Schools Minister, Andrew Adonis, today launched a new programme to maximise the potential of children with special educational needs and support schools and early years settings in managing their needs.
The Inclusion Development Programme (IDP) is a new £2million project of confidence-raising training for teachers, support staff and early years practitioners. Developed by the Department for Children, Schools and Families in partnership with children’s communication charity I CAN and Dyslexia Action, it will improve the skills of teachers by advising them on how to develop teaching strategies for children with special educational needs (SEN) and providing guidance on dealing with common classroom challenges.
The training materials will initially focus on speech, language and communication needs and dyslexia. Over the next four years training on autistic spectrum disorders, behavioural issues and moderate learning difficulties will be added.
A recent YouGov poll, commissioned by The Communication Trust (2007), showed that only 35% of teachers and teaching assistants feel confident they have the skills to deal with children’s speech, language and communication needs and 80% surveyed believe they would benefit from further SLCN training. In addition to this a 2006 NUT survey found that only 14% of teachers feel confident about recognising dyslexia and 77% said that they would like training in this area.
IDP is the latest step in the Government’s work to ensure teachers are getting the support they need throughout their careers for dealing with children with SEN and disabilities. The Training Development Agency is currently piloting specialist material for trainee teachers focused on giving them a good skills base for working with children with SEN as part of their undergraduate courses.
Virginia Beardshaw, I CAN Chief Executive, said: “Communication is the foundation life skill. Children with good communication skills learn, make friends and achieve. I CAN welcomes the launch of the IDP and is pleased to be working collaboratively with the government sharing our expertise in children’s speech, language and communication development and disability.
One in ten children, that’s approximately three in our UK classrooms, has speech, language and communication needs (SLCN). On top of this, the children’s workforce report that in some parts of the country, up to 50% of children are arriving at school without the speech and language skills they need to learn and succeed. It is absolutely essential that the children’s workforce is skilled in how to support children’s communication needs. This is an excellent first step but there is still a great deal of work to do.”
Shirley Cramer, Dyslexia Action Chief Executive, said:
“We welcome the IDP initiative and are extremely pleased to have worked with the Government and
I CAN to create and craft this programme of training for teachers.
Dyslexia affects two to three children in every classroom and the link between dyslexia and disadvantage is proven – undiagnosed dyslexic people are ‘overrepresented’ in groups excluded from school, in prison and in long-term unemployment. By upgrading teacher ability through projects like IDP we can begin to improve the life chances of our children and sever this link.”
The Inclusion Development Programme forms a key part of the Government’s overall strategy on addressing the needs of children with special educational needs and disability, and was developed following a recommendation from the Education and Skills Select Committee report on Special Educational Needs (SEN).
