The SEN Resources Blog

Are we missing a trick in supporting children with SEND in schools…and by ‘trick’ I mean a way to help ensure children with SEND are happy, safe and learning in schools?

There’s been a lot of talk about the need to upskill teachers & provide more training on SEND. This is because, through no fault of teachers, training on SEND is often minimal:

• According to Ofsted (2023), only a third of teachers have received SEND training since April 2021.

• According to the National Autistic Society (2023), 70 percent of autistic pupils felt their teachers needed to know more about autism

And at the same time, dropping their children off at the school gates in the morning and sitting across the table from teachers in parents evenings…. is a generation of parents of children with SEND that are unique to previous generations.

Unique for two important reasons:

1) They have had a rare insight into what their children find difficult at school during the lockdowns and home learning. They have regularly seen first hand how their children learn, what they find easy and what challenges they face.

2) In addition to this, information on SEND is now much more accessible thanks to the internet and to the range of books, podcasts, articles, webinars and courses now available. A lot of parents of children with SEND have been able to research, watch, listen, talk & learn online about SEND.
In many cases, these parents hold the expertise. Not just on their own children but on SEND in general.

I’d argue many parents of children with SEND now have more knowledge and understanding of the area of SEND their child has than many of child’s teachers. (Again, through no fault of the teachers.)

So how are schools making use of this expertise for children with SEND?