SENDCOs are busier than ever. SEND Registers are growing. The number of pupils requiring targeted assessment, close tracking and careful adaptation is rising steadily. Yet some schools are taking these demands in their stride, rising to the challenges it brings. The magic ingredient? A whole-school approach to SEND.
Not just a slogan
It’s all well-and-good to say ‘every teacher is a teacher of SEND’. We know that our statutory frameworks promote (and in some cases, mandate) a whole-school ownership and that there are moral and practical reasons why we all buy into it. It can remain a slogan, though, unless certain aspects run alongside it.
It’s an empty slogan, if the only person accessing any training or support is the SENDCO.
It’s an empty slogan, if colleagues feel unable to make good decisions about how to adapt provision.
It’s an empty slogan, if even one leader in the school feels unable to lead with inclusion at the centre of their work.
The litmus test
Which brings me to the litmus test of a whole-school inclusion. It’s one question, 16 words:
Can good discussions happen about SEND, which move provision forward, when the SENDCO is not there?
This isn’t about undermining the SENDCO. It’s an acknowledgement that the SENDCO can’t be everywhere, and that a school is stronger when its approach moves beyond just ‘do what the SENDCO says’. That might mean a Headteacher, SENDCO or other senior leader asking themselves whether, in their setting:
- Senior Leadership Team meetings serve pupils with SEND well, even if the SENDCO isn’t there
- Line management meetings confidently address SEND progress and develop provision
- Phase or subject meetings ‘get inside’ provision for pupils with SEND and decide what to do more of, learn more about or focus on next term
- Learning walks (or other lesson ‘drop-ins’/peer visits) are done by adults who know what good inclusive practice might look like
- CPD develops teachers’ and TAs’ inclusive practices
Each of these things can only happen sustainably and frequently if they can happen without the SENDCO needing to be present.
How you might get there
Where the answer is ‘no’ to the above, that might mean some or all of the following:
- Sharing priorities around SEND provision with the entire senior leadership team, for a shared understanding, ownership and development of the way SEND is led
- Co-developing questions/themes that line managers can discuss with colleagues, that ensure the right focuses are regularly discussed
- Working with middle leaders around some of the high-impact work they might focus on – perhaps defining inclusive teaching practice, sharing thoughts on inclusive curriculum choices and exemplifying high-quality relational practices.
- Working closely alongside leaders of teaching and learning to ensure the right proxies for inclusion are found on classroom visits.
- Scheduling CPD sessions in which teachers and TAs share the things they do well already, building the confidence of all colleagues by showing them what good can look like, in their own setting and with their own pupils.
Looking in the mirror
Of course, we need all our colleagues to be able to access training, support and advice. Some of this will be from a SENDCO, while some might be from external sources. However, we don’t achieve whole-school ownership if we’re talking about SEND as a deeply technical field, far removed from what teachers and leaders know already.
We don’t achieve ‘every teacher as a teacher of SEND’ by just giving out lengthy lists of strategies to cater for different need types and pupils. We don’t achieve ‘every leader as a SEND’ if we’re framing excellence in SEND-practice as being far removed from excellent teaching practice.
We get closer to a whole-school ownership of SEND provision if it feels achievable to all – if we support colleagues to consider the best of what they do through the lens of pupils with SEND. If we support colleagues to consider how building relationships, checking understanding, teaching abstract concepts, modelling a task or embedding routines (and more besides) might particularly support many pupils with SEND, while being broadly useful for all.
Moving beyond a one-person approach
The SENDCO can’t be everywhere. They can’t be in all meetings and classrooms, leading every discussion about SEND provision. They don’t have the capacity.
The SENDCO can’t know everything. They can’t possibly know every subject, phase and classroom as well as a subject specialist, phase leader or full-time classroom teacher.
So a whole-school approach is the only feasible way forward. It’s not only useful for supporting a SENDCO’s workload – it’s essential if we want to do good things for pupils across a school.
Gary Aubin is author of The Lone SENDCO and co-author of The Parent’s Guide to SEND
SEND Matters 