The importance of Learning and Acquiring Skills - Essay Example

? Topic: Challenging Behaviour Education Q. Analyse and critically evaluate current policies for challenging behaviour and identify the underlying theories within policy. Behaviourism emphasizes on the importance of learning and acquiring skills which are considered essential by the authorities. The British Education system and the Department for Education of the United Kingdom have initiated many policies regarding challenging behaviour in the nation. In this essay, various current policies and theories underlying these policies will be analysed and critically evaluated. Special Educational Needs (SEN) Policy: The Special Educational Needs Policy is the backbone of the policy framework of Hampshire County Council. It serves as a key element for supporting and catering to the needs of children and adolescents between the ages of 0-19 (Hampshire County Council, 2009, p.1-9.). Main Priorities: The main priorities indicated by the policy are the formation of a safer and securer environment of Hampshire for all citizens, the enhancement of the quality of services being provided, responding effectively to the improvements the community wants, meeting the demands of the local people, and maximising well-being and prosperity in the community. SEN provisions of the Special Educational Needs and Disability Act takes account for the appeal of rights of children with special educational needs to study in mainstream schools, a right for nursery education providers, educational institutes to request a statutory evaluation, and assessment of a child and achievement of substantial acts, to ensure the arrangements to provide the parents of children with SEN with services offering advice and necessary information as a means to resolve and refute disputes by enforcing LEA duties. It is a sign of popularity of the policy amongst the community that it has been revised for the period of 2009-2012. This revised policy is responsive to certain changes whilst ensuring that the local authorities fulfil the duties and responsibilities required by the SEN and Disability Act 2001, and improve its standards of quality service provided (Department of Health, 2005, p.2-24). The revised policy focuses upon the progress made by children and young people from their birth to adulthood, in pre-school settings and in schools, and the promotion of their well-being, learning, and achievements. Aims and Objectives: The policy aims to improve and maintain the quality of provision for children with special educational needs wherever it is delivered. It is also striving to recognise further that schools and supporting services collectively provide for the needs of all children in the community. Operating effective assessment systems as early as possible in conjunction and collaboration with other agencies is another objective which has to be reached. Other important aims of the policy include allocation and usage of resources effectively and equitably in an efficient manner, and to assure that partnerships and associations with children, parents/carers and other stakeholders, work effectively (Hampshire County Council, 2009, p.1-9). Mentioned above is the rationale and achievements of SEN, but the following conclusions are obtained on the critical analysis of SEN: Methods: The methodology used involves a review of the related previous literature, a thorough study of the old and revised policies of SEN, Interviews with experts on field and conduction of case studies and surveys. Findings and Recommendations: SEN System lacks in addressing the inaccessibility of the services to the parents of children with behaviour issues. The parents have to face many challenges in getting the right support for their children. The conflict amongst the local authorities and delay in services has resulted in the undermining of confidence of people. The revised policy is concentrated on the children in the Hampshire County only; the children from other areas are not receiving these privileges and the emphasis on the collaboration of local authorities and PCT is jeopardizing the quality and capacity of service provision. Recommendations: To resolve this issue, better empowerment of the parents to assess these services and granting them a legal right to provide funding for child protection and support should be achieved. Local authorities and main stream schools should be monitored in order to maintain a smooth flow of service provision. Achievement of better cooperation with the parents on their feedback and initiation of teacher and parent training programs and concentrating on other areas, expanding the boundaries of the SEN system and direct funding to deprived children are important recommendations that should be taken into consideration. The underlying theories in this policy are behaviouristic and psychodynamic theories. OFSTED Policies: The Office for Standards in Education (OFSTED), Children's Services and Skills regulates and inspects different organizations and