Inclusion Now 54

Autumn 2019 Issue 54

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A voice for the Inclusion Movement in the UK

Contents

Inclusive practice

Editorial

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Editorial

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School Transformation

So this is my last issue of Inclusion Now as its editor!

After four years I’m taking the battle for inclusion into the field of technology, but I won’t forget my years as ALLFIE’s Communications Officer.

Cleves Primary School

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SEN Court Case Parent voice

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Intersectionality When race and disability meet

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Sustainable Development Sustainability and Inclusion

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Tara’s Charter for Inclusion ALLFIE’s former director writes

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Research News

ALLFIE’s recent 38 Degrees petition called for an end to disabled children being forced out of mainstream schools because of cuts. The fact that it received a massive 86,000 signatures demonstrates that this message is now striking a chord. Parent power is becoming a real force to be reckoned with. Not only that, people are increasingly recognising that this is an equality and human rights issue and that children deserve full inclusion from nursery through to college and into adult life.

Accessibility plans

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Being Seen Being Heard Leadership project

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Disability History Month Leadership, culture and resistance

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Legal Question Assessment and treatment units

Inclusion

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occasionally

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products, services, courses or events offered by other organisations. This does not imply that we endorse or support the products, services, courses, events or organisations concerned. Readers are advised to check details for themselves and make their own judgements.

Inclusion Now provides an opportunity for the exchange of information. All the views expressed are not necessarily the views of ALLFIE, Inclusive Solutions or World of Inclusion. We reserve the right to edit articles. Contact ALLFIE for advertising rates and policy.

Inclusion Now is also available in audio or text format via email - see subscription form on page 19.

You can also search and view past issues online at https://www.allfie.org.uk/news/inclusion-now/

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What have the last four years brought us? Well although the situation for disabled children and young people in schools is pretty dire, both the movement for inclusion and ALLFIE itself are in a stronger position than they were when I arrived. The campaign has been reinvigorated by a huge influx of families up in arms about the lack of support their children are receiving in school - see the article from a Communities Empowerment Network (CEN) advocate on page 6.

CEN’s work focuses not just on SEN/disability but also on race and other equality issues, and on page 16 Zahra Bei looks at the intersection of these factors in more detail. And on page 8 Richard Rieser looks at progress (or lack of it) on the Sustainable Development Goals, and rightly points out that inclusive education is one of the keys to the planet’s future sustainability.

The fearless, rights based campaigning approach reflected in the pages of Inclusion Now is one that I won’t forget. Nor will I forget the consistency with which ALLFIE’s work is based on the social model of disability, or the power of working for an organisation led by disabled people. I hope Inclusion Now and its generous sponsors, Inclusive Solutions and World of Inclusion continue to go from strength to strength.

Jessica Cahill

ADVANCING SCHOOL TRANSFORMATION FROM WITHIN n his great book, Creative Schools, Sir Ken Robinson invites us to consider afresh the fundamental question: ‘What is education for?” His answer is that the aim of education is to enable students to understand the world around them and their talents so they can become fulfilled individuals and active, compassionate citizens. If our schools are to achieve this goal, we must promote schooling with 1) a broad and flexible curriculum, 2) creative and personalised approaches to learning, and 3) a culture which celebrates the full range of diversity among youth. Inclusion Now readers know this!

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But we also know that to deliver this vision in practice is challenging and very few places across the globe have achieved what we can understand as an inclusive education system.

Over thirty years, the Canadian province of New Brunswick has developed a very supportive policy context for advancing inclusion (see Inclusion Now 47). In many other places the context isn’t so supportive. But either way it is the schools themselves that have to do the serious work of transforming culture, organisation and practice to ensure all students are present, participating and achieving. To complement our previous study, we have produced a new guide to how good schools are doing this.

We invited leaders (parents and advisers as well as teachers and principals) in eight such schools that we know to tell us their story. We chose these case studies from a divergent range of political and cultural contexts: three from New Brunswick; three from countries in South America and two from London. Of course the level of resources of all kinds available in London is considerably different

from those in La Paz, Bolivia. But we think there are many common features both in the values and the processes involved in transformative change.

We have summarised these common features in the form of the diagram overleaf. Our guide elaborates on all of these with examples from the case studies.

Here we can highlight five key elements.

Schools are small - and sometimes not so small - communities embedded in wider networks and communities, especially the larger education systems and localities from which students, families and many staff come. School transformation requires the active engagement of the whole school community. Inclusion is everybody’s business and fellow students are the critical resource.

There are many possible drivers for change. Some initiatives start outside the school, for example in new legislation or the organised pressure of families; others start inside, for example, in new leadership articulating inclusive values or the need to respond to more diversity in student admissions.

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Inclusive practice

Inclusive practice To advance this spiral, the vision needs to be expressed in concrete ways like the 16 indicators of whole school and classroom performance in UNESCO’s Reaching Out To All Learners.

In all, transformation involves a lengthy and moreor-less systematic process of school improvement which we represent as a spiral in the model.

Leaders of various kinds come together to take responsibility for shaping the future and invite wide participation in exploring opportunities for change, clarifying the school vision and taking actions, small and large, to close the gap between ideals and current experience.

Many things may need to be done to improve the school’s physical accessibility, provide teaching assistance and obtain necessary aids to learning, but the critical investment is in practice development, focused on class teachers. We are talking here about flexibility in the curriculum, Universal Design and self-directed learning as much as differentiated instruction and individual adjustments. This is not so much a question of teacher training but rather of creating a continuous learning community among school participants.

