Education Departments need Educating
All too often I hear stories of how school staff or Local Authority (LA) staff have been unhelpful or provided incorrect information to parents. We are quick to rush to blame, when people we deem as ‘professionals’ give the wrong information, particularly where our children are concerned.
The challenge these professionals face is the Education Health and Social Care reforms that came through as part of the Children and Families Act of 2014 are a systemic change in the way LAs are required to support the children within their areas. And systemic change does not happen overnight.
We can’t just wave a wand and expect everybody to have read the new legislation and understand how that will be implemented on the ground. There are hundreds of thousands of people who need to be trained and supported by new ways of thinking and working. There are entire business processes and systems which need to be ripped up, re-written and re-implemented, and to add to the challenge these fall across multiple delivery organisations, schools (both maintained and academy/free schools), NHS Commissioning Groups and LAs.
Given this systemic change came without additional resources, it is no wonder parents tend to be better educated than some of the people upon who they ought to be able to rely.
Training costs money, and Local Authorities don’t have the money to provide training. School staff in a large number of schools are still reliant on information and advice from their Local Authority, so if they are being given out of date information, that perpetuates the problem.
It's a bit like the children’s game Chinese whispers or the Telephone Game when a perfectly sensible statement “Go and buy a bag of crisps” ends up as complete nonsense.
In reality, it is cheaper to be ignorant than to be educated. In an environment that has seen severe austerity, and which is heading towards, if not already in, a funding crisis, ensuring everybody understands and can implement the new legislation isn’t at the top of anyone’s priorities.
Whilst we are some 5 years down the track, there is still plenty of poor information circulating. A key example is a belief that it is harder to get an Education Health Care Plan (EHCP) than it was to get a statement. This myth started when the SEN Code of Practice was written in 2015, and the realities of tribunal decisions have done little to quash the notion. In fact, the legal test was not changed, and so there shouldn’t be a difference in how difficult it is to secure an EHCP vs the previous Statements.
As parents, we need to see ourselves as both learners and educators. We need to verify everything we have been told with multiple sources, preferably by reading and understanding the Code of Practice. Online forums are a great source of support for parents, however, even there, can be found many parents who have little knowledge and it isn’t always accurate.
The support system has become so adversarial, which is the polar opposite of what was intended by the 2014 reforms. I would like to think that if we find ourselves working with somebody who doesn’t seem to have fully understood the new system, rather than criticize or blame, we can become the educator and show them what we know and the evidence to support our perspective.
