Education Issues and Special Education Needs - Essay Example

Educational Issues and Special Educational Needs There are children in the society that require more help than other children in order to benefit from the education system. In most cases, such children suffer from disabilities; therefore, they are described as children with exceptional education needs. In addition, special education needs involves those special educational programs aimed at ensuing that children with a disability are assisted in funding their education. Apart from funding, students with special needs also require special services from resource teachers and other professionals concerned with speech and language therapy. Further, children with special education needs require the services of other educational psychologists. Allocating specific funding attached to the individual student’s needs is an appropriate way of meeting the needs of children with special education needs (Frederickson & Cline, 2009). The specific funding system will help children with the disability not to lag behind other students while at school because of their difficulties they experience while learning. The funds can be used in the hiring of learning support teachers to ensure that the children do not experience learning difficulties, and behavioural problems. Further, the funding can be used in acquiring the needs of special needs assistants (SNAs). These assistants will be able to help children who may require non-teaching support services that are as a result of their disability or behavioural difficulties. Funds to cater for each child are important. This is because the needs of students with special education needs ranges from constant need for the help of special needs assistants to short periods in their daily activities. Other children require the full time services of special needs assistants in order to achieve their learning objectives at school. The special assistants need to ensure that they are assisted in going to the toilet and are given adequate food and hygiene at all times (Frederickson & Cline, 2009). Guardians with children who require special needs concerning their disability expect the schools and the local authorities in England to allocate as many funds as possible for the learning needs. If the parents do not deem the resources provided by schools and the local authorities to be insufficient, then they have the right to put more pressure on schools and local authorities to add more resources necessary in supporting children with statements of special education needs. However, the pressure exerted by the parents should be in the form of consultations with schools and local authorities on the need to provide and pay for private assessment in extreme cases of children suffering with disability. In some cases, litigation can be used by the guardians to ensure that they receive adequate funds for the children with disability (Gargiulo, 2010). There are cases whereby schools are given inadequate resources. The schools bare faced with problems of trying to maximize the resources they allocate to each student. It is evident that with limited resources, schools are not able to provide efficient funding services to the student. The school administration would want to distribute the resources available at their disposal in order to achieve academic excellence of their pupils. In cases whereby the funding of the students with special needs come from the local authority on a per pupil basis, the school administration would need to put more demands on the local authority to allocate more resources to students with special education needs for each pupil (Gargiulo, 2010). Local authorities must come up with measures on how to fund each pupil with special education needs. More resources need to be devoted in the affairs of students with special needs than on students without special needs. In cases whereby the funds are not provided on a per pupil basis, the school administration may decide to avoid enrolling pupils with special needs in to their system because the schools may be affected with the problem of providing the extra resources required by the pupils (Hodkinson & Vickerman, 2009). Local authorities would not want to see the suffering of the students with special education needs. They are forced to work on a limited budget due to the limited grants they receive from the national government. However, in cases whereby the local authority is to provide for each pupil with a statement of special education needs, they have to make choices on the amount of money required to sustain each child with a statement. This can be done through a thorough assessment on the needs of the child on a case by case basis so as to establish the amount of resources to be allocated to each child. There are situations whereby the local authority may want to minimize the resources spent per child. Parents should put more pressure to the local authority to avail adequate funds necessary for the sustainability of pupils with statements of special education needs (Hodkinson & Vickerman, 2009). In England, common model has been used by the local authorities to allocate funds to children with special education needs. The system is used to allocate funds to the whole school rather than on a per pupil basis. This model of funding is normally based on some indicators such as the number of children eligible for free meals at the school. In special cases, the schools and parents are expected to request for more funds to cater for the wants of students with statements of special education needs (Hodkinson & Vickerman, 2009). The major challenge presented by the common model of funding is that it is based on the availability of funds at the local authorities rather than on the wants of the students. In addition, the system ensures than only specific children are able to be assisted by the funds. On pupils with statements on special education needs, the common model ensures that they receive funds on a per pupil basis. The school administration can only gain access to the funds if the pupil has a statement. On other pupils without statements, the schools and the parents are required to look for additional source of funding to provide to the needs of the children. Under the common system, the schools may avoid enrolling children with expensive need since they will be required to fund the extra resources not provided by the local authority (Hodkinson & Vickerman, 2009). Comparison with other countries There are various funding systems used by various countries in the world and their implications for incentives. Some of the systems used by different countries include the client based funding systems; input based funding systems, throughput funding systems, and output-based funding systems (Meijer, 1999). Client-based funding systems The countries that have adopted the use of this system include Austria, France and Luxembourg. In these countries, the funding system is attached to individual students with special education needs. The individuals can move from one to school to another with their funds. The system is seen to be accountable in the way resources are used. However, more measures needs to be instituted to determine those students who are eligible for this funding system and those students who are not eligible. The major challenge with the system is that there