In his new role as journalist for the Daily Telegraph, former Ofsted chief Chris Woodhead, has criticised the way the Labour Government is running education. He derided Ministerial views of school teachers saying: ‘They no longer want teachers to be mentors who introduce kids to an objective body of knowledge. They say there’s no point in teaching knowledge about anything because everything is changing. We must teach learnacy. Learnacy is the ability to manage your own learning — and this idea is not coming from the lunatic fringe; it is deeply embedded in the Government.’ Mr. Woodhead also revealed that the Government’s Standards Taskforce spent time discussing changing the name of teachers to ‘learning professionals’.
Junior Education, April 2001.

Disabled pupils could be harmed by an overemphasis on mainstream education, a former Government education advisor has said. Dr. John Marks said children with some conditions like autism and Down’s Syndrome might benefit more from special school education and criticised the ‘inclusion or else’ message in the Special Educational Needs and Disability Bill. According to Dr. Marks, different disabilities should be put into different categories with recommendations for the most suitable type of education. He said at a conference organised by the Centre for Policy Studies, ‘We need to be more specific in what we do to help those with serious special educational needs. The case for special schools is considerably stronger now and many parents prefer them’.
Disability Now, April 2001.

The Government is to spend £10m on communication technology to help children with special educational needs and disabilities. The money will be spent on such things as voice recognition systems, hand-held spell checkers, speech synthesisers and simple mouth or eye-operated devices. ‘As well as helping young people access the curriculum to learn alongside their peers, the project will aim to ease their transition from school into employment or further and higher education,’ said Schools Minister, Jacqui Smith. ‘In some cases this may mean that a particular piece of equipment goes with a young person. The concept of personal equipment will be at the heart of the work.’
Electronics Weekly, April 4, 2001.

A three-year plan for supporting children with emotional and behavioural needs has been drawn up by Kingston Council. The Education Act 1997 placed a requirement on all boroughs to prepare such a plan. The report is designed to ensure Kingston has greater awareness among parents and schools of the strategies for managing behaviour and dealing with behaviour problems. Last month there was a case involving a young boy with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) who was found with a concealed knife in school. He was immediately suspended until the Easter break, but the parents of the boy were unhappy with the way the school dealt with the situation. They felt that rather than helping teachers deal with their son, the diagnosis of ADHD had ‘branded him’. The school refused to comment but it is hoped that the report would give better understanding and allow teachers to deal with similar problems effectively.
Surrey Comet (Royal Borough of Kingston), April 6, 2001.

Less than a year ago Jacqueline Duncan was worried sick about her 15-year-old son. Diagnosed with a behaviour disorder, he was eventually moved to a special base at his secondary school. But the youngster was very unhappy, difficult to control and his school work had slumped. Then came the breakthrough. The teenager was moved to Cordyce School — specialising in caring for youngsters with social and behaviour difficulties across Aberdeen. Today, less than six months later, Jacqueline is astonished at his progress. However, now Jacqueline and her son, who does not want to be named, and others like him are faced with the prospect of Cordyce being closed. School bosses have drawn up controversial plans to transfer children with emotional and behaviour difficulties into special units at four secondaries.
Evening Express (Aberdeen), April 7, 2001.

A special educational needs review by Knowsley Council was carried out fairly and openly says a Council Sub-committee. The initial consultation process is now complete and further consultation will be carried out on the Council’s plans for the future of special needs schools in the borough. Education Department officials have said that they are on target to reduce the number of special school places by at least 200 by 2006 but they also say that no final decision has been made about the future of special schools.
Huyton and Roby Star, April 12, 2001.

The first steps were taken in the construction of a new building at Bishopswood Special School last week. The project will provide five classrooms for primary age pupils at the current Sonning Common Primary School. Head teacher Valerie Northfield said: ‘We are looking forward very much to moving into our new classrooms — they will have everything to meet the children’s needs. We are particularly pleased that the new building shares the site with the primary school, because specialist facilities in a mainstream setting is as near perfect as it gets.’ Henley Standard, April 12, 2001.

School nurses must be brought back to help teachers deal with a growing number of sick children, a union has demanded. Teachers say they are being ’emotionally blackmailed’ into giving out medicines — leaving them wide open to allegations of abuse. Staff say they are expected to give valium suppositories to epileptic children, handle inhalers for asthmatics and give jabs to youngsters with allergies. Teacher Jo Spencer told an NASUWT conference in Jersey: ‘I did not join the teaching profession to become a doctor.’ And delegate, Ian Draper, said: ‘Let us not forget that teachers are teachers, and not medics.’
The Mirror, April 20, 2001.

A Sheffield special school has won a glowing report for its specialist education and for the inclusion programme which helps pupils integrate in mainstream classes. Norfolk Park is a very effective school, said inspectors. Teaching quality is very good and as a result all pupils make good progress. The school also provides excellent support, enabling pupils with a wide range of special needs to be included in mainstream school on a part-time basis.
Sheffield Telegraph, April 20, 2001.

A support group has been opened to help disabled children with special needs attend mainstream schools. The PIPA project (Parents in Partnership Advancing Inclusion) based at the Gateway Centre, Hartcliffe, Bristol, will help parents obtain an equal and normal education for their children. Project manager Julie Watts said: ‘So many special schools are outside the local community. Children with special needs often miss out on being a part of that community because so many events are organised through the school.’
Bristol Evening Post, April 23, 2001.

A disabled girl is still waiting for a place at a Leeds school eight months after her start date. Education officials have been promising for months to ‘update staff skills’ to deal with the girl’s condition while giving her an education. But her mother is now despairing at the delays which have stopped her daughter starting her high school education. Asemah Samad is 11. She suffers from a rare condition which means she has to breath permanently through a tube inserted in her throat. The tube must be kept clear at all times. A spokesman for education in Leeds said: ‘The Health Authority and Education Leeds are still liaising about how and when training will be carried out and we are confident the situation will be resolved soon.’
Yorkshire Evening Post, April 23, 2001.