David Towell & Gordon Porter

Case study: developing inclusive education in Newham he borough of Newham in East London is the most ethnically diverse local authority in the UK and one of the poorest. Despite widespread “disadvantage” children in the borough’s schools achieve above national averages based on the government’s measures of attainment.

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from friends and also from teachers who knew them and their support needs well. So, gradually as the special schools closed, some resourced schools were set up. Resourced schools receive a budget allocation for a specific number of children (between 10 and 15 in a primary school and around 30 in a secondary school) with high support needs.

They employ additional teachers and support staff.

Today fifteen resourced schools support around 250 children and young people with complex autism and profound and multiple learning difficulties and the overwhelming majority of children and young people attend their local schools.

In 1986 the local council adopted a policy of inclusive education and over ten years closed six special schools and set up a system to support all schools to include all children and young people.

The main thrust of the policy was that children would attend their local school from the early years. Most of the children transferring from the special schools moved to their local schools and The policy was developed on the basis of a human in addition, “resourced schools” were established. rights approach to education. The council realised Resourced schools were a response to some that it was bizarre to continue to segregate children parents’ concerns about children being separated and young people on the basis of impairment

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labels. By the early 1980s there was enough evidence of the negative outcomes of segregation that the council was very keen to make sure all children were included in their communities and that the whole population became aware of the benefits of learning and living together. Segregation had led to social isolation and unfulfilled lives and the local community was not benefitting from the contributions of learning disabled citizens.

Each school had to learn how to include previously segregated children and young people and they rose to the challenge brilliantly. The most common comments were that it was just about good teaching and learning and person-centred practice.

It soon became clear that inclusion led to better, lot from the other young people they spend time more humane schools which also improved when with as well as from teachers. We learn the skills of measured against government attainment targets. friendship and social relationships and our moral Cleves primary school and Eastlea secondary values are challenged and shaped. We learn about school are both inclusive schools resourced to sex and hopefully, we have fun. But we also learn include children with “profound and multiple” about power and control and how to have a voice learning difficulties in addition to local children with when things are not right. Children and young people with additional needs have the human right the whole range of impairments. to be included in the rough and tumble of ordinary Eastlea was covered in Inclusion Now 45. Cleves life. Schools don’t have to be perfect before primary school was newly built and specifically disabled children are allowed in. They simply need designed to be accessible for all. Children are to be good and to have an ethos that everybody empowered to support and care for each other belongs and be willing to find out what works from and it is a real privilege to witness how very young people who have trodden the path before. children are naturally inclusive and giving when adult attitudes do not get in the way. The first Linda Jordan head teacher was specifically appointed to run an inclusive school and of course then all of the staff Student resources knew that they were coming to work in a school which included children with complex additional Have a look at ALLFIE’s website for part two of needs. Cleves is one of the highest achieving Dr Miro Griffiths’ series of articles for education primary schools in the country proving that an students, which explores support provision for inclusive school in a “disadvantaged” area can be disabled learners and excellent on every measure and dispelling the myth the importance of that including disabled children has a negative international human impact on other children – quite the reverse. rights in addressing At the time of writing inclusion is under threat as barriers to inclusive the UK government’s policies are not supportive. education.

There is now an enormous emphasis on academic https://www.allfie. attainment and nationally it seems to have been org.uk/debates-part-2 forgotten that academic content accounts for a minority of learning in schools. Children learn a

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Parent voice

Parent voice

Don’t cut our children out!

END Advocate Lucy Bartley and two parents of disabled children, Iffy and Delphine, that Lucy is supporting joined SEND Action and ALLFIE at the Royal Courts of Justice for the case: Disabled children v Secretary of State for Education and Chancellor of the Exchequer on 26th and 27th June. This case was about whether underfunding of SEND support is unlawful.

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Unfortunately as Inclusion Now goes to press we have heard that the court case has been lost.

But the surrounding upsurge in public feeling and parent activism has been noticeable.

Lucy, who works for Communities Empowerment Network (CEN), had this to say; “I attended this historic court case, both in my capcity as SEND Advocate and as a parent of a disabled child to support disabled pupils’ human rights to mainstream education.

“At the Royal Courts I was joined by two of my clients who have first hand experience of the discriminatory impact of the current education system on their disabled sons and who spoke movingly of their desire to see their children thrive and be included rather than excluded from school and of the need for the government to support the right to inclusive education in both legislation and funding. I spoke of my disabled son Samuel’s experience of being included in mainstream school throughout his education and of his progress now to college and I suggested that even now other children are unlikely to experience inclusion like Samuel because disabled children are routinely being segregated and excluded. I spoke of the impact of this segregation upon society.”

One of Lucy’s clients, Iffy, whose son Samuel attends mainstream secondary school and is constantly

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being threatened with exclusion said: “Mainstream schools use the slightest opportunity to exclude children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) or learning difficulties from school. Due to lack of adequate resources or funding to cater for their special needs, these children are being pushed out of mainstream classes and abandoned with an inadequate education. This has led to frustration both for the children and parents. When a child is excluded from school, there is a tendency that he/ she will begin to hang on the street because of the feeling of rejection by society. It is from this kind of thinking that they begin to form gangs and get involved in knife, drug and other types of antisocial behaviours. At the end of the day, a child’s school is responsible for their education. Mainstream schools use exclusion as routine for a child with complex needs or disability because there is no adequate funding from the government to support the child at school, and this will lead to frustrating the child.