local authorities to achieve excellence in the care and support of children and adolescents, and in the promotion of education and learning skills for people of all ages. Ofsted regulates and inspects children's social welfare and childcare. It assesses the Children and Family Court Advisory Support Service (Cafcass), schools, pre-schools, colleges, teacher training programs, work-based skills training programs, adult and community learning skills, and education and training in prisons (Department of Health, 2005, p.2-24.). It evaluates council of children’s services, and services for looked after children and child safeguarding and protection. Oftsed conducts many thematic surveys apart from its inspection of schools and other service providers like nurseries and colleges etc. The relationship between the policy making agencies and service providers, like schools and other educational institutions, can be evaluated and analysed in depth by these annual surveys (Ofsted.gov.uk, 2012). Out of the many policies inspected by Ofsted, some of them are highlighted below. EYFS Policy: The policy given out by Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) is targeted to children between the ages of 0-5. It is aimed at the provision of services to children in their early years, from birth to the 31st August after their fifth birthday (Play England, 2009, p.1-3). This policy frames the learning, education, development, and care that children should experience in a setting outside their own or family home. Main Principles: The main principles of the EYFS Policy include a firm belief that every child by birth is a competent learner, who can be confident and resilient; that children can grow up to be strong and independent by the formation of secure relationships with parents/key carer; and the environment of a child's school and home plays a vital role in supporting and extending his/her education, development, and learning skills. Aims and Objectives: The basic aims and objectives set by the policy are ensuring personal, emotional, and social development; ensuring development of communication, language and literacy skills; development of knowledge skills and understanding of the world; ensuring physical development; and guaranteeing creative development (Play England, 2009, p.1-3). Critical Analysis: After evaluating this policy regarding young children critically, the points raised include whether having one system mentioned in the policy is flexible enough for the children; whether the individual and unique needs of children are being fulfilled through this policy; whether this system preparing children for primary school efficiently; whether the legal requirements of entitlement to the policy too complicated for the parents while creating barriers in the path of provision of healthcare, education and learning skills; and whether EYFS being a compulsory policy framework putting undue pressure on the development of children and increasing the amount of assessment from caregivers. Role of primary carers and Ainsworth’s Attachment Theories are the underlying theories here as this policy involves young children between the ages of 0-5. National Healthy Schools Programme (NHSP) Policies: The National Healthy Schools Programme is a long-term initiative which is taking steps to make a significant difference to the health and development of children and young people. The National Healthy Schools Programme promotes health, behaviour, and learning amongst children and young people. It is striving to help children in leading a healthy childhood and completing their transition to adulthood effectively. Aims and Objectives: The main aims of the NHSP are to support children and adolescents in the development of healthy behaviours; to help in raising pupil achievement; to help in reducing health inequalities; and to ensure promotion of social inclusion (Department of Health, 2005, p.2-24). This policy includes humanistic approach and ecological perspectives in its underlying theories. As it focuses on promoting health care and learning through schools which are included in microsystems and responsible for direct impact. Critical Assessment of Policies: The National Healthy Schools Programme is promoting better health and education but a few points are raised while critically reviewing their policies. These points include lack of evidence or reliable records of a link between NHSP and changes in health behaviours of children. NHSP is positively influencing the lifestyles of children but there is no proof of actual improved health outcomes due to its policies and the fact that the effects of change in organisation of the NHSP are not yet known; however, in the case of de-prioritization of initiatives, the benefits of the programme may be lost. Secondary SEAL The Secondary Social and Emotional Aspects of Learning Programme (SEAL) is an approach to develop a favourable environment, which encourages and promotes an appropriate behaviour for learning and education. Secondary SEAL is valued by