NAS Education Roadshow - First stop Liverpool!

On the 11th October our first Education Roadshow began its tour in Liverpool.

The event was part of a series of five regional one-day events to help teachers and other professionals learn the tools and strategies they need to support children with autism effectively.

Education is a fundamental part of every child's life, but far too many children with autism are not getting the education they need.

That's why The National Autistic Society, in association with Axcis Education Recruitment, developed the Education Roadshow.

You can watch videos from the event for FREE here, as well as read presentations from the top speakers. Just fill in your details on the page first.

The roadshow will be in Newcastle next on 8 November 2011. To find out more and to book, visit www.autism.org.uk/conferences/roadshow2011

New report from AET adds weight to NAS Great Expectations campaign

The National Autistic Society has welcomed a new report from the Autism Education Trust (AET) which calls for more ‘flexibility’ in the education of young people with autism.

The study consulted adults and children with autism, parents and education professionals via focus groups and interviews, and concluded that schools need to “aim higher for their students with autism”.

The report highlighted the central importance of involving and consulting with young people with autism about their progress and aspirations.

The study also talked about the need for teachers to combine the National Curriculum with training in social and independent living skills, and calls for written guidance from the Department for Education to help make sure this happens.

Many young people in the study felt that more time spent discussing their diagnosis would help them feel more comfortable in social settings, which could help reduce bullying.

The report also calls for better communication amongst members of staff, and for an “autism expert” to be available in schools. This expert would be able to provide better support for children with autism, and also be consulted on issues such as exclusion.

The findings add weight  to the key demands from our Great Expectations campaign, including a need to improve teachers’ understanding of autism, and to support young people socially as well as academically.

Speaking at our event at the recent Conservative Party Conference, Debbie Waters a parent of two children with autism told us she’d felt forced to choose between an educated child and a happy child – which was “no choice to make”.

In order to provide the best possible outcomes for young people with autism, both academically and emotionally, it’s clear that schools need to be ensure that they are looking at all of a child’s needs

You can read the full report from the AET at http://www.autismeducationtrust.org.uk/resources/outcomes.aspx

Blog recommendation: James Cusack

James, who has worked closely with us on our campaign for an autism bill in Scotland, has started his own blog. His first entry talks about how teachers’ awareness of autism has improved over the last twenty years.

You can read James’ blog at http://jamescusack.wordpress.com/

Autism Education Trust highlights importance of staff training

The NAS welcomes a new piece of research published by the Autism Education Trust (AET). The AET looked in detail at sixteen schools which are considered to demonstrate good practice in educating young people with autism. The sample included special and mainstream schools, and provision from early years up to 19-year-olds.

The research found that staff at these good practice schools were highly motivated and very well-trained. The heads and senior leadership of the schools had a thorough understanding of autism, and appreciated the role of staff in allowing their pupils to achieve well. Regular training was a feature for all staff, from senior leaders through to administrators and school bus drivers. Many schools also shared their experience with other schools in the area.

The good practice schools also focused on developing strong relationships with pupils and their families, listening to pupils’ own opinions on their learning and activities. They also understood that the education requirements for children with autism are much broader than for those without autism.

The NAS’ Great Expectations survey also demonstrated the importance of training for education professionals. We found that only 53% of children feel happy at school generally, but this rises to 86% when they feel their teacher has a good understanding of autism.

The AET’s findings reinforce the point that with the right training, teachers can  feel confident about supporting children with autism and provide them with outstanding education.

The AET’s full report can be found at http://www.autismeducationtrust.org.uk/engb/resources/good%20practice%20report.aspx

You can read more about Great Expectations at http://www.autism.org.uk/greatexpectations

Education Select Committee publishes report on Behaviour

The National Autistic Society has welcomed the report from the Education Select Committee on behaviour and discipline in schools.

Director of Education at the NAS Jane Vaughan gave evidence to the Committee to feed into the report. We also submitted written evidence to the Committee.

The NAS is particularly pleased that a number of key points that Jane made in her oral evidence were reflected in the report and its recommendations, including:

Ø       The importance of ensuring that all school staff have training in autism. The report recommends that all schools should ensure that their staff can identify special educational needs (SEN) and that teachers should receive SEN training as part of their initial teacher training.

The NAS believes that this is fundamental to improving provision for children with autism. We also believe that all schools should be able to receive support from autism specialist teachers who should be employed to work across clusters of schools.

Ø       The importance of ensuring that behaviour related to autism is not mistaken for bad behaviour. The report recommends that exclusion is used as a trigger for assessing the needs of a child.

This is something we have been calling for, for some years and we would urge the Government to adopt this policy.

Ø       The importance of focusing on engaging with a child’s learning and the support they need to learn rather than the behaviour itself. The report recommends that schools ensure that they are providing appropriate support to a child so that they can get the most out of their education.

We also welcome the following conclusions and recommendations from the report:

• Guidance on restraint needs to include advice on SEN and the current requirement to inform parents when their child has been restrained at school is important. 

