Teachers have called for new powers to identify potentially violent pupils and for a new offence of attacking a public service worker. Members of the National Union of Teachers and the National Association of Schoolmasters and Union of Women Teachers demanded the measures to improve school safety at their conferences yesterday. Nigel de Gruchy’s proposal for legislation to punish those who assaulted teachers, nurses and other public service workers was not accepted by the Schools Minister, Stephen Timms. Mr. Timms said new legislation was not needed; existing provisions were not as well used as they could be. Meanwhile NUT delegates called head teachers to be given the right to have pupils screened for behaviour disorders before they were admitted to school. A motion agreed by members would allow schools to refuse to admit pupils with disorders if local education authorities failed to come up with extra funding to support them in the classroom. Disability rights campaigners said the move would in effect give head teachers a veto on admitting any pupils with behaviour problems or disabilities. The NUT will seek an amendment to education legislation currently before Parliament that would grant head teachers the right to refer any child for psychological assessment from September.
The Independent, April 3, 2002.
Angela McDonagh has made great progress in her job as education officer for the North Wales Deaf Association. Angela, 40, who is profoundly deaf, is regarded as a role model, raising the profile of people with disabilities and proving that deaf children can achieve on the same level as hearing children. She said: ‘My role is to go into schools and colleges all over North Wales to encourage and support children with a hearing loss, preventing them from feeling isolated and lonely’.
Daily Post, Wales, April 4, 2002.
Northern Ireland Education Minister, Martin McGuinness, MP, MLA and Employment and Learning Minister, Carmel Hanna, MLA, have announced a revision to the timetable for introducing legislation addressing special educational needs and disabilities. Under an earlier estimate it was anticipated that the proposed legislation which will provide further access and opportunities for local school pupils would be introduced in the 2002/03 session. Mr. McGuinness said the revised timetable would allow adequate time to consult in an innovative and adequate manner to ensure effective legislation.
Banbridge Chronicle, April 4, 2002.
Governors of Langley Special School and Coppice Junior School, in Sutton Coldfield, have asked Birmingham LEA to look into accommodating the schools on the same site. A spokesman for the LEA said it was not looking into merging the schools but at arranging a co-location. ‘There may be more integration once the schools are on the same site, which is a good thing in terms of our inclusion policies. But it will not be a complete merger. Our inclusion policy is very much geared either to co-location or integration with mainstream schools. Clearly there are some occasions when pupils need to be educated separately which will be taken into account’. Birmingham Post, April 15, 2002.
The Scottish Executive’s flagship policy of educating children with learning and behavioural difficulties in mainstream secondary schools is failing, academics have claimed. In the first major study of the impact of inclusion in Scotland, Dr. Brian Boyd and Paul Hamill, from Strathclyde University, found a majority of secondary teachers did not think the policy was working. The report, which assessed the inclusion strategy of East Lothian Council, found that teachers felt under trained and did not fully understand the aims of the policy, while some parents felt the needs of their children were not being addressed. According to Dr. Boyd: ‘The biggest single issue is the conflicting pressure on schools to raise attainment while at the same time promoting inclusion. Some feel it is a circle that is impossible to square. Mike Russell, the Scottish National Party’s education spokesman, said the problems were a result of the gap between a laudable ideology and the practical requirements of implementing it. More money was needed to fund additional training and support staff.
The Scotsman, April 20, 2002.
A report released by the State Education Department in New York says that special education students are more likely to perform better academically when placed in mainstream education classes than in separate settings. Of the fourth grade special education students placed in general classrooms for more than 80 per cent. of the school days, 33.3 per cent scored at Level 3 or above in the state-wide English test and 49.8 per cent in the similar maths test. But of the fourth grade special education students placed in general classrooms for less than 40 per cent. of the school days, only 8.4 per cent. scored at Level 3 or above in the State-wide English test and 13.9 per cent. in the similar maths test. This achievement pattern for special education students in classrooms and in segregated settings, also holds true for eighth graders. The report does not make clear whether the difference in education settings can account for the achievement gap between the two groups or whether children with less debilitating disabilities are more likely to be placed in general classrooms for large portions of the day.
New York Times, April 24, 2002.
David Hartley, President of the Association of Teachers of the Deaf, says that recent decisions to devolve money from LEAs directly to schools have led to substantial reductions in the funds available for specialist staff and equipment, affecting both the quantity and quality of support for deaf pupils. Mr. Hartley supports the inclusion of children who are deaf in mainstream schools but says separate funding should be set aside for them.
Yorkshire Post, Leeds, April 29, 2002.
