comprehensive Spending Review (CSR) was bad. Very bad. But not as bad as we thought it might be. At least we don’t think so. And not just yet. But definitely still bad.

For example, on education, we were told to expect budget cuts of 10 to 20%. Instead, it seems to be around 5% and the part of the budget spent on schools is effectively being frozen, rather than cut (though this means less money for things like social care and youth services). This means that the overall funding for things like specialist support services for deaf children should remain static. Putting to one side the fact that deaf children in England are already 42% less likely to do as well in their GCSEs as other children and the huge variations in the help deaf children receive, this is quite a relief.

But it’s still bad. And the reason for that is because it will be local authorities who decide what to do with the pot of money for schools. And there are no guarantees they will protect funding for deaf children. Some local authorities have already started to cut services for deaf children, and all will be under pressure to move the money around. And even if the pot of money is static, there are figures suggesting that the number of deaf children are rising. In a system which is already unfair, this can only lead to more variations in the help that deaf children get.

The National Deaf Children’s Society has launched an urgent new campaign action for supporters to email their councillors and ask them to protect funding for services for deaf children. Within 24 hours, it’s already had a massive response from people concerned about this. Please do support the action and spread the word if you can.

I’m still digesting other parts of the CSR, but one thing to watch out for is Disability Living Allowance for children. The benefit hasn’t been cut. But there are signals the Government wants to tighten up the assessment process. And there is also a proposal to cut the mobility component of the benefit for those who are in residential placements (as if people in residential placements are vegetables who never go out). This could have damaging implications for parents of deaf children who attend residential special schools. NDCS is seeking urgent clarification on that one.

What were your thoughts on the CSR? Leave a comment below or email me at campaigns@ndcs.org.uk.

PS NDCS’s full immediate response to the CSR can be found here.

Who will make deaf children matter in the general election?

All the newspapers seem to be busy publicly endorsing political parties, so I guess it’s only fair and proper that this blog, as an equally important media outlet, advises you on who you should vote for tomorrow.

This blog therefore endorses the following party for the general election 2010….

Only joking! I would probably get carted off to jail or, worse, forbidden from ever going near the chocolate digestives at work ever again. Charities need to be politically impartial under the law, after all. In any event, I’m quite old-fashioned about voting and think everyone should decide individually and privately who they want to vote for, without nudges and winks from others.

Image courtesy of NDCS

However, if you are interested in what the parties say about deaf children, disability and special educational needs, then the National Deaf Children’s Society website has a very short summary of what the three main UK party manifestos have to say on this, which may help guide you.

You can also read the transcripts from the interviews that education spokespersons from each party did with deaf young people back in January.

Finally, you can also see whether the politicians in your area have promised to support deaf children if they are elected, by signing the National Deaf Children’s Society election pledge for deaf children.

The election promises to be very close and the next Government is likely to be making some difficult decisions on public spending cuts to come, so every vote will make a difference.

Happy voting!

David Cameron challenged on special educational needs and inclusion

Lord loves a troublemaker. Yesterday, special educational needs and disability made its first major appearance on the election campaign trail when a father of a disabled son heckled David Cameron, leader of the Conservative party, in front of the TV cameras.

His main point of objection? That the Conservative manifesto states that the party will “end the bias” towards mainstream schools for children with special educational needs and disability. And also stop the closure of special schools. The father argued that there was actually a bias against inclusion in mainstream schools, evidenced by his struggle to get his son into his local mainstream school.

What makes this quite interesting is that David Cameron previously had a disabled son, whilst the Conservative lead on education, Michael Gove, has a deaf sister who attended a special school for the deaf. You’d be hard pressed to come across two senior politicians with such a personal and direct experience of disability.

The Conservatives argue that they’re not in favour of “reversing” the bias or moving towards segregation for disabled children in schools – simply, that they want more parental choice. When Michael Gove was interviewed by three deaf students in January, he said:

“I think for years now we have had this assumption that it’s always better for children who have a hearing impairment or who are living with another disability to be in mainstream school. My view is that there should be a choice. It depends on the child, it depends on the parent, it depends on individual circumstances. And it’s wrong to have a fixed view on this.”