are no objective indication systems which lead to complicated decision making process. The inclusion of the general public in the decision making process may put more pressure on the budget as seen in England (Meijer, 1999). The main strength of the client based funding system is that it provides for the basic of each individual. Students with special education needs need a funding system that is capable of providing for all their needs. When the needs of students are provided as a whole, there may be other students who may feel disadvantaged. The funds bare necessary in acquiring the services of special needs assistants and special teachers to achieve the education needs of the student with disability (Meijer, 1999). Input-based funding systems This funding system is based on the figure of individuals with special education needs in each school. The main difference between the input based funding system and client bases system is that client based system is based on the allocation of funds to each child while in put based system, the funding is based on the total figure of children at the school. Other indicators that are used in the input based funding systems are low attainment or deprivation. Some of the countries that use the system include Belgium, Germany, Ireland and Netherlands. Further, this funding system is based on the children with statements on special education needs. The system creates a strong incentive in determining students with special needs. However, the indicators are less strong to those students who do not have statements on special education needs (Meijer, 1999). Individual funding system for students with special needs ensure that they fairly get assistance form the funds as opposed to systems whereby they are included in gone funding system by other students. Students with special education needs can only achieve their full potential if the funds are allocated to them individually. National governments should ensure that there budget is sufficient to cater for the needs of each child with disability. In put based funding system is not appropriate in meeting the demands of students with special education needs since it considers the inclusion of special needs individual in to the general school system (Meijer, 1999). Throughput Funding Systems Throughput funding system involves the allocation of funds to all mainstream schools without considering the number of students with special education needs in those schools. There are schools that might have fewer students with special education needs than others. This can lead to a situation whereby the school administration chooses not to administer students with special education needs so as to avoid the costs incurred in the provision of services to such students. The implication of this system is that it has led to the development of more schools concerned with the education of students with special needs. Countries that had at one time used the system of funding include Austria, some municipalities in Denmark and few municipalities gin Sweden. They majorly used the system to fund no serious cases of students with special education needs (Meijer, 1999). The throughput funding system does not have strategies put in place to seeto it that pupils with special needs are not underprivileged. These students are forced to shares the resources with other students in the school. The students with special education needs may not have an opportunity to contend with other students effectively since the resources that can be used in helping them overcome their physical, and psychological challenges is shared among several students in the school. Transparency in the use of the resources in such a system cannot be achieved because there are no measures put in place to determine students that need the funds more than others (Meijer, 1999). Output-based funding systems According to Meijer (1999), this system funds schools on the basis of their achievement, and referrals of special educational needs pupils. In addition, the system is also based von the ability of schools to provide evidence on the problematic behaviour of the student. This system has its implications to the schools and to the students. The system ensures that schools avoid admitting students with specisl education need so as to avoid the process of providing evidence on the problematic behaviour of the student. Meijer further assert that at the time he was reviewing the use of the funding system, no country had adopted the system in large scale. Under the system, schools will be required to refer students with special education needs tog policy implementers gin order to receive funds necessary for their maintenance at school. The major challenge with this funding system is in the ability of schools to determine the students who require funding based on the assessment of their level of disability. The school may not be able to have competent staff to determine whether the student has a problematic behaviour. This can lead to the exclusion of needy students into the system. Conclusion In all the funding systems discussed above, the provision of resources necessary for the maintenance of students without statements concerning special education needs should be delegated to schools. However, there are variations in the factors that applied in determining the amount of resources the school should receive. Students with statements concerning special education needs need to be funded on an individual basis to ensure that they fully benefit from education. Full support of children with disability ensures that they are not disadvantaged when in comes to the allocation of resources and in competing with other students to meet the requirements of standard education. Local authorities should allocate funds to the schools based on the numbers of students entitled to free school meals in the cases whereby they do not have documented statements concerning special education needs. However, they should avail adequate funds to cater for the children with statements concerning special education needs. The funding should be based not on the availability of funds but on the needs of the students with disability. Limiting funds for the sustenance of these children leads to suffering in their attempt to achieve quality education as other members of the society. Students with disability should also be entitled to education grants from the government to fund their education as other members of the public. Funding people with disabilities on the basis of their numbers and as a group only discriminates on their right to attain education to the highest level as other members of the public who do not have any disability. The funding of individuals with special education needs need to be done on an individual basis. References Frederickson, N. And Cline, T. (2009), Special Educational Needs Inclusion And Diversity, 2nd Edition, Maidenhead, Berkshire: Open University Press. Gargiulo, R. (2010), Special Education in Contemporary Society, London: Sage. Hodkinson, A. And Vickerman, P. (2009), Key Issues In Special Educational Needs and Inclusion, London: Sage. Meijer, A (1999), Financing of Special Needs Education: A Seventeen- Country Study of the Relationship between Financing of Special Needs Education and Inclusion, Middlefart, Denmark: European Agency for Development in Special Needs Education. Read More