schools and educational institutes as an important channel of supporting and promoting the process of raising achievements by encouraging the development of vital skills in students. These skill areas are divided into four major areas including self-Awareness, management of feelings and emotions, empathy and social skills. (Webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk, 2011) Critical Review of the Polices of Secondary SEAL: The weak points in the secondary SEAL policy include reluctance of a number of teachers on SEAL implementation due to fear of increased workload and doubts regarding inclusion of social, emotional, and behaviour skills in the academic curriculum; lack of emphasis on links between social and emotional skills; lack of training programmes to boost the confidence of children; and absence of guidance or support material provided to improve academic performance. Behaviourist approach is the main underlying theory in Secondary SEAL's policy as the theory involves the interaction with one's surroundings and the main target of SEAL is to build a favourable environment for learning (Dfes.gov.uk, 2012). Antidote: Antidote is a social and charity enterprise that empowers and assists schools to improve their teaching methodologies, learning and behavioural skills, and standards of education. The main missions of Antidote include making education and learning more exciting, making the children feel more valued and listened to, nurturing the educational and behavioural needs of children and young people, and making education as a whole more efficient and effective. The five stages of progress programme report indicates clearly that the Antidote policy has the underlying theory of Albert Bandura that human behaviour is learnt observationally (Antidote.org.uk, 2003). NELIG The National Emotional Literacy Interest Group (NELIG) is an organization focusing on the development of emotional literacy in the society. (Qca.org.uk, 2012)It is working along with Antidote to spread emotional literacy in schools, pre-schools, and colleges. The increase in crime rate and violence in the last few decades indicates the need of a medium to learn to deal with our emotions and interpersonal skills in an effective and appropriate manner. The underlying theory in this policy is Psychodynamic Perspectives on Behaviour Theory as it involves the exploration of one's inner self and stresses on self-awareness so that the emotional skills can be known and the raging emotions can be controlled by the help of emotional literacy (Nelig.org, 2000). Similarly other organizations working on the same cause include Sherwood Training – a consultancy firm based in East-Midlands, offering training in healthcare, social welfare, and education, mainly with carer groups focused on children with challenging behaviour (Butcher, N., 2010, p. 1-3). Another organization is the Child Protection in Sport Unit (CPSU) - a partnership working with the collaboration of NSPCC, Sport England, Sport Wales, and Sport Northern Ireland, which aims to enable growth of the capacity of sports in order to safeguard children, especially those with challenging behaviour and special educational needs (Child Protection in Sport Unit, 2012, p.3-7); moreover, MAGIC (Medway Autism Group and Information Centre) is an organisation which is striving to achieve its mission of ensuring equal rights to choice, respect and opportunities to children with learning disorders (MAGIC, 2009, p.1-14); and Orkney Islands Council's department of Community Social Services is a local authority which aims to ensure the challenging behavioural needs of community individuals are identified and met appropriately in accordance with the policies set forward (Orkney Islands Council, 2002, p.4-9). References: Antidote.org.uk (2003) Antidote, Accessed 5 May 2012 from Butcher, N. (2010) Policy Procedure on Training in Challenging Behaviour & Physical Interventions. Sherwood Training Journals, 9 (1), p.1-3. Child Protection in Sport Unit (2012) Managing Challenging Behaviour. CPSU Briefings, 11 (2), p.3-7. Department of Health (2005) National Healthy School Status a Guide for Schools, p.2-24. Dfes.gov.uk (2012) Home - Welcome. Accessed 5 May 2012 from: Hampshire County Council (2009) Special Educational Needs (SEN) Policy 2009-2012. (1), p.1-9. MAGIC (2009) Management of Challenging Behaviour (Including the Use of Physical Intervention). Policy and Guidance, 9 (1), p.1-14. Nelig.org (2000) nelig.com- learn. Accessed 5 May 2012 from: Ofsted.gov.uk (2012) Ofsted | Home page. Accessed 5 May 2012 from: Orkney Islands Council (2002) Managing Challenging Behaviours. Policy, Standards and Procedures, 6 (1), p.4-9. Play England (2009) Play provision, the Early Years Foundation Stage in England. p.1-3 Qca.org.uk (2012) Qualifications and Curriculum Development Agency - About the Department. Accessed 5 May 2012 from: Webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk (2011) [ARCHIVED CONTENT] Secondary SEAL: Introduction. Accessed 5 May 2012 from: Read More