“My son (and also my friend’s son) was diagnosed with ASD and speech and language disorder, and has continuously been excluded from school and this affects him and myself. It is not easy for a child to be out of school and all manner of stupid things go through their minds. I am worried that mainstream schools use the pretext of lack of sufficient funding to exclude children with special educational needs.

Rather than funding special schools, it will make sense if more money is allocated to mainstream schools so they can provide adequate support to SEND children. Special schools do not help at all.

Children who went to special school end up worse.

Both government and mainstream schools should demonstrate moral accountability and duty of care for these children. Excluding them from school is counterproductive because it isolates them from society and they resort to self-help by hanging on the streets and misbehaving.

disabled children’s rights and whether the government had given due consideration to its statutory responsibilities under the Equality Act, the “It is immoral to exclude a SEND child due to his/ PSED (Public Sector her disruptive behaviour. I do not support disruptive Equality Duty) and behaviour but it is important to understand that a the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with SEND child is most likely going to have challenging Disabilities Article 24. It was an education for me behaviour, and this is as a result of that child’s and for my two clients – well they were simply glad disability. It will make more sense for the children, to be there and to be finally able to tell their story their parents and society if schools make which was important. adjustments to support these children to achieve “Both CEN and ALLFIE hope this case will evidence and behave normally rather than exclude them. the impact that the funding cuts are having Disruptive behaviour from a SEND child should be for disabled pupils in or wanting mainstream considered from the angle of the child’s condition education and the importance of investing in a fully rather than a choice. inclusive education system and implementation of “Every child should be able to go to school the UNCRPD Article 24 - and that it will result in a without the fear of being discriminated against change in government priorities. for actions beyond their control. I believe that government should make more money available to mainstream schools so they can stay pro-active in their engagement with SEND children’s high level support needs. Exclusion can disrupt a child’s life and so it makes no sense to use a disruptive exclusion policy to disrupt a child’s life.”

Lucy said of the court case: “In summary, the court case itself was complex and detailed, in the hands of competent barristers and a very humane and often humorous judge. The case highlighted the interplay between legislation and

“CEN and ALLFIE will continue together to campaign for a fully inclusive education system. If you would like to show your support please sign the petition below and do get in touch with CEN to see how you can work with us.”

ALLFIE’s petition: www.you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/don-t-shutdisabled-people-out-of-mainstream-education Communities Empowerment Network: www.cenlive.org

Inclusive reading If you like Inclusion Now, you may be interested in subscribing to ezines and blogs from Inclusive Solutions. https://inclusive-solutions.com/termlyinclusive-ezines/ https://inclusivesolutions.com/ category/blog/

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Policy

Policy

Intersectionality & Inclusion he term intersectionality was coined by T American legal scholar Professor Kimberlé Crenshaw in the late 1980s. Crenshaw highlighted how Black women experience interlocking and thus even more harmful structural forms of exclusion and bias in employment. Black women, she argued, stand at the intersection of both “race” and gender bias or rather racism and patriarchy and are “likely to get hit by both”.

Intersectionality examines this compounded experience of discrimination, which results in even greater marginalisation and inequity.

strengths, fears and dreams. As a “good teacher” I strived to serve each of those pupils. I wanted to know who they were and Zahra Bei who they could be. Over time however, I became frustrated in mainstream education where the focus was increasingly on exam results, Ofsted inspections, data collection, and rigid uniform and behaviour policies instead of young people’s growth. I grew tired and exasperated with “not having the time”. I also became ill.

“Intersectionality reminds us of the importance of coalitions and allyship; it reminds us to be humble A few months later someone suggested I try and to look for who is missing in the room” (Zeus teaching at the local pupil referral unit. “Smaller class sizes, a greater focus on pastoral care and Leonardo and Angela Harris, 2018, p.20) Intersectionality is a theory not of identity but the needs of the child”, I was told. Soon after I of multiple, intersecting systems of oppression started at the PRU it became clear the curriculum, focusing on power relations, on the multiple social facilities and resources were seriously substandard and structural ways people are marginalised. In UK compared to the average mainstream school, but I education it is not yet a commonly used term. It is felt hopeful again and relieved from the pressureroutinely applied in sociology as well as in trade cooker conditions that had almost driven me out of union and activist circles, frequently as a welcome the profession in less than 10 years. lens for understanding the multiple overlapping forms of discrimination a person can suffer because of their race, disability, gender, sexuality or class for instance - most of which are protected characteristics under equality legislation.

17 years too late I first heard the term intersectionality at an Institute of Education seminar in 2016 when I had been a teacher for 17 years. It was a transformative moment in my career and has moved me significantly closer to inclusive education.

Noticing is not dismantling

At the PRU I soon noticed each year around four out of five students happened to be boys and virtually all were on free school meals. Two thirds were also racialised as Black, Mixed or Asian. I later learnt all students referred to the PRU are coded as SEND (even if what led to the exclusion or referral may have been a one-off incident). I was alarmed to learn this is not routinely communicated to the students themselves or their families. There was little talk (and I suspect understanding) of pupils’ individual needs. The focus was on fire-fighting, the PRU functioning as a “holding pen” in many cases: excluded Black and mixed-race boys with SEND have a higher chance of going to prison than of successfully returning to mainstream education.

