Quality First Teaching for All

Quality First Teaching for ALL A Top Priority for Schools! Context and Background

The special educational needs and disability review A statement is not enough Ofsted Published: September 2010 Reference no:

The special educational needs and disability review – A statement is not enough The review was commissioned to evaluate how well the legislative framework and arrangements served children and young people who had special educational needs and/or disabilities. It considered the early years, compulsory education, education from 16 to 19, and the contribution of social care and health services.

The special educational needs and disability review – A statement is not enough The aims of the review were to: evaluate the accuracy and the equity of identification of special educational needs across England and within local areas evaluate the extent to which the assessment of needs results in high expectations, swift access to tailored services and so improves outcomes establish, in different provisions and local areas, the strength of outcomes for disabled children and young people and those who had special educational needs as well as for children reaching the lowest levels of attainment evaluate, as part of this, the effectiveness of legislation, policy and the organisation of provision, following identification and assessment, in focusing on the improvement of outcomes for these groups of children and young people.

The special educational needs and disability review – A statement is not enough However, we also recognise that as many as half of all pupils identified for School Action would not be identified as having special educational needs if schools focused on improving teaching and learning for all, with individual goals for improvement. Ofsted, September 2010

The special educational needs and disability review – A statement is not enough At School Action level, the additional provision was often making up for poor whole class teaching or pastoral support.

The special educational needs and disability review – A statement is not enough Inspectors saw schools that identified pupils as having special educational needs when, in fact, their needs were no different from those of most other pupils. They were underachieving but this was sometimes simply because the school’s mainstream teaching provision was not good enough, and expectations of the pupils were too low.

The special educational needs and disability review – A statement is not enough... some pupils are being wrongly identified as having special educational needs and that relatively expensive additional provision is being used to make up for poor day-to-day teaching and pastoral support. This can dilute the focus on overall school improvement and divert attention from those who do need a range of specialist support.

The special educational needs and disability review – A statement is not enough The characteristics of the best lessons were: –Teachers’ thorough and detailed knowledge of the children and young people –Teachers’ thorough knowledge and understanding of teaching strategies and techniques, including assessment for learning –Teachers’ thorough knowledge about the subject or areas of learning being taught –Teachers’ understanding of how learning difficulties can affect children and young people’s learning. These were the essential tools for good-quality teaching with any group of children or young people.

The special educational needs and disability review – A statement is not enough... further changes to the system should focus on: Improving teaching and pastoral support early on so that additional provision is not needed later Ensuring that schools do not identify pupils as having special educational needs when they simply need better teaching.

The Green Paper Support and aspiration: A new approach to special educational needs and disability... our proposals in this Green Paper will mean that: teachers and other staff in schools and colleges are well trained and confident to: identify and overcome a range of barriers to learning; manage challenging behaviour; address bullying; and intervene early when problems emerge; teachers feel able to identify effectively what a child needs to help them to learn and to plan support to help every child progress well, reflecting the specific needs of children with SEN and those who may just be struggling with learning and need school-based catch-up support which is normally available.

The Green Paper Support and aspiration: A new approach to special educational needs and disability International evidence shows that the most important factor in effective school systems is the quality of teachers and teaching.

Fact Sheet –Changes to School Action and School Action Plus It will also, challenge schools to improve the quality of teaching and learning for all pupils, rather than inappropriately and inaccurately labelling some pupils as having SEN. We want to ensure that pupils are identified as having SEN only where it is appropriate and action to meet the full range of their needs goes beyond what can be achieved by adapting mainstream teaching

Fact Sheet –Changes to School Action and School Action Plus The focus, which will be set out in the Code of Practice will be on raising aspirations for pupils, good-quality teaching, effective early identification, clear outcomes for the child and rigorous monitoring against those outcomes.

Draft Special Educational Needs (SEN) Code of Practice for 0 to 25 years October 2013 High quality teaching, differentiated, for different pupils, is the first step in responding to pupils who have or may have SEN. Additional intervention and support cannot compensate for a lack of good quality teaching.

Draft Special Educational Needs (SEN) Code of Practice for 0 to 25 years October 2013 The majority of pupils can make progress through such teaching. Schools should regularly and carefully review the quality of teaching for pupils at risk of underachievement.

