The Covid pandemic led to a sudden shutdown of schools that affected more than 1.6 billion children in at least 190 countries.

It required teachers, students and parents to rapidly adapt to an unprecedented home-schooling situation, the full consequences of which are yet to be understood.

For all children this was tough, but for pupils with special educational needs and/or disability (SEND) - and their parents - the challenges of adapting to distance learning, and then readjusting to school again, have proven to be even greater than for many other children.

Into the unknown 

International schools were on the front line of much of this as we had to adapt to whatever regulations nations put in place.

For example, in Turkey, where I work at the British Embassy School Ankara (BESA) as student support leader, tough lockdown rules meant children were required to stay completely indoors for many months. 

As our school has a relatively high (compared to the UK national average or that of other international schools) number of SEND pupils - approximately 13 per cent - we were aware there was a risk that these students would be hit hard by the pandemic.

We worked quickly to put as many mitigations as we could in place to counter this concern.

For example, we ran daily one-to-one Zoom calls (also attended by a second member of staff for safeguarding reasons) and small group sessions using Google Meet. We also used educational software, such as Nessy, Century and IXL, and held extracurricular “meetings” and projects for our more able pupils.

We saw some clear, unexpected advantages in doing this. For example, for some pupils (especially those children with ADHD or auditory processing disorders), the removal of the noise and distractions of the classroom resulted in their concentration becoming distilled, with some excellent results.

Meanwhile, for children with dyslexia who were struggling to read, sharing the text on screen meant that syllables could easily be highlighted, and often cursors on screen were easier to follow than a finger on a whiteboard.

In fact, post-lockdown research has begun to indicate that, for some SEND pupils, distance learning had a positive effect on academic performance.

A real impact 

Certainly for our school, it was clear that these measures had had an impact in June 2021, when GL assessment results proved impressive, with all of our pupils with SEND making expected progress and more than 40 per cent making higher than expected progress.

There are clearly lessons to be learned moving forward, then, and our support staff are currently considering how the positives we witnessed can be continued and adapted for the traditional school environment.

Certainly, we are now considering how we can provide more flexibility for pupils with SEND, such as more choice for the more able, who benefited from being able to work at their own speed during the lockdown as well as from access to assistive technologies.

We’re also considering how to mitigate distractions at school (such as providing quiet working areas and noise-cancelling headphones); hybrid programmes for those pupils with SEND who are unable to attend school and, of course, a continuing focus on pastoral support.

Of course, the return to physical school has not been without its challenges.

Mental health issues 

Although pupils with SEND did well academically, many had social, emotional and mental health needs, and nearly all of our pupils suffered from anxiety.

In addition, many non-SEND pupils returned with significant gaps in their learning, and not all of our pupils had been equally able, or willing, to access the distance-learning programme.

As a result, the number of children needing extra support was greater than ever before, and the sheer extent of those needs was, at times, overwhelming.

The student support team combined forces with teachers, teaching assistants and safeguarding staff to adapt, once again, to the “new normal”, and deliver a programme of interventions and support on an unprecedented scale.

It is clear that the pandemic has amplified some of the strengths and challenges that Sendcos and student support staff across the globe had already been experiencing, and the programmes we have implemented during and after the school closures continue to ensure that pupils with SEND are appropriately supported.

Again, we were fortunate enough to be in a position to employ two staff members to deliver catch-up programmes - in short, intensive bursts on a one-to-one basis, tailored to each child’s individual need.

We also implemented extra PHSE sessions, while weekly pastoral support lessons replaced some of the form times.

Although a disadvantage of our geographical situation is that we have little access to outside agencies, we have used this period to forge some links with local English-speaking practitioners, and have developed productive relationships with a speech therapist, a play therapist, an occupational therapist and a child psychiatrist.

A chance to learn and grown

Most pupils with SEND in schools in Turkey have not been so fortunate. A recent paper found that pupils with SEND had generally not been catered for and their special needs had not been met during the pandemic period.

No doubt international schools around the world with differing numbers of students with SEND and differing levels of expertise in this area will have had a mixed experience in terms of meeting these pupils’ needs.

But perhaps the silver lining is that, through the pandemic, educators have been presented with the opportunity to reflect on and adapt our provision for learners with SEND, and we are very aware that we will continue to be faced with a large scale and complex distribution of SEND needs.

We are aware of the responsibility to disseminate information to others in the educational sector and share good practice whenever possible, so we continue to focus on what has been beneficial and how it can be adapted to different educational settings.

In doing this, we should take our lead from the pupils themselves, who have proven so resilient in ever-changing circumstances, and who continue to astound me with their ability not just to adjust to but also to embrace differences. Surely they are an example to all of us. 

Sarah Sener is student support coordinator at the British Embassy School Ankara