As professionals, we have a responsibility to ensure that every child we work with has access to the very best education, including children with SEND.

But this is not always easy to achieve, particularly at a time where budgets are tight and access to high-quality CPD and appropriate resources can be limited as a result.

To help, the Whole School SEND Consortium are launching the SEND Reflection Framework, a free-to-access resource that is part-funded by the Department for Education.

The framework has been developed in collaboration with children, families and professionals from early years, primary, secondary, mainstream and specialist education settings, placing those who would use and benefit from the tool at the heart of the development process.

It has been designed to provide teachers and teaching assistants with a non-judgemental structure - within which they can support each other to critically evaluate their cultures and practices. This is not intended as a blunt set of competencies to hold people to account, but rather an opportunity to proactively build confidence, address gaps in knowledge and ultimately improve the quality of provision for learners.

The potential to benefit all children

With a focus on affirmative statements, the framework is broken down into seven sections. The reflection process is intended to be positive and flexible, enabling individuals to identify areas of strength as well as areas for development.

Whereas the original SEND Review tool was designed to consider SEND provision more broadly, The SEND Reflection Framework has a tighter focus, moving from the strategic to the classroom level. It can be used in groups, across departments, or across a whole school.

The review of the classroom trial on the use of the Framework, conducted by LKMco found that “participants in leadership positions felt that a strength of the [SEND Reflection Framework] was its transferability and applicability to staff in different roles, in different settings and at different stages in their career.” This is vital if we are going to be collectively responsible for ensuring that every teacher is indeed a teacher of SEND.

It is also important to consider that good practice for children with SEND is, in many ways, good practice for all. As such, spending time working through the SEND Reflection Framework has the potential to benefit not only those children identified as having additional needs, but all children.

The SEND Reflection Framework can be downloaded for free from www.sendreflection.com. Simon Knight is a director for Whole School SEND and a former special school deputy headteacher. He tweets @SimonKnight100

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