Critical Evaluation of Sen (2001) Implementation - Essay Example

Running Head: CRITICAL EVALUATION OF SEN (2001) IMPLEMENTATION Legislation and policy relating to protecting children'srights in the context of non- Discriminatory practice within the working environment By _________________________ Summary This paper is all about critical evaluation of the Institutions following somehow the Acts and measures recommended by the legislations and policies. Despite following the rules, the schools are still lying far behind the way to anti discrimination policies and practices. The paper discusses about those ways in which they distinguish their children while fitting them into the characteristics of 'normal' or 'disabled'. These characteristics are evident from the statistics collected from various sites depicting U.K and U.S.A educational environment. The paper is a realistic approach conducted in order to determine the various critical measures adopted by schools, which goes in their own benefit. SENDA (2001) Act is discussed in the light of its extension, 'Every Child Matters' policy. Discrimination on the basis of 'disabled children' is not limited to secondary schools alone, even primary schools suffer at the hands of such discrimination. Example is given at a nursery level. In the end there is a need to determine and change not only our policies but also our way of thinking. Objective "To produce a report that critically evaluates one aspect of legislation and policy relating to protecting children's rights in the context of non-discriminatory practice within the working environment (Primary school) legislation focus on Special educational needs and disability discrimination act 2001". Introduction The concern is not about the policies that matter, but the rules, which are made in order to alleviate all the distinctions evolve in little minds. Those little minds that ask why are we separate from others, why are we dealt separately and why are we treated separate from others. Children self esteem means a lot to them, particularly to those people who are in a social contact with them including family and friends. Being excluded from mainstream educational programs and resources hurts not only children' self esteem, but it also creates several loopholes within their little personalities, these loopholes take the form of barriers and may lead to other social or psychological problems. SENDA (2001) Act in this respect limits the authorities exercised by various primary, secondary and higher secondary institutions which works in favour of those grooming personalities so that they could groom and grow in a better and healthy environment. SENDA (Special Education Needs and Disability Act) 2001 SEN Act enacted on May 2001 puts the onus on the shoulders of various primary and secondary institutions to ensure and check the capabilities of students before deciding them to sent to special classes. This has been done in order to make sure that capable students, which are physically and mentally intended to attend mainstream education, may not lack behind. Under Local education authority (LEA)-provision 16, the Act covers all publicly funded institutions so that not a single primary or higher secondary school should think to misuse their authority while treating normal students to specialised classes. SEN - 2001 is currently restricted to be followed in England, Wales and Scotland. The Act also talks about "failure to make reasonable adjustments" (SEN, 2007a). The reason as it seems to be are those complains due to which each year the ratio of number of children confronted to learning disability despite decreasing due to teacher's efforts, keeps on increasing tremendously. Anita Ho writes in her article, 'To be labeled or not be labeled' (2004) that SENDA provides a complete framework in the light of legislation thereby highlighting legal policies in order to meet educational requirements of disabled children in UK, under these legislations the children should have a full right in their institution to deploy any normal activity whether physical, social or organisational along with right to gain access to the mainstream education but the dilemma remains there not in our society but also in U.S.A, where children are labeled as 'disabled' and are not granted any privilege or access to the mainstream classrooms. (Ho, 2004) Some facts about disability rate in UK reveals the estimated number of people with mild learning disabilities is 580,000 -1,750,000. It is estimated 230,000 - 350,000 people have severe learning disabilities. "Males are more likely than females to have both severe learning disabilities (average ratio 1.2 males: 1 female) and mild learning disabilities (average ratio 1.6 males: 1 female). Approximately 4.6 billion is spent a year to provide formal services for children and adults with learning disabilities in the UK". (Stats, 2007a) So, in order to reduce the overall ratio of learning disability among students, SEN Act 2001 is an optimistic approach, which limits the authority of institutions in a legal framework, so as to think twice when placing a child in a separate classroom. The Act also refers to the answer of umpteen parents who suffered at the hands of educational institutions. In this context only a parent can think of hurting self esteem when his/her child after acquiring so much nurture and care is termed as 'disabled' by an institute and is only willing to get admission provided the child attends 'special' classes and not normal one. What else can be more embarrassing for the child than the restriction of not playing with other 'normal' children and is not considered a normal child. It is often noticed by researchers that if a normal child is identified as 'disabled' and sent to special schools, their capabilities take real turn into 'incapability' of even doing small things they used to do normally. How a school cannot identify a 'disabled' child when the institution receives money from the government for each and every 'disabled' child. Every teacher wants a smaller class with more 'obedient' children and less 'problematic' ones. So, for schools and teachers the Act itself is a problem and