Many would agree that there needs to be choice and flexibility so that the child and parents gets what they need and want. It’s broadly consistent with the Labour party and the Liberal Democrat party’s vision for children with special educational needs. And looking at the National Deaf Children’s Society statement on inclusion, there is a call for a spectrum of provision to ensure that parents of deaf children can, in fact, have this choice.

Nevertheless, the line “ending the bias” has raised a few eyebrows within the charitable sector and the parties do differ in their emphasis and their specific policies fror making sure disabled children are able to fulfil their potential. More widely, it’s fair to say that there are some fairly entrenched views on whether the problem is that local authorities won’t fund places for disabled children in mainstream classrooms, or for special schools, further away. Certainly, many parents of deaf children seem to struggle to get the provision they want, regardless. I suspect, in many areas, there is simply not enough money given to pupils with special educational needs and disability, even though such pupils amount to one in five of the school population.

Despite the lack of answers, it’s good to see this issue getting an airing during the election. Congratulations to Mr. Angry Dad of Disabled Son for making this happen.

To help you make up your own mind, NDCS’s summary of the main three UK party manifestos on deaf children can be found in the manifestos section of the NDCS election web special. Let us know below what you think of what the parties are saying on special educational needs and disability.

Will new pupil and parent guarantees make a difference for deaf children?

A busy week doing campaign work on audiology training, access to exams and British Sign Language in primary schools. In an attempt to try and juggle four things at the same time, I also wrote up a draft National Deaf Children’s Society (NDCS) consultation response on the Department for Children, Schools and Families’ proposed new pupil and parent guarantees for schools in England.

The guarantees are basically a write up of existing and new entitlements for children and parents in schools. So, for example, if a child is falling behind, the pupil is “guaranteed” catch up support. The guarantees detail how you can ‘claim’ your entitlements.

Usually when I write consultations responses, I end up saying something lilke: “Hello?! One in five children have a special educational need?! Duh!” in light of the often zero consideration of the needs of children, such as deaf children. But this consultation was refreshingly different – the needs of children with special educational needs or disabilities, and their entitlements, was referenced throughout. It is the first time I can recall seeing a government document about all children really “mainstream” the needs of children who need extra support. My draft consultation response is therefore generally supportive and positive, a new and unsettling experience for me.

As for the policy, people have mixed views on it. The “guarantees” alone won’t guarantee that every deaf child gets the support they need. But they could be a powerful means to an end? Where deaf children are falling behind, parents now have a new mechanism to make a fuss about it and demand they get more help. The proof will be in the pudding but it adds a new weapon to our armoury when battling to get better education for deaf children.

But what do you think? NDCS is inviting views on our draft response so let us know if you agree/disagree, or if there is any key point that we’ve missed. You can read the draft response via the NDCS website. Deadline for comments is the 19th March.

Ofsted failing to inspect education for deaf children?

Image courtesy of www.cartoonstock.com

Tomorrow, a recurring issue around Ofsted inspections will be under the spotlight again in Parliament…

The issue? Why Ofsted inspections of schools that cater for deaf children, for example, those with a unit or resource base, so often seem to be inspected by people with zero expertise in deafness? Parents of deaf children already get very little information about education for deaf children, so I imagine many feel patronised that Ofsted inspectors don’t seem to think it’s important enough to comment on their children’s specific needs. Or they send someone who can’t even communicate with the deaf children at the school.

The National Deaf Children’s Society submitted evidence to the Lamb inquiry on the problem so it was great that the final report recommended that Ofsted change the way it looks at education for children with special educational needs (SEN). Some other good news came when Ofsted announced it would change its inspection framework, as of September last year, to make sure that inspectors of provision for children with SEN actually have expertise in that SEN.

So it was pretty disappointing to hear towards the end of last year from a father that his deaf son’s school, which has a unit, had just been inspected, and that the inspectors didn’t engage with the deaf children at all. Only after persistent chasing, was the father able to get Ofsted to confirm that none of the inspectors had any expertise in deafness.

Tomorrow, the House of Commons will be looking at a section of the Children, Schools and Families Bill which covers the Lamb inquiry recommendation on Ofsted. We’re supporting this section of the Bill and we hope that MPs will be able to confirm with the Government that Ofsted really is going to improve the way it handles these types of inspections.

Have you got any views or experiences of Ofsted inspections of education for deaf children? If so, please have your say and leave a comment below.