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Standards for SENCOs Children with special educational needs have learning difficulties or disabilities that make it harder for them to learn or access education than most children of the same age. These children may need extra or different help from that given to other children of the same age. In 1998, the Government set out to ‘ensure that the needs of all pupils with SEN were met through greater access to the curriculum and specific training for teachers’. The programme aimed to include more pupils with SEN and disabilities successfully in mainstream schools through better training for teachers. The National Standards for Special Educational Needs Coordinators (SENCOs) were published in 1998. Although it was recognised that SENCOs needed a good knowledge of special educational needs, the Standards focused primarily on leadership and management. Although there were discussions, at one stage, about the benefits of introducing a National Professional Qualification for SENCOs, the National Standards for SENCOs were never developed into a national professional qualification. SEN Specialist Standards The Government’s agenda to include more children with SEN in mainstream classrooms meant that more teachers would need to know how to teach those pupils. It was felt that teachers would need some further professional development to help them to do this. In 1999, the TTA developed further specialist SEN Standards, accompanied by a CD-ROM to support teachers working with pupils with SEN. These materials were designed as an audit tool to help teachers and Headteachers to identify specific training and development needs in relation to the effective teaching of pupils with severe and/or complex SEN. Both sets of Standards linked closely to the SEN Code of Practice published by the Government, which provided practical advice to education authorities, schools and other educational settings on carrying out their statutory duties to identify, assess and make provision for pupils with SEN. Useful web links To find out more about the latest policy on SEN click here. To read the latest version of the SEN Code of Practice click here. To view the latest guidance on flexible use of the National Standards for SENCOs, click here. To view the latest version of the National SEN Specialist Standards click here. |
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