Management of Special Educational Needs - Essay Example

The change sped up with the more recent Education Act of 1988 with its intense implications for the practice and provision of SEN learning. This legislation combined with the introduction of the National Curriculum, and the 1992 White Paper have all brought a large challenge to the management of the SEN initiatives. This has also in part been affected by the altered in-service funding arrangement which has also impacted teacher funding. The changing SEN initiative in the UK was based on the Warnock report the recommendations of which were aimed at revolutionizing the historic practice of dealing educationally with children with disabilities or learning difficulties in a segregated fashion. However how successful this initiative to has been in letting learning disabilities not get in the way of children being educated in their neighborhood schools, and sharing learning with their peers is debated in this dissertation. This is particularly obvious from the funding problems and the difficulties faced by the teachers in dealing with learning disabilities. In this regard, my dissertation offers a fresh perspective that favors that when segregated these children might be treated by specialist teachers. Admittedly it is unfair to separate SEN pupils from the mainstream curriculum experience and deal with skill deficits in isolation but it has to be seen that the slow disadvantaged learner might feel more disadvantages when surrounded by normal learners. The dissertation takes the view that if the national curriculum for all students whether SEN or not is to be retained then there is a need for the initiation of flexible training opportunities for the teachers and design a more innovative course design. The question arises as to whether the curricular aims for children with special needs are the same as those for other children. The  Warnock Report categorically stated that the curricular aims for all children are the same. The Gap or the “Special Need” is arising basically because the Pupil is unable to perform as is expected of him at his chronological age. The question thus is that since this Gap can be wide or small can the national curriculum alone cater to all these needs? In this vein the Warnock Report has stated that these categories of ‘need’ can be broadly grouped into the following  which may be made for children whose disabilities produce ‘gaps’:

(a) ‘the need for provision of special means of access to the curriculum’. This type of need applies particularly to children with sensory disabilities, who require help in communication and expression, and to children with motor disabilities, who require help with ‘access’ in its most literal sense.

(b) ‘the need for the provision of a special or modified curriculum’. This will apply, for example, to children with severe learning problems, who may need to be taught those aspects of curricular expectations that ‘normal’ children achieve without the help of specific teaching. It also refers to the ‘salami-slicing effect’, whereby the curriculum may need to be divided into very much smaller steps if the teaching objectives are to be effectively achieved.

(c) ‘the need for particular attention to the social structure and emotional climate in which education takes place.’ This refers to attempts to produce environments that, for example, modify the degree of stress to which emotionally vulnerable children may be exposed (Norwich and Gray, 2004).

These gaps can arise mainly because of Syndromes like ‘dyslexia’ and ‘autism’,s dysphasia, dyspraxia, and dyslexia and relate to brain damage causing patterns of functional impairment. As will be discussed throughout the dissertation the disturbing theme here is the lack of flexible training opportunities for SEN professionals and primary teachers. There seems to be a need between the LEAs and Primary Schools to develop partnerships and create teaching innovation in their course design, provision, and practice. There are many expectations attached to the class teacher of the Primary School who now has the prime responsibility to not only deal with her/his colleagues, SEN pupils, limited resources, available classroom space, and size; available curriculum; the assessment, recording, reporting process; personal and professional development time; and the problems of time management.