particularly in the case, SEN (2001) has enabled in the form of "Every Child Matters" (2004) policy. The policy suggests a hopeful era for those parents who lost hopes with their so-called 'disabled' children. The policy suggests that it is the right for every child regardless of cast, colour or creed to indulge into mainstream education and extra curricular activities. In context with legislation, this policy acts as an extension to the SEN Act 2001, which enables disabled students to unbridge the gaps created by mental disabilities. This act enables disabled students to think, act and play like ordinary children, provided they are been observed. The Act is an effective measure against discriminated or disabled students to alleviate physical, social and organisational barriers. (Jan 2006) SENDA (2001) Act when examined the consequences of the policies with respect to inclusion in mainstream education, found out the inclusion of disabled children in various playgrounds of six primary schools and that even in a single city 'Yorkshire'. (Jan 2006) The strangest point that was noted among the children was that each individual was using his own techniques to play; even sometimes it happened that normal children adopt ways used by the disabled children in order to win the game. (Jan 2006) Mainstream integration was once done though a legislation policy aimed at making available all the protecting resources to the disabled students under the statement of special educational needs (SEN) but these were focused upon direct learning support in the classroom, such as classroom assistants. The larger questions of buildings access, 'learning culture' and the teaching of citizenship through inclusive and democratic school practices were rarely addressed. (Armstrong, 2004, p. 64) Early childhood settings considers disability on the basis of a physical or mental impairment that has a considerable and long term (i.e., a year or longer) adverse effect on his or her ability to carry out normal day-to day activities (Disability Discrimination Act 1995). According to Policy 2007, "Children with SEN have a learning difficulty, which calls for special educational provision to be made for them (SEN Code of Practice 2001). A place can only be refused on the grounds that a child's inclusion would be incompatible with the efficient education of other children and where there are no reasonable steps that could be taken to prevent the incompatibility". (Policy, 2007a) Nursery Children prior to SEN (2001) Act were 3 or 4 year old children, who were supposed to be toilet trained in order to get priority in admission to nurseries and kindergartens. If a disabled child who were devoid of any toilet training due to his inability to bear bladder control wanted admission, this inability escorted him in refusal to get admission. "New legislation (the SEN and Disability Education Act, 2001) makes it illegal to treat a child less favourably than other children for reasons related to their disability. Refusing to admit a child who was late in becoming toilet trained because of their disability would constitute treating such a child less favourably than others, and would be against the law". (Policy, 2007a) Despite the SEN (2001) reshaping, it is still not followed by many of the schools in UK, by 'not following' I do not mean that the rules of the Act are not implemented but under such criteria which separates special education from mainstream education, it is difficult to teach the student the lessons of equality and brotherhood. I suggest there must be some changes following adjustments in the curriculum and as Bernstein (2002) claims that a learning difficulty can appear whenever children 'hit a brick wall they cannot climb with their particular set of competencies'. She believes that a learning difficulty is a failure to adapt to the learning environment. To some extent she is right in expressing her opinion as confidence is the first step towards success, and a child whether normal or disabled, needs grooming at least to that extent where he can climb the rest of the ladder all by himself and with taking minimum support. Since it is not possible for every child to achieve what have traditionally been considered appropriate competencies no matter how much support is available the school needs to consider what changes require to be made to both the curriculum and the learning environment to offer children successful learning experiences. The learning tasks can be matched to the learning needs rather than to pre-existing expectations. This means that the curriculum becomes a flexible, responsive vehicle, which helps children to reach their maximum potential. This may appear to be an unattainable goal but if schools can respond by offering such flexibility and by working towards an ethos where diversity is appreciated, then the process of inclusion can begin. (Deponio & Macintyre, 2003, p. 89) Educational theorists of the past used the phrase 'barriers to learning'. Today these barriers are recognised as existing within the school rather than within the child. The foremost reason for this again lies with the policies, which have allowed our schools to be commercially money driven rather than future oriented. Today institutions are more targeted towards 'labelling' a child as 'disabled' as referred by Anita Ho, than by considering roots of the causes that often escorts a normal child towards 'disability'. By undertaking an audit of the curriculum on offer, schools can identify where changes are necessary in this context. What would make an ordinary child feel special in the eyes of his teachers and what techniques alleviate discrimination among normal and 'disabled' students. Other techniques include curriculum assessment thereby analysing them in the light of all type of students. This includes even those that cannot read or are simply unable to read (blind). For such students the same course must be recommended as that of mainstream education but with the inclusion of Braille system. In this context all students, i.e., those who are normal and those disabled can sit in the same class and can have online lectures. Schools which offer the most successful learning experiences are likely to be those which have carefully considered the question of equality and differentiation as something more complex than 'analysing the fee'. 