• Independent Appeals Panels for exclusions should be retained

• The Government’s plans to introduce a phonics reading test at age 6 to identify learning problems should be expanded to look also at language comprehension

• The Inclusion Development Programme (IDP), which was a Government funded project which included the development of resources on autism for teachers, should be refreshed and disseminated

• Local authorities should retain responsibility for some local specialist services that provide support to schools around special educational needs. This may include educational psychology or autism outreach teams.

The National Autistic Society will be putting pressure on the Government to accept this findings and recommendations in the lead up to the publication of the Green Paper on SEN, expected later this month.

Click here to read the report

The Importance of Teaching – Education White Paper

As reported earlier on this site, the Government has published its plans for reform of the education system in a “White Paper” called The Importance of Teaching.

More details on reform to the system for children with Special Educational Needs (SEN) will be available in the SEN Green Paper expected later this year or early next year.

However, the following proposals in the White Paper also have implications for children with autism:

·        Reforms to teacher training

·        Proposals on discipline, behaviour and bullying

·        Changes to exclusion policies and Independent Appeal Panels

·        Admissions and the role of local authorities

·        Special school academies

Teacher training

As the name of the White Paper suggests, the Government places high importance on getting teacher training right. The White Paper highlights the importance of ensuring teachers know how to support children with SEN and says that more details will be in the forthcoming Green Paper.

The National Autistic Society is campaigning for every teacher to have training in autism. We also believe that teachers should be able to access expertise and advice from autism specialists when they need it.

Discipline, behaviour and bullying

The Government is intending to produce shorter and clearer guidance on the ability of teachers to use force and discipline children outside of school. Teachers will be given greater discretion in these areas.

The National Autistic Society will be working to make sure that the needs of children with autism are looked at carefully in that guidance.

Addressing bullying, and particularly prejudiced based bullying, is to become a Government priority. To address this, Government guidance will be simplified and Ofsted will be asked to report on successful approaches to tackling bullying.

We are pleased that the Government wants to focus on prejudiced based bullying, as we know that children with autism are often targeted by bullies. We will be working with Government on bullying guidance.

Exclusions

We have previously expressed concerns about the Conservative Party’s proposals to get rid of Independent Appeal Panels for exclusions. We welcome the White Paper’s recognition that it is important that these Panels remain independent.

However, we note that the Government intends to take away the power from these panels to reinstate an excluded pupil from a school. We would welcome wider views on this. Please comment below.

We welcome the Government’s plans to pilot a new approach to exclusions where a school is responsible for arranging and funding alternative provision for an excluded child.

27% of children with autism are excluded from school at least once, compared with 4% of other children. It is essential that alternative and appropriate provision is found for children with autism, following exclusion.

Admissions and the role of local authorities

Local authorities and the School Adjudicator will continue to have a role in ensuring the coordination of admissions arrangements and fairness, including for academies. The Government will also simplify the Admissions Code, but will continue to apply the principle of fair admissions for Looked After Children and pupils with a statement of SEN.

The National Autistic Society will be watching reforms to the Admissions Code with interest. We have particular concerns about admissions for those without a Statement.

Local Authorities  will continue to have responsibility for disabled children and those with SEN. However, as funding is increasingly delegated to academies, they will increasingly move to a strategic commissioning and oversight role. They will of course continue to fund provision for pupils with a statement of SEN.

Where a local authority has significant concerns about an Academy or Free School in relation to these issues, it will be able to ask Ofsted to inspect the school.

Special school academies

The academies programme will be expanded to include special schools, with the application process open in January 2011 and the potential for special school academies to open from September 2011. The Green Paper on SEN and Disability will consider the issues raised specifically around special schools academies in more detail.

If you have any comments about these proposals, do comment below.

White Paper sets out importance of teacher training in SEN

The Government published their White Paper on the future of education in England today.

We are particularly pleased that it proposes that initial teacher training includes how to support children with special educational needs (SEN).

The NAS has long been calling for initial teacher training to include autism and this was a key demand of the Make School, Make Sense campaign.

In the run up to the publication of the Green Paper on SEN, expected next month, and in response to the Green Paper we will be putting pressure on the Government to make sure that autism is included within this training.

We also believe that specialist teachers in autism, working across clusters of schools are vital to build capacity and help teachers to teach and support children with autism.

Check back later this week for more details on the White Paper and its implications for children with autism!

Reform – some radical proposals for improving schools

Reform, an independent right-leaning think tank co-founded by Conservative Policing Minister Nick Herbert, before he was a Minister, has published a report calling on the Government to go further with its education reforms. The report calls for:

• The scrapping of national pay and conditions agreements, allowing head teachers the freedom to ‘set the right balance between pay, staff numbers and quality’.
• A radical programme for improving teacher quality.
• Limiting the use of teaching assistants; the report suggests that extensive use of teaching assistants could even be damaging, particularly in the case of children with Special Educational Needs.

The report does not reflect Government policy, but Reform does have a lot of influence with the Government.

At the NAS, we agree that improving standards in teaching is important. We know that expertise among teaching professionals, including teaching assistants is crucial in making sure that children with autism get the help they need to fulfil their potential.

However, we have concerns about the impact reducing the numbers of teaching assistants may have on the support children with autism receive in the classroom and will make this clear in any discussions we have with Government.

Please leave a comment below to let us know what you think of the findings of the report.