C.E. Jottings

How many pupils will be entitled to an Education, Health and Care Plan?

Following a lead from @scope on Twitter, "Excellent article from @jreynoldsMPon the battles families with disabled children face & the current #ChildrensBill", I find that in a knowledgable article for Progress Online, "Transforming the Lives of Disabled Children", Jonathan Reynolds MP repeats a statistic I have read elsewhere: "it is estimated that only 13 per cent of disabled children or those with SEN will actually be entitled to [an Education, Health and Care Plan]." Where does this figure come from?... Read more →

IPSEA warns of loss of legal protections in draft SEN Code & Regulations

28 March 2013 IPSEA has published a briefing on the potential loss of existing legal protections for children with SEN in the indicative SEN Code and draft Regulations. There's a downloadable briefing from IPSEA. Read more →

About nothing much ... and everything SEN, maybe

Not long awake. Contemplating the snow falling outside again. Do I set off before or after the early rush? First, a cup of tea. Read the newspapers online. I'd not previously taken notice of the Pupil Premium. It's for "disadvantaged" pupils not specifically special education, though there must be pupils "with special educational needs" who are also "disadvantaged". Setting that puzzler aside as I couldn't work it out without breakfast, I checked out a couple of pages on the DfE... Read more →

Are the big disability charities fighting hard enough for ILF funding?

Disability News Service reports growing fears that funding now provided for 19,000 Independent Living Fund recipients to help them be better able to be independent, to work, and to contribute to their community will be reduced to 'a safety net' after 2015-16. Department of Work and Pensions papers handed to lawyers for the 5 judicial review claimants last week appear to justify concerns that former ILF funding will be substabtially cut. Especially worrying is the posture of the "large disability... Read more →

Teachers and training and special education - and Tom Peters

Tom Peters argues that "The very best and the very brightest and the most energetic and enthusiastic and entrepreneurial and tech-savvy of our university graduates must—must, not should—be lured into teaching. (They need not stay for life—one would be happy with 5 years, ecstatic with 10.)" Me? I'd settle right now just for teachers of children with cerebral palsy to be trained to do so. Read more →

Fight to save Independent Living Fund goes to High Court

From Channel 4 News "Disabled living fund changes challenged at High Court" This afternoon, in the High Court, a legal fight begins to prevent the closure of the Independent Living Fund (ILF). The ILF is a £320m fund that helps around 19,000 people with severe disabilities to live independently, and these five men and women - on behalf of thousands of others - are challenging the Government's decision to scrap it from 2015 and devolve it to local authorities instead.... Read more →

Children and Families Bill - who is it for?

Let me declare a specific interest. If you have ever read almost any posting on this blog, you will be aware that my special interest is the education of children with (under current arrangements) "statements of special educational need"; specifically, children with motor disorders (cerebral palsy etc). It is from this perspective that I read and comment upon "the most radical change in SEN in 30 years" - the Children and Families Bill now progressing through Parliament. The national charity,... Read more →

A new one on me - the European Agency for Development in Special Needs Education

As I say, a new one on me; an agency I've not heard of before: The European Agency for Development in Special Needs Education. Have you? It is, it says, "an independent and self-governing organisation, established by our member countries to act as their platform for collaboration in the field of special needs education." I'm not sure what "independent" really means in this context as it is "maintained by the Ministries of Education in our member countries" which seems to... Read more →