Over two decades I planned hundreds of lessons, marked thousands of books and exam papers, and attended what seems like a million staff meetings.

As a teacher I have been tasked with the enormous responsibility and privilege of directly impacting the lives of around 10,000 children and young Noticing is however not enough. Teaching some people. Each came to my classroom with a myriad of the most vulnerable, racialised, economically of histories, cultures, languages, needs, wants, disadvantaged and marginalised children in the nation, I worked hard on inclusion given the extreme

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exclusion on multiple levels the students faced.

The lack of SEND training and absence of a school SENCO (astonishingly, PRUs are not legally required to employ one) were significant barriers. Still, I did not adequately and critically work to dismantle some of the inequities, disparities and injustices staring me in the face. In the main I accepted this was just “how things were” for us and our students.

Intersectionality-minded practice An intersectional analytical lens would have required me to ask questions such as why are Black and Brown boys disproportionately excluded? Which schools/policies/processes are responsible?

Are Black boys appropriately assessed for SEND and by whom? What is the child’s view, and the parents’? What are we doing to address wider educational inequities? How do we explain ethnic disproportionality in the identification of SEND and how will we address it?

In the case I described, it would have facilitated targeted and powerful interventions at school level by acknowledging multiple axes of difference and their impact. There is a specificity to the Black male experience in education and the microaggressions they suffer which warrants focused attention.

1. The profile of excluded black children does not match the profile of excluded white children.

2. Black students receive harsher punishments.

3. There is a long history of Black youth overrepresented in special education and segregated low-status educational settings 4. Black students have been over-represented in school exclusions for the past 20 years or more.

5. Black students are under-represented in so-called high-ability sets, which we know caps their achievement and disadvantages them.

6. Black Caribbean and Mixed White & Black Caribbean pupils are substantially overrepresented for SEMH (social, emotional and mental health needs).

A 2018 Oxford University study is the latest in a long line of research attempting to shine a light onto the over-representation of Black boys in SEND. For instance some labels such as SEMH and MLD (moderate learning difficulties) are open to significant interpretative variance, as well as stigma.

Too often these labels do not translate into specialist support, compounding disadvantage. Black children have been historically overrepresented in special education and research has told us for decades that routine misidentification of Black children’s ability, biased assessments and a lack of Black practitioners all contribute. The Oxford study suggests the data may point to “inappropriate interpretation of ethnic and cultural differences including teacher racism, low expectations and a failure of schools to provide quality instruction or effective classroom management”.

An intersectional lens sets out to problematise raced, classed, ableist and gendered patterns of inequality and disparities. It arms us with critical tools of analysis as well as resistance: intersectional educators must do both.

Conclusions I often talk about how I believe I/we as teachers collude with oppressive systems, language, policies, processes and cultures. We are a product of our own socialisation and societal notions of ‘normalcy’ after all. I admit I/we often end up compounding bias, discrimination and negative outcomes suffered by those we are trying to help.

Our good intentions are neither here nor there.

We can however work to reverse the distortion: when we deliberately choose intersectionality frames we cannot help but notice who is missing from the room. What must follow is daily commitment to become intersectionality-minded educators, constantly checking our own biases, working to dismantle our own deficit, majoritarian thinking as well as the wider cultures, structures and barriers that prevent true inclusion for all. This is a perpetual conscious process for ourselves and everyone in education so that together we can tear down the walls of the room in education.

Zahra Bei

with Helen Knowler and Chris Bagley Zahra is a secondary school Black teacher, academic researcher and Co-founder of No More Exclusions: www.nomoreexclusions.com

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International

International

Sustainable Development Goals How are the UN goals shaping inclusive education?

in particular for girls and for children in areas ccording to UNESCO globally half the 57 of conflict. Countries climbing the development million primary children not in school are ladder cannot afford to leave one child behind disabled. At least a third of the 243 million and must identify and break down barriers; children who have not completed primary school are disabled, and education for most children in 3. Goal 4 requires a revolutionary reimagining of education in the modern world. There must be school is poor. platforms for cooperation, new partnerships, In July 2019 a High Level Political Forum was greater support for teachers and investment in held on the Sustainable Development Goals universal education and lifelong learning.

(SDGs). It examined progress in “Empowering 4. Education is central to achieving the 2030 people and ensuring inclusiveness and equality”.

Agenda and preparing for the future.

