Strategic Leadership of Special Educational Needs
The SEND Code of Practice notes that the SENCO has an important role to play in determining the strategic development of SEN policy and provision. That’s not to say, of course, that SENCOs are wholly responsible for those with SEN. Every teacher is a teacher of learners with SEN and they are accountable for their progress. The SENCO is there not only to act as an advocate for those children and young people, but are also key to developing the whole-school processes and practice upon which inclusive teaching and learning can be built.
In order to do this it is important as a SENCO to take time to take a step back from the everyday and analyse your settings practice in order to identify priorities for improvement and develop a strategic plan to drive forward improvements.
Analysis of SEND Provision is most effective when a forensic analysis of the outcomes is carried out alongside exploration of the reasons behind these. An in depth understanding of all the aspects which impact on outcomes including what skills learners need in order to make progress, not just academically but as individuals, as well as the impact the knowledge and skills of those around them (including teachers, additional adults, specialists and parents/carers) can have on the outcomes of the individual.
There are a range of tools available to support SENCOs analyse their settings current provision available from the SEND Gateway.
Whole School SEND Review Resources
Alternatively schools could consider their SEND provision using these prompt questions:
Questions to prompt SEND Review
The Hull Learning Partnership are also leading on an initiative to carry out a series of Whole School SEND Reviews across the city to support SENCOs to evaluate their current practices.
Areas of SEND development will be most successful where they are integral to the schools strategic priorities and where the objectives support those for the whole school.
Once the areas for development have been identified and clear objectives have been set it can be useful for SENCOs to carry out a SWOT Analysis identifying:
Strengths – Internal factors that support the school to achieve the identified objectives
Weaknesses – Internal factors which may be a barrier to achieving the identified objectives
Opportunities – External factors which could have a positive effect on the school achieving or exceeding its objectives
Threats – External factors or conditions which may have a negative effect and prevent the objective being achieved or becoming redundant.
After considering all the factors, putting together a development plan will be important to allow you to consider the steps needed to bring about the changes you are aiming for. This will also allow you to outline the approaches for improvement as well as timescales in which you aim to complete each stage.
Once written, any development plan should be reviewed regularly to support maintained focus and to evaluate progress and amend actions should they be required.
In developing SEND provision in your setting it is important that you consider the development of the staff whom you work alongside too. SENCOs should have a clear overview of the training that has been provided to staff in school in relation to SEND. A record should be kept of any in house training which is provided as well as specialist training that teaching and support staff have. This will support the SENCO to identify future training needs and build capacity within the leadership of SEND in the school. Again a strategic approach to this staff CPD is important and is nicely outlined by the following document: Strategic Workforce Development for SEND