Lamb Inquiry to date

1
Lamb Inquiry to date
Philippa Stobbs Manager, Lamb Inquiry SEN
Professional Adviser, DCSF
1
2
Meetings and visits to date

• Parents
• Support services
• SENCOs
• Schools staff, parents, pupils
• Schools Primary, secondary, special, NMSS
• Parent partnership services
• Educational psychologists
• Scotland
• Voluntary organisations
• Tribunal
• University departments
• Consortia of organisations
• Teacher unions SEN committees
• Local authorities officers, members
• Conferences and workshops

2
3
Evidence from

• 8 local authority projects, run and evaluated
  with parents and schools
• research, including specially commissioned
  research
• emails from parents
• web survey 3,401 responses
• National Strategies
• Advisers group and Reference Group
• more evidence to come

3
4
December 2008

• Letter to Secretary of State
• lack of compliance by schools and local
  authorities with their duties in relation to
  children with SEN and in relation to disability
  requirements
• significant gaps in information for parents
• a lack of focus on outcomes for children with SEN
  and disabled children and
• a failure to consider SEN and disability issues
  in some mainstream policies and programmes

4
5
Some of the evidence to date

• Lack of focus on outcomes
• attainment and progress
• wider outcomes
• objectives in a statement are there for life and
  annual review is not given priority

5
5
6
Some of the evidence to date

• What parents have said builds confidence
• someone who understands my childs needs
• honesty and openness and good communication

6
6
7
Some of the evidence to date

• Expertise in the system
• much of the education of children with SEN is in
  the hands of the least qualified staff
• Ofsted identifies the importance of specialist
  expertise in securing progress
• parents go up the system to find someone who
  understands my childs needs
• in some local authorities expertise may be locked
  into one or two places

7
7
8
Some of the evidence to date

• Priorities from pupils
• bullying and social exclusion
• the way teachers explain things
• the need for practical activities
• the desire to engage with peers in learning
• Last two points picked up in research into
  effective learning
• Positive examples of intentional building of
  relationships

8
8
9
Some of the evidence to date

• Professional advice
• Limited hard evidence of fettering of advice
• Wider, softer evidence of lack of willingness to
  advise provision that is not available locally
• Some EPs very clear they could be struck off if
  they changed their advice
• Questions about quality, evidence base for
  advice, relevance to classroom practice

9
9
10
Some of the evidence

• Quality is patchy, but there is limited use of
  intelligence about how different parts of the
  system are working
• pattern of complaints to DCSF, Local Government
  Ombudsman
• patterns of appeals and claims to the Tribunal
• National Strategies information and data
• feedback from parents partnership service,
  voluntary organisations

10
10
11
Secretary of State December 08

• National Strategies to take a more detailed look
  at compliance with all the SEN and disability
  requirements and to report back
• comprehensive examination of the SEN and
  disability information requirements.
• sharper focus on improving outcomes for children
  with SEN
• SEN and disability profile in all areas of policy

11
12
Sharper focus on outcomes

• Achievement for All
• an SEN pilot
• focus on outcomes
• involving parents and children themselves
• based on the Making Good Progress model
• 31m to support development

12
13
SEN and disability information

• Recommendations, April 29 2009
• principles to inform communication with parents
• reduction in the specific SEN requirements, but
  cover SEN and disability in information for all
  children
• all policies to be published on websites,
  National Strategies to report on compliance
• training for working with parents
• increased focus on outcomes for disabled pupils
  and pupils with SEN and Ofsted limiting
  judgments
• training for all school improvement partners

13
13
14
Statements

• Professional advice
• Parents advice reflected in the statement
• Provision that includes the skills needed
• More engagement of children and young people
• Clearer objectives
• More rigorous annual review, parents to be able
  to appeal if statement not revised following
  annual review
• Training for staff

14
14
15
Inspection and accountability

• School inspection
• A duty on SEN and disability in S5 inspection
• Training on SEN and disability for all inspectors
• Local authorities
• Gathering information about the system to inform
  inspection priorities (SENDIST, LGO, National
  Strategies, voluntary organisations)
• School improvement partners, governors

15
15
16
Skills in the system

• Specific skills for teachers in schools
• Local authority planning and deployment of
  expertise

16
16
17
Learning from the projects

• Learning from the projects
• Blackburn with Darwen
• Durham
• Kent
• Newham
• North Tyneside, with Sunderland
• Oxfordshire
• Portsmouth
• Wolverhampton
• More projects?

17
17