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Perspectives on special needs

longman

I was not surprised that Michael Gove, in an interview with the Financial Times, has attacked the proportion of Mr Cameron's cabinet that went to one particular public school, the highest such presence since Lord Salisbury's Government over a hundred years ago.

It has been talked about at great length in the media that the country is being run by public schoolboys.

So I thought I'd look up the web pages of a certain public school to find out what was said about special needs education and disability. Most public schools have a section on their websites that gives at least some idea of the support available, and public sector schools are required to do so.

I found a paragraph under "Facilities" that said "there are qualified staff in our Learning Centre who help those few Etonians with a diagnosed learning disability". FEW?

I had trouble finding the Learning Centre. It wasn't with other resources like IT. Using their search facility I did find a section on special education needs.You get to it via Home - School Life -Curriculum - Teaching and Learning -Special Education Needs according to the search history on the page that came up, but I didn't manage to track back to it that way.

"The school has a well-established department, the Learning Centre, for boys with special education needs or learning difficulties, for example dyslexia and dyspraxia. The Learning Centre is staffed by the Head of the Learning Centre and three part-time teachers, all of whom have specialist experience and qualifications. The Head of the Learning Centre is the school's Special Needs Coordinator (SENCO).

At present about 8% of the boys in the school receives such assistance, which continues as long as they need it. A high degree of success is achieved in ensuring they can do full justice to their abilities."

I'll bet - we'll have no shirkers in this school!

I tried searching "disability" but got no results. I tried searching "wheelchair access" and got a section on "Disabled Visitors". The school "welcomes disabled visitors, but many of our buildings are old, so access is not as easy as we would wish".

I wonder how many public sector schools have got away with that line on disability access?

This level of ignorance and indifference to disability comes as no surprise. We've known for a long time that the privileged put their less advantaged relatives in secure institutions and never see them again!

But it does shed some light on the Government's current attitude to the disabled, and to autism in particular, judging by their designation of dyspraxia.

Parents

  • longman said:
    To be honest nearly everything does. Packs (troops, tribes...) of monkeys will turn against any individual not able to conform. It is a matter of survival - the pack needs every member to respond in the interests of the pack.

    Humans used to expose children perceived abnormal, just leave them to die or get eaten by wild animals.

    We've improved slightly as a species. What we've got here though is the behaviour of the privileged or upper echelons, who appear to lack the civilisation the rest of us aspire to.

    I concur that the private schools are a business and need to streamline to compete. But it doesn't justify the cruelty of this eletist thinking. The private schools should demonstrate responsibility and set an example (given their argument for existence is training future leaders, businessmen, professionals). The attitude shown by Eton, boasting how few of their students need help, is not an example of higher ability or intelligence. I'm singularly unimpressed.

    The universities have generally responded well to disability. The only problem has been the tendancy to interpret the social model as mere "levelling of the playing field" - coloured handouts and extra time in exams, has led to abuses. There's a long way to go.

    On the whole the newer universities may be better for students with AS. They are more likely to have better pastoral care. Having been a teacher in the "newer" end of the HE market 20 years, and a disability coordinator, I've been convinced the new universities do this better.

    The trouble with Russell Group is they got a consultancy group to write their disability procedures, and I think there is less personal touch. Also Russell Group universities, because of research excellence committments, tend to have only junior lecturers and postgraduate assistants engaged directly with undergraduates, and are less supportive generally.

    I believe, and I do not say this lightly, given the level of adversity and isolation many endure, that autism has a purpose. It does generate original thinkers, people who can persevere to break scientific codes and create new insights. I think it is essential to human survival.

    We just need to understand this better, and determine what can be done for those who are adversely and detrimentally affected by it, rather than putting all the effort into finding a cure.

    Going back to the pack of monkeys - I reckon that's the Eton attitude. Excluding the weakest somehow makes for an elete. I said it before and I'll say it again - I'm not impressed. Eton ought to do the decent thing and produce a humane and accessible account of its special education needs support, rather than presenting indifference and ignorance.

    You'll love this Longman: http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2014/03/24/rackets-player-ben-cawston-private-school-tournament-_n_5020183.html?ncid=webmail21

Reply

  • longman said:
    To be honest nearly everything does. Packs (troops, tribes...) of monkeys will turn against any individual not able to conform. It is a matter of survival - the pack needs every member to respond in the interests of the pack.

    Humans used to expose children perceived abnormal, just leave them to die or get eaten by wild animals.

    We've improved slightly as a species. What we've got here though is the behaviour of the privileged or upper echelons, who appear to lack the civilisation the rest of us aspire to.

    I concur that the private schools are a business and need to streamline to compete. But it doesn't justify the cruelty of this eletist thinking. The private schools should demonstrate responsibility and set an example (given their argument for existence is training future leaders, businessmen, professionals). The attitude shown by Eton, boasting how few of their students need help, is not an example of higher ability or intelligence. I'm singularly unimpressed.

    The universities have generally responded well to disability. The only problem has been the tendancy to interpret the social model as mere "levelling of the playing field" - coloured handouts and extra time in exams, has led to abuses. There's a long way to go.

    On the whole the newer universities may be better for students with AS. They are more likely to have better pastoral care. Having been a teacher in the "newer" end of the HE market 20 years, and a disability coordinator, I've been convinced the new universities do this better.

    The trouble with Russell Group is they got a consultancy group to write their disability procedures, and I think there is less personal touch. Also Russell Group universities, because of research excellence committments, tend to have only junior lecturers and postgraduate assistants engaged directly with undergraduates, and are less supportive generally.

    I believe, and I do not say this lightly, given the level of adversity and isolation many endure, that autism has a purpose. It does generate original thinkers, people who can persevere to break scientific codes and create new insights. I think it is essential to human survival.

    We just need to understand this better, and determine what can be done for those who are adversely and detrimentally affected by it, rather than putting all the effort into finding a cure.

    Going back to the pack of monkeys - I reckon that's the Eton attitude. Excluding the weakest somehow makes for an elete. I said it before and I'll say it again - I'm not impressed. Eton ought to do the decent thing and produce a humane and accessible account of its special education needs support, rather than presenting indifference and ignorance.

    You'll love this Longman: http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2014/03/24/rackets-player-ben-cawston-private-school-tournament-_n_5020183.html?ncid=webmail21

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