'Differentiation is the attitude, approach and structure that makes flexibility possible' (SCCC 1993) and not the discrimination among normal and disabled children. Both the pace of presenting the input and the level of the content can be adapted to suit the needs of particular children. On the other hand differentiation by outcome, i.e. what is asked for, in terms of amount of work to be done, as well as the level of work means that many more children can be successful. They can complete their work and be seen to cope alongside their peers. It is important that each outcome is seen as being equally valued by the teacher. In this way all the children can have pleasure in their success. Meeting the needs of children with specific learning difficulties often means reconsidering the teaching approach. There is a temptation for teachers to teach in the way they themselves learn. This may not suit the learning styles of children with specific learning difficulties. To be effective the teachers must decentre, i.e. understand the preferred way of learning of their individual pupils and change their teaching to match. This is not easy but very necessary if the children's learning is to be eased. The UN Convention (1989) on the rights of the child refers that special protection along with the concern for continuous improvement should be given to every child irrespective of cast, colour, race or creed, and irrespective of any disability. "U.N Profoundly concern that the situation of children in many parts of the world remains critical as a result of inadequate social conditions, natural disasters, armed conflicts, exploitation, illiteracy, hunger and disability, and convinced that such conditions would not be prolonged as urgent and effective national and international action has been called". (U.N, 1989) In the light of this statement one can easily depict and figure out the importance of special education. Apart from the legislature, when educational theorists approach was applied by the behavioral approach and its principles of motivation, context, and personal history as causes of disabled and normal students' performance, it was found out that behavior is a function of its immediate consequences (motivation), in specific situations (contexts), and one's cumulative history of these situation-behavior-consequence interactions. What differ between behaviour interactions are the academic performance of diverse learners and the characteristically lower performance of children with learning disability (Keogh & Speece, 1996, p. 40). So, a teacher can easily consider this aspect of 'learning disability' the way he/she adopts the opposite aspect. Learning disability in students is not limited to the social or environmental factor alone, but it also takes into account those biological factors that are often ignored on the basis of fake self esteem like genetic causes, down's syndrome etc. This approach is carried out by many parents who despite knowing their child's true mental capabilities want to see them among normal individuals. Teachers should also take into account such hardworking and expecting parents who bring up their children with several deficiencies expecting high hopes for their future. Now, it is the responsibility on the part of the school and teachers to fill all kinds of 'barriers' or 'gaps' which if not taken care of initially, would be difficult to bridge, particularly in the long run. According to Beveridge (2004), "Children are not only the focus, but can also exert a strong influence on the nature of the relationships that are established. Where children get on well with their teachers and feel valued and included by them as important members of their learning community, their parents are likely to be well disposed towards collaboration with school. In contrast, where teacher-child relationships are negative, this can create a major barrier to successful home-school communication". (Beveridge, 2004, p. 79) This is true if taken in the context of disabled children because it is the teacher who helps a child develop a barrier, and it is also a teacher who helps a child alleviate that barrier. Conclusion Truly speaking, the institution of 'being disabled or not' depends upon the way you tackle it, what the school thinks of it and what the institution has the best to offer your disabled child. No child is born with learning disabilities. It is the mental differentiation that distinguishes the features and matters. So, we must think about the remedies and ways to present solutions, instead of puzzling it. It is easy for an institute to declare a child 'disabled' and admit him in separate class where he sees nothing but all children like him, but difficult to analyse and adopt an optimistic approach upon which the whole future of a child depends. References & Bibliography Armstrong Derrick, (2004) Experiences of Special Education: Re-Evaluating Policy and Practice through Life Stories: RoutledgeFalmer: New York. Beveridge Sally, (2004) Children, Families and Schools: Developing Partnerships for Inclusive Education: RoutledgeFalmer: New York Deponio Pamela & Macintyre Christine, (2003) Identifying and Supporting Children with Specific Learning Difficulties: Looking beyond the Label to Assess the Whole Child: RoutledgeFalmer: London Ho, Anita (2004) 'To be labeled or not be labeled' in British Journal of Learning Disabilities Jan2006, Accessed from Keogh K. Barbara & Speece L. Deborah, (1996) Research on Classroom Ecologies: Implications for Inclusion of Children with Learning Disabilities: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates: Mahwah, NJ. Policy, 2007a Accessed from < www.bristol-cyps.org.uk/early/pdf/revised_admissions_policy.pdf> Scottish Consultative Council on the Curriculum (1993) Support for Learning. SCCC SEN, 2007a Accessed from Stats, 2007a Accessed from < http://www.learningdisabilities.org.uk/page.cfmpagecode=ISBISTBI> U.N, 1989 Accessed from < http://www.cirp.org/library/ethics/UN-convention/> Read More