“There is nothing like returning to a place that remains unchanged to find the ways in which you yourself have altered.”
― Nelson Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom
BCE Signpost #2
1st August 2024 - Four minute read
There are often at least two sides to a story and it’s the story of change, (now that our Education Secretary, Bridget Phillipson, has her knees under the desk) that I’m thinking about this month. Change, and how it is felt by both the navigator and passenger is relevant to many situations.
The situation I’ll signpost here is changes to provision of education for children with health issues who struggle to attend school, especially due to anxiety.
Who must change, what for and how?
I recently used the words of Nelson Mandela above to summarise a tough term; to send students and staff off for a safe summer break; and hoping to provide reassurance that the familiar setting they will return to in September will remain the same (whilst conversely navigating uncertainties which are beyond the realms of my influence).
The quote can be interpreted in many ways - depending upon the reader’s mindset and/or the author's position. Either way, the glimmer we all hope for or the unknown we fear, (or both) is Change. What I’m most curious about is who will benefit.
Push Pull Factors: What or who must change?
When it comes to young people with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) or health issues awaiting diagnosis such as anxiety or Emotionally Based School Non-Attendance (EBSNA) – the question I’m met with daily is ‘What must change: the young person or their environment?’.
Reported on by Anne Longfield (Executive Chair, Centre for Young Lives) in Schools Week, Child of the North and the Centre for Young Lives have published a plan that would guide long awaited changes in SEND systems and provision.
The key points within this plan are nothing new to those of us working with SEND children every day, but do provide clarity in one place and in real, digestible terms:
Early identification and support
Better integrated services
Every teacher a teacher of SEND
Sharing great practice
When we want learners to not just engage in lessons but to thrive at school, they themselves require a set of attitudes to and aptitude for learning in many senses; academic, social, emotional, aspirational, spiritual and creative. The characteristics required in order to flourish are not just absorbed and retained as our students grow. They are learned a little with guidance but then often, lost, along the way.
For young people to flourish in an education setting they must possess the ability to constantly change and adapt themselves. It is their attitude, perspective, understanding, capacity and character which must evolve to complement their environment. A pretty tall order for any child and one which must be supported, modelled, facilitated and rewarded by all the adults, if it’s to take root.
For many children with SEND and/or EBSNA, the abilities and aptitudes which make changing and adapting possible, are really tricky to recognise let alone acquire and then use. So, if they can be helped to learn them, the education setting can make that personalised change for each child achievable and realistic, by meeting SEND children and young people halfway.
When it comes to managing change, leaders, parents, carers, teachers all know that compromise has serious legs. What if the learning environment could take as many steps to adapt as the SEND learners make to try to get there?
What could be done through the education setting, in collaboration with the learner, alternative provision and local services, to make a place that the child showing early signs of EBSNA still chooses to go to, because they know that they belong there. I keep banging on about the necessity for an early identification strategy for all schools, but it’s not a part of common practice and so it stands repeating. It is also the setting’s attitude, perspective, understanding, capacity and character which can evolve to further complement SEND learners.
Click the ‘Get in Touch’ button or send us an email if you’d like to talk about developing a system for early identification of EBSNA:
office@beyondcreativeeducation.org
A Revamped Workforce Strategy
The National Institute of Inclusive Education, a new body proposed off the back of a report funded by the County Councils Network and the Local Government Association, calls for eight reforms to ‘fix’ the SEND system (Jack Dyson, Schools Week). The proposed changes to current SEND systems will rely heavily on the willingness of all agencies around SEND children to embrace change in themselves first – We can’t keep coming back to unchanged places and continue asking our SEND or EBSNA students to adapt to them.
For leaders to support any proposed reforms, they must be able to access the time, knowledge, skill and resource that will make it possible. With the Department for Education reporting yesterday that the current system for SEND is ‘very likely’ to be unsustainable as it is, there is limited choice on the matter of change at this point – this is now an opportunity.
Beyond Creative Education is all about helping children and young people find their way back to loving learning. Making the places where young people know that they belong and so want to learn there, is our mission. Through creativity, courage, curiosity and care our purpose is to prepare young people to be able to succeed in response to the environment, instead of despite it.
How does BCE contribute to the proposed changes?
To meet the changing needs and aspirations of both learners and their schools, BCE delivers a two-pronged approach on the question of Who Must Change?
Firstly, we work with learners and their families to build the skills and understanding that will equip them to manage change, co-regulate, plan for life’s situations, grow self-care and a positive inner voice, to find the wealth of rewards and experiences that will come with engaging in the learning environment.
Secondly, it is our work for education in training, reviewing, collaborating and planning for early intervention and long-term belonging strategy and so, successful reintegration, that facilitates change in the setting we all hope to see students move toward in a consistent way.