This includes reviewing teachers’ understanding of strategies to identify and support vulnerable learners and their knowledge of the special educational needs most frequently encountered. Draft Special Educational Needs (SEN) Code of Practice for 0 to 25 years October 2013

The quality of teaching for pupils with SEN, and the progress made by pupils, should be a core part of the school’s performance management arrangements and its approach to professional development for all teaching and support staff. Draft Special Educational Needs (SEN) Code of Practice for 0 to 25 years October 2013

SEN should not be regarded as sufficient explanation for low achievement, nor should there be an assumption that all children will progress at the same rate or that all children falling behind their peers have SEN. Draft Special Educational Needs (SEN) Code of Practice for 0 to 25 years October 2013

Where children are falling behind or making inadequate progress given their age and starting point they should be given extra support. At this early stage teachers may suspect that a pupil has SEN. While informally gathering evidence... Schools should not delay putting general teaching support in place where required. Draft Special Educational Needs (SEN) Code of Practice for 0 to 25 years October 2013

Where pupils continue to make inadequate progress, despite high- quality teaching targeted at their areas of weakness, the classteacher, working with the SENCO, should assess whether the child has a significant learning difficulty. Draft Special Educational Needs (SEN) Code of Practice for 0 to 25 years October 2013

Ofsted Inspection of Maintained Schools and Academies from 1 st September 2012

Quality of Teaching Inspectors should consider the extent to which the ‘Teachers’ Standards’ are being met.

Teachers’ Standards September 2012 Adapt teaching to respond to the strengths and needs of all pupils Know when and how to differentiate appropriately, using approaches which enable pupils to be taught effectively Have a secure understanding of how a range of factors can inhibit pupils’ ability to learn, and how best to overcome these Demonstrate an awareness of the physical, social and intellectual development of children, and know how to adapt teaching to support pupils’ education at different stages of development Have a clear understanding of the needs of all pupils, including those with special educational needs; those of high ability; those with EAL; those with disabilities; and be able to use and evaluate distinctive teaching approaches to engage and support them.

The Sutton Trust Improving the impact of teachers on pupil achievement in the UK – interim findings (Sept. 2011) The effects of high-quality teaching are especially significant for pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds: over a school year, these pupils gain 1.5 years’ worth of learning with very effective teachers, compared with 0.5 years with poorly performing teachers. In other words, for poor pupils the difference between a good teacher and a bad teacher is a whole year’s learning.

Unseen Children: access and achievement 20 years on Evidence Report Ofsted, 2013

Unseen children: access and achievement 20 years on This report summarises Ofsted’s review which aimed to understand the current pattern of disadvantage and educational success across England. In the report, the term ‘disadvantaged pupils’ refers to those pupils who are eligible for free school meals.

Unseen children: access and achievement 20 years on In 1993, Ofsted identified seven urban areas which suffered from geographical isolation. Much of the provision in these areas was described as inadequate and disturbing by inspectors. According to this report, the quality of education has improved in some of the areas Ofsted identified in In others, however, the rate of improvement has been slow.

Unseen children: access and achievement 20 years on The most successful schools recognise that raising academic achievement cannot be tackled in isolation. Teachers’ high expectations, consistently high quality teaching and learning and a relevant curriculum must be underpinned by other interventions that increase pupils’ resilience and readiness to learn, as well as developing strong partnerships with parents and carers.

Unseen children: access and achievement 20 years on High quality teaching is crucial, especially for disadvantaged pupils. There are big regional variations in the quality of teaching in schools serving the most and least deprived communities.

Unseen children: access and achievement 20 years on The characteristics of outstanding teaching include: excellent leadership of behaviour and attitudes to learning lessons that challenge pupils according to their needs and abilities frequent and purposeful opportunities to learn independently teachers’ excellent subject knowledge and use of questioning highly effective feedback to pupils

Reflection Time Do all teachers understand the difference between a pupil who is ‘underachieving’ and a pupil who has SEN – ‘a pupil who has significantly greater difficulty in learning than the majority of their peers’? How would your teachers match up to Section 5 of the Teachers’ Standards? How will classteachers/subject teachers respond to having first line responsibility for pupils, who require targeted support within the classroom? What is the quality of teaching and learning for disadvantaged pupils in your school? (Outstanding? Good? Requiring Improvement? Inadequate?)