It reviewed six SDGs, including Goal 4 on inclusive Accelerated action in higher education and education and lifelong learning for all. 47 countries lifelong learning can enable people to engage in presented voluntary national reviews, 2,000 Nonhighly skilled jobs and improve their livelihoods, apply new knowledge and innovative thinking to Governmental Organisations (NGOs) attended, challenges and attain stability and peace. including Disabled People’s Organisations (DPOs) along with 100 countries and other international 5. A realignment of education systems is required to meet the learning needs of individuals, agencies. Three key messages that came out were: reflect the modern world while ensuring that 1. The international community is not on track traditional knowledge is passed down through to achieve the SDGs. A more ambitious and generations, tap into learning technologies and transformative response is urgently needed; digital infrastructures, change mindsets around 2. The 2030 Agenda and the Goals remain the the value of education and ensure no one is best roadmap to ending poverty and achieving left behind. Learning must focus on building sustainable development. The international proficiency in reading and maths, and the Goals community must swiftly move out of its comfort should be incorporated into education. zone to pursue new ways of collective action; 6. Educational barriers to girls, youth in rural 3. Inclusive and equitable quality education for areas, persons with disabilities, refugees and all is critical to achieving the 2030 Agenda. migrants, and children in areas of conflict Platforms for cooperation, new partnerships, must be urgently addressed. Infrastructure more support for teachers and increased is required in rural areas and lower income investment in universal quality education and countries to ensure children can go to schools lifelong learning are imperative. with electricity, sanitation and clean water, and The main issues identified around implementing to break down digital barriers. inclusive and equitable quality education were: 7. Current investment in education and in supporting teachers falls far short of what is 1. Increasing access to quality education for all needed to achieve Goal 4. is essential to address challenges like climate change, empower people with new skills and Following the Global Summit on Disability (see opportunities for employment and economic Inclusion Now 51) a programme is under way, growth, and uphold peaceful, effective societies; coordinated by Sightsavers ,to address key disability 2. Shortcomings in equality and inclusiveness are development issues, including inclusive education, among the biggest barriers to achieving Goal 4, in Nigeria, Kenya, Tanzania, Bangladesh, Nepal

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and Jordan. £30m of Department for International Development (DFID) money has been earmarked.

Following consultation conferences in each country, at which more than half the attendees were disabled people and their organisations, priorities were developed and then NGOs must develop projects.

Once approved by a very bureaucratic system the projects are carried out. Eleven international disability NGOs are the partners.

There are problems with this approach. We as DPOs already know what will work in developing inclusive education from our experience as disabled people and many micro projects over the last 30 years in developing countries. The barriers are clear. No DPO can bid for a project, as there are too many complex accountability measures built in. The projects are being implemented by nondisabled professionals. The argument is that DPOs do not have the capacity to run these projects. But surely the solution is to develop their capacity as part of the project. Otherwise there will be a danger of a continuing NGO charity model. The complexity is there because of hostile press reaction to development funding which can be threatened by corruption. The best remedy to this is to get funding down to community level and give them collective oversight of their resources.

It is vital DPOs engage with this agenda and a good start was made when representatives from 60 attended a seminar in London in June hosted by

Reclaiming Our Futures Alliance, of which ALLFIE is a member, and DFID. Now we need to find ways to link DPOs in the North and South and develop joint capacity. The relaunch in New York last June of the Commonwealth Disabled People’s Forum will be useful to this. This was a well-attended event, supported indirectly by DFID through the Disability Rights Fund. Representatives from 25 Commonwealth countries elected an executive committee, adopted a revised constitution and developed a work programme. (www. commonwealthdpf.org) The World Bank has identified up to $1billion to develop inclusive education over the next three years. We need to find ways of using this resource to develop inclusive education so that it is more than just developing reading and maths, important as these are. Most important is that disabled children have high self-esteem. The need is urgent for us all to raise our game. The developing climate crisis, growing inequality and growth of bigotry and prejudice threaten to engulf us all. Now is the time for more international collaboration to solve our planet’s problems including the full involvement and inclusion of disabled people and effective inclusive education around the world. We have a mountain to climb, but humanity’s survival depends on us!

Richard Rieser

General Secretary Commonwealth Disabled People’s Forum and World of Inclusion

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International

Tara’s charter y first article for Inclusion Now about M my visits to Finland and New Brunswick, Canada focused on some amazing practice I saw in schools, as well as challenges for education in both countries. In this second article I talk about my Charter for Change based on learnings from my trips. Why a Charter for Change? Because in my view the time for tweaking around the edges of what is a fundamentally broken education system in England is over. The current system is based on the requirements of an industrial past where the job of schools was to create a workforce ready for large scale industry. The view was that Disabled people didn’t fit that model and there was no value in giving us an education so we were hidden away at home or in institutions.

In the 21st century a very different education system is required, one which is aligned with inclusivity and human rights and supports and encourages creativity, flexibility and personal and collective resilience. 21st century pupils and students need the skills and knowledge to work collaboratively in diverse and inclusive workplaces, as well as participate in multicultural communities. There must be a fundamental shift in how education is understood, its purpose and how it practically supports teaching staff to be teachers of all children - and how it supports and facilitates the learning of all pupils and students.

The charter sets out the changes required to create a fully inclusive education system. I want it to start a revolution in education - a shift from singling out certain pupils and students for ”special” segregated services to laying the foundations of a truly inclusive education system. I hope ALLFIE is able to use my report in its vital campaigning work and though I am no longer ALLFIE’s Director, inclusive education is in my DNA so I will continue to be a huge supporter and ally!

