Like most parents of children with additional needs, my children have experienced both highly skilled professional practice and diabolical, abusive practice. Both have been life-changing.  

However, while individuals have been responsible for the delivery of these practices, neither the good nor the poor practice happened in a vacuum.

Educational practices sit within a context and environment that moulds them. It is this environment - and not usually the individuals - that have been integral to our experiences.

I wonder, what is it about the environment that seems to support and perpetuate harmful practices in some schools, and how hard is it to cultivate school cultures that foster high-quality supportive practice?

I have been shocked at the ingrained culture of perverse incentives in education, which I believe have been made worse by the Children and Family Relationships Act 2015. In our current system, if a school provides skilled support for children with additional needs, it will attract many more of them…but its funding will remain identical to the school down the road that leaves needs unmet and encourages families to seek education “elsewhere”. It makes no sense to me. But then again, I am a nurse, so what do I know?

This system of perverse incentives seems to trickle down to the class teachers. I wonder how welcoming their senior-leadership teams are if they work hard to identify additional needs early on - you know, so that long-term outcomes for children are better? Are they supported if they report that a child is not able to “achieve their best”, or are they blamed for not being able to demonstrate “progress”? Where does the greatest incentive lie?

Maybe it’s easier to say “we don’t see it in school” - a phrase that was used to describe my son, despite having significant, diagnosed difficulties. Until he broke.

But given that changing the national funding formula is somewhat outside of the scope of each school or multi-academy trust, what can be done?

Good governance

In all systems that foster great practices, there has to be good governance. With good governance, the oversight of the organisation has credibility and integrity.

This wasn’t the case with the two sets of governors I turned to for support. They seemed to be under the illusion that their role was to protect the school reputation, no matter what.

A quality governance system ensures that:

• Clearly identified values are at the heart of all school decision-making and planning. These values should embrace diversity and fully reflect the ethos of the SEND code of practice.
• A comprehensive school strategy, reported transparently, demonstrates a desire to understand and strengthen SEND-inclusive practice - and that includes the employment of staff with SEND.
• The school culture supports staff to identify and manage risks, to develop their practice within SEND, and that responsibility is clearly defined.

If parents identify a failure of this system, a good governance system should embrace complaints and use them as a tool for learning lessons.

Ditch the blame culture

Does your organisation support a blame culture? Just how prevalent is gossip in the staffroom, corridors and online “chats”?

I’d never before experienced the level of shock I did when I read the contents of my son’s files. To say there was a lack of professionalism recorded for all to witness would be an understatement.

The documents contained woefully inadequate safeguarding records, downright dishonesty, slander and everything in-between. The fact that this poor practice spanned a number of organisations, without reproach, is shocking and reflective of a truly sick system.

Imagine if, instead of blame and judgement (of teachers/parents/children/other professionals) in all communications, there were professionally recorded and communicated observations and assessments.

Who actually benefits from this blame? Everyone would benefit from systems that enabled reflection and continuous learning. This could so easily be the norm. I’m sure that in some schools, such practice is celebrated and shared.

For the first time ever, my son is now in a school that helps him to achieve his best. Shouldn’t the culture and environment in schools always support both teachers and pupils to do so?

From a parent’s perspective, in every school there should be:

• Transparent practice, as well as low use of isolation of children, exclusion and time spent out of regular lessons.  
• Full reviews of all incidents that result in restraint, with lessons learned each time.
• A strong team working with occupational therapy, speech and language therapy, child and adolescent mental health services and others.
• Behaviour support systems that are based on evidence, and which are known to support children and young people to achieve healthy outcomes.
• Teachers who are supported by their senior-leadership team to deliver their practice to high standards, with all the integrity they dreamed of at university, and to carve out strong professional identities that suit their teaching styles.

Perhaps this is impossible to achieve for some children in some schools. We get that. Just be honest and record clearly “we cannot achieve safe, effective educational support for this child within the current school setting without additional resources”. Set your standards high. If a child cannot be supported as outlined above, then you cannot meet their needs within the existing resource.  

SEND code of practice

The answers to many of these issues are, somewhat, in the SEND code of practice. Use it to your advantage and really get to understand barriers to learning. It has the potential to bring about mass culture change and we are yet to fully embrace it.

Parents would like to see SEND plans in place that clearly demonstrate a culture of accurate identification of barriers, careful assessment, appropriate use of experts, thoughtful interventions and regular reviews - to support the child to achieve their best, with the child and carer at the heart of the process.

We want to feel that teachers are confident and competent at developing collaborative relationships with all types of family, an absence of feeling judged, and apparent diversity in staff recruitment.

Parents want to receive advice that is sound and based on the SEND code of practice. Our children want to feel valued, safe, understood and cared for. Only then can they truly achieve their best.  

The writer is a mum of two and a nurse in the UK. She blogs here