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Research www.inclusive-solutions.com

4: Support and funding for advocacy organisations:

Charter for change 1: Legal and regulatory frameworks that genuinely support the development of a fully inclusive education system: • Segregation and exclusion of ANY pupil or student is incompatible with a human rights approach • The inspection framework moves from scrutiny to evaluation and support of inclusive education practice • Appeals and accountability mechanisms must support inclusion • UK law must comply with UNCRPD Article 24 2: A whole school approach to inclusion: • All teachers should be teachers of all pupils and students • A right to a broad and balanced holistic and creative curriculum that is flexible and citizen-focused • Inclusion-focused continuing professional development • Student-led assessments • Access to a national database of good inclusive education practice • Training resources and strategies for teachers that focus on behaviour as communication and relationship building 3: Build parental confidence and demand for inclusion:

Tara Flood

• Parents and families have access to good, timely information about benefits of inclusion • Parents and families are supported to become allies to their young people • Community support for families is based on independent living principles and brings together separate budgets • Support for learning assessments takes a Social Model of Disability approach • Advocacy support available to challenge bad practice

Tara’s report is at https://bit.ly/2mfoGtn

/cont

• Strategic funding for Disabled People’s Organisations to be the lead advocates for inclusion • UNCPRD focused empowerment programmes for ALL young people • Parent-led organisations encouraged to become allied to DPOs • Advocacy organisations seen as partners in the development of inclusive education practice 5: Resourcing inclusion: • A national network of inclusion leaders in education to share good practice • Incentivise collaboration between teachers, schools and communities • Disinvest from segregated education provision to provide additional capacity-building resources for mainstream • School funding formula incentivises inclusive education.

Nottingham Community Circles

Coming Soon: What We Have Learned About Accessibility Plans or the last 18 months or so, I have been F working for ALLFIE on a research project funded by Disability Research on Independent Living and Learning (DRILL) into the effectiveness of Accessibility Plans in secondary schools. My findings and reflections on the negative and potentially devastating impact of ineffective Accessibility Plans on Disabled children and their families are due to be published next year.

improvements in experiences and outcomes, and ensuring the rights of Disabled young people are not only protected but fully realised.

So what are Accessibility Plans? An Accessibility Plan sets out how, over time, the school is going to increase access to the curriculum for Disabled pupils, improve the physical environment of the school to increase access for Disabled pupils and make written information more accessible to Disabled pupils by providing it in a range of different ways. This is a key document that seems not to be well publicised. According to our online survey almost 80% of parents who responded were not aware of Accessibility Plans at their school.

Some of the accounts have been truly shocking and have highlighted why this research and the role of ALLFIE is so important. The findings suggest that schools are in breach of national and international laws on human rights. The report sets out recommendations which could help to Since 2010, according to figures from the address some of the educational, social and Department of Education, the number of children physical inequalities in schools, delivering vast and young people labelled as having special

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Research educational needs via an Education, Health and Care (EHC) Plan, has increased from almost 230,000 to over 350,000. That is a 55% increase and does not include children who have no formal diagnosis yet. Given such a substantial rise, knowing about Accessibility Plans and how effective they are is vital. Participants told us that delivery of written information was variable.

Disabled young participants generally agreed that provision of accessible information was poor and most participants experienced long delays before requested accessible information was provided.

Education professionals taking part recognised that the delivery of information in alternative formats was reactive and unpredictable in their schools, with many stating that accessible documents would only be provided if specific requests were made, rather than as standard practice for Disabled pupils. In general, the professionals did not take responsibility for this shortcoming themselves or assign responsibility to their institutions; instead, they felt factors such as lack of funding and insufficient uptake by pupils were more significant.

From responses to our online questionnaire, the majority of parents reported that in the absence of accessible information they were often forced to scour a school’s website hoping they had not missed news regarding school activities. Some said they had to ask staff or other parents repeatedly for the information; for others, news would often come as a surprise or be found out by chance.

Participants identified similar physical access barriers in schools. A parent shared her experience of visiting the secondary school her son wanted to attend: ‘And then there was certain parts of the building we couldn’t get into … it just got worse and worse and worse.’ She added that they were not prepared to adapt the school environment. Some parents discussed sensory barriers such as noise, smell, visual clutter as well as inappropriate social cues faced by their children. For most parents, barriers were often exaggerated by professionals’ inflexible and unhelpful attitudes. In relation to access, it was evident that Accessibility Plans did not always comply with legal requirements.

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Disability History Month Disabled young participants felt there was no level playing field in respect of their ability to participate in classroom activities and the school curriculum, particularly when it came to assessments. Their experiences in the classroom showed that the support they received from teaching staff was ad hoc. Parents were frustrated with professionals’ insensitive attitudes in making reasonable adjustments to meet their children’s impairmentrelated needs. Whilst it was recognised that some staff were supportive, others lacked the ability to consider students’ diverse needs; they were unable to make appropriate adjustments and instead encouraged independent studying. The education professionals, for their part, felt that an effective and fully implemented Accessibility Plan would be useful to promote and ensure equality in teaching.

Overall, the Disabled young people and parents felt let down by schools and unhappy about prejudiced attitudes amongst staff and a lack of understanding of their individual needs. Although some professionals were aware of the shortfalls and put them down to cuts in school budgets, others refused to recognise gaps in access and support services. Whilst there are increasing pressures on schools with excessive accountability measures and increased stress and bullying amongst staff, discrimination against Disabled young people and their families is unacceptable. One mother wrote: ‘It has broken us as a family. So many breakdowns, tears and I’m a lot older than I should be.’

By embedding positive inclusive practices in schools, all children will learn what inclusion is and aspire to a better world where social justice, equality, citizenship, participation and human rights, as well as friendship, are celebrated. The necessary changes in the current education system will benefit all learners and help to create an inclusive environment for everyone. As one of the parents said: ‘… an inclusive school is a great benefit to everybody – not just children with disabilities and additional needs, but it’s a great benefit to all of us, to share in our humanity … it just makes us into better people, doesn’t it?’

Dr Armineh Soorenian

Being Seen Being Heard LLFIE has been awarded a grant from the National Lottery under their Lived Experience Pilot programme to deliver an 18 month project titled ‘Being Seen: Being Heard’. ALLFIE’s Interim Director Michelle Daley introduces the project.

A

The Being Seen: Being Heard project has been co-produced with RIP:STARS and ALLFIE. The RIP:STARS (Research into Practice/Policy: Skilled Team with Ambition, Rights and Strength) are a group of disabled young researchers from Coventry.

The group were trained by academics Anita Franklin and Geraldine Brady to co-lead research. They previously examined quality and rights in Education, Health and Care Plans and presented this evidence to the Education Select Committee SEND Inquiry.

The project brings together the RIP:STARS with twelve leaders of the Disabled People’s Movement to provide a space:

good that we can now turn our anger into learning skills and working with these important people to make a change for all disabled young people – we can’t wait to make and share our graphic story.”

The leaders will bring to life the history and principles of the Disability Rights Movement and encourage and support their successors to become the next generation of leaders. The project will create an online graphic story communicating the history and unique role of the movement.

There will be opportunities for participants to lead sessions on areas related to their interests.

Disability rights leaders have developed skills in conveying their messages, and this project offers an opportunity to share those techniques.

The project will look at how current leaders in the movement have influenced others. One of the most influential figures in the • to share intergenerational UK movement is Baroness experiences of what Jane Campbell, who worked makes a good leader her way up from grassroots • to examine what the activism to promoting barriers are for Disabled the messages of the people in becoming The RIP:STARS giving evidence to the Commons Disability Rights Movement Education Select Committee leaders in Parliament.

Baroness • to learn what Disabled people have done to Campbell used her skills and experience to create a challenge disablism and discrimination to create story that would influence others to take action. We change. also have Richard Rieser, a lifelong campaigner for Together young people and leaders will reflect on inclusive education and the instigator of Disability their lived experience and identify their values History Month. This is exactly what the Being Seen: and passions, strengthen their skills and better Being Heard project is about: turning talk into understand the qualities of a leader. These action. intergenerational exchanges will address the Leadership is necessary to help change and disconnect in deep conversations, uncovering the challenge perceptions but also to ensure the importance of what makes a leader and the need continuation of the principles and values of the to create new leaders.

Disability Rights Movement. This project will remind As Tom, a RIP:STAR says, “It is important that others of the many achievements by activists at disabled young people learn about the history of the the heart of the movement and the importance disability movement. Until we became RIP:STARs of leadership in increasing influence, conveying we had not heard of it. That made us angry. It is messages and achieving action.

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Disability History Month

Leadership, Culture & Resistance isability History Month 2019 is nearly upon D us. Our theme is Disability: Leadership, Culture and Resistance. We hope more and

converge on London for a guaranteed minimum wage. They organised many strikes, one for six months in Bristol in 1912. Organisations such as more schools, colleges, community groups and the NLB and its influence in the TUC and Labour workplaces will learn about the transformation Party helped frame the Beveridge Report and the of thinking about disability, which heralded creation of the Welfare State. fundamental positive changes in disabled The introduction of the Welfare State ironically led people’s lives in the 80s and 90s. Unfortunately, to increased segregation for disabled people in long we have gone into reverse since 2000, with stay mental deficiency hospitals, asylums and care marketisation and austerity. homes and a rapid growth of segregated education.

Over the last 150 years, the radical history of disabled people, leading to improvements in the conditions of our existence, has been shaped by handfuls of individual disabled people, their thinking and movements which challenge the status quo.

The 1944 Act was based on selection by ability for Grammar, Secondary Modern and Technical schools, and increased selection for disability with 14 new categories of special schools. This was matched by growth and professionalisation of special educators and rehabilitation professionals.

Ben Purse was a blind piano tuner who had trained at Henshaw’s Blind Asylum, Old Trafford. Purse was born in 1874 and had lost his sight completely by the age of 13. After failing to get work for two years he formed a radical organisation of only blind and partially sighted people. The newly formed National League of the Blind (1899) argued for entitlement to direct state aid and abolition of all charities.

Purse was a strong advocate of self-representation and parliamentary and direct action, arguing a trade union was required to represent workers who were being exploited both in private industry and in the charity sector. The NLB joined the TUC in 1902 and the Labour Party at its first conference in 1906, which endorsed the NLB policies including adequate education and training for blind students in mainstream institutions. In 1920 the NLB organised three marches on Parliament from the South West/Wales, Newcastle and Manchester to

A very useful and readable resource is ‘No Limits’

by Judy Hunt (2019) which recounts the historical transformations for physically disabled people from institutional care to independent living. Being married to Paul Hunt, one of the pioneers of the Disabled People’s Movement, Judy can draw on Paul’s journal and papers and has interviewed the dwindling number of Paul’s contemporaries.

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In the 1950s those with significant physical impairments were placed in hospital wards for the chronically sick and elderly, as there were too many obstacles to them living their life in the community. The root cause of the problem was seen as their impairment, but Paul came to think the social and physical barriers to integration were the key problem. These barriers were underlain by deep and age old prejudices, oppressive attitudes and thinking. Le Court was set up by Leonard Cheshire as his first alternative home for ‘the disabled’. There was an easy-going attitude with residents fairly free to pursue their interests and relationships. There was a democratic residents’ committee, controlling a publication ‘Cheshire Smile’ and a filmmaking unit. However, as local authorities paid for places at the growing number of these homes, they increasingly exerted pressure for medicalisation and stricter management with petty rules. At Le Court, Paul and the other

Disability History Month residents resisted these pressures collectively over a long period, even being threatened with expulsion back to hospital. Out of these many local struggles Paul and others produced the important book ‘Stigma. The experience of disability’(1966), analysing their experiences and arguing for a different approach to the ‘medical model’, selfrepresentation and control of their lives. In 1972 Paul, having married Judy and moved to his own adapted home in London, wrote a letter to the Guardian which led to the formation of the Union of the Physically Impaired Against Segregation (UPIAS).

the land, working with architects and bringing in adapted fittings from Sweden, they moved in 1976.

The Disability Liberation Network was influenced by the Women’s Movement. Following their initial meeting at Lower Shore Farm outside Swindon in 1980, they focused more on breaking down isolation by finding ways to communicate with each other whether deaf, blind or physically impaired. Many ideas that were developed by Micheline Mason and others in their “In From the Cold” magazine helped later form the Alliance for Inclusive Education.

Work on self-representation, social model and disability as oppression were brought together to transform education at a founding conference of the Integration Alliance in 1990.

“I am proposing the formation of a consumer group to put forward nationally the views of actual and potential residents of these successors to the Some principles of the Disability Liberation Network workhouse. We hope in particular to formulate and were: publicise plans for alternative kinds of care”.

• To abolish all forms of segregation particularly Paul and Judy met Vic Finkelstein and his wife and in education settings and residential institutions ideas cross fertilised. Vic had been imprisoned • To seek allies amongst able bodied people (i.e. in South Africa for anti-apartheid activity after he people who will help us fight for ourselves-not was paralysed. Vic was one of the key thinkers on our behalf) who developed the idea of disability as a social • To seek complete self-determination and control oppression and posited the social model. This over our representation in the media and to thinking took much from the struggle for race have control over information put out about us. equality in South Africa. UPIAS went on to recruit • To encourage people with disabilities to disability activists from across the UK and organise into active groups around achieving formulated the Fundamental Principles of Disability. their rights at international, national and local This led to the British Council of Disabled People levels. and the formation of Disabled People International, • To make allies of, and be allies to, all oppressed in which Finkelstein played a key part. groups.

“In our view, it is society which disables physically Our movement needs more than ever to go back impaired people. Disability is something imposed to these insights to find new ways of struggling for on top of our impairments, by the way we are inclusive education and equality. On paper and in unnecessarily isolated and excluded from full law we have made progress, but our experience participation in society. Disabled people are of the deeply ingrained oppression towards all therefore an oppressed group in society. It follows disabled people requires us to be directly and from this analysis that having low incomes, for collectively involved in a transformation of society example, is only one aspect of our oppression. It is and the world. We can make a start by challenging a consequence of our isolation and segregation, in the growth of exclusions and special free schools every area of life, such as education, work, mobility, being promoted by the government. housing, etc.”

References at https://bit.ly/32glNZb. Ken and Maggie Davis, two leading members of UPIAS, pioneered independent living, commissioning their own housing scheme in Sutton in Ashfield. After four years including buying

Resources at www.ukdhm.org

Richard Rieser

World of Inclusion

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Legal question

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“

My daughter, who is autistic, has been detained in an ATU under the Mental Health Act s(3). She wants to continue at her mainstream school whilst on section. Participating in mainstream education and retaining her friendships provides a structure of purposeful activities that would improve her wellbeing and reduce the need for her to be institutionalised. She complains she is bored and is still self-harming as no appropriate education is provided on the ATU. The Responsible Clinician feels she will continue to self-harm in this situation. How can I get her out of the ATU and attending school?”

Subscription Form but these duties do differ and there are stronger If someone is detained in accordance with Section protections in place for those over 16 if they have 3 of the Mental Health Act, this allows for the an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP). If detention of the person for treatment in a hospital they do not have an EHCP and are over 16, LAs still have a duty to promote effective participation against their wishes. in education for 16 and 17 year olds including Under 16 those under section.

If the young person is under the age of 16, the EHCP Local Authority (LA) continues to have a very clear legal duty to provide suitable full time education. If a child or young person has an EHCP, the Mental If it is inappropriate for this to be provided in a Health Act Code of Practice is clear that: school then alternative arrangements must be “the local authority who maintains the plan made. This could include the provision of tutors should be informed, so that they can ensure that in the ATU (Assessment and Treatment Unit) for educational support continues to be provided. example. It should not be the case that education If necessary, the plan may be reviewed and simply ceases because a young person is detained amended to ensure targets and provisions remain under S3 Mental Health Act. The Mental Health Act appropriate. The local authority should also be Code of Practice states: involved in creating the discharge plan…”

What is Section 3?

“Children and young people admitted to hospital under the Act should have access to education that is on a par with that of mainstream provision, including appropriate support for those with SEN. Practitioners and local authorities should work together to minimise any disruption to education, and in order to ensure that local authorities can meet their duty to provide suitable education, when a child or young person is admitted under the Act, they should be notified as soon as possible, ideally in advance of the placement...”

Over 16 The duty to provide suitable full time education set out above only applies to those below compulsory school age (up to the end of Year 11). This does not mean there are no duties towards those over 16

Summary It may not be possible for your daughter to continue to attend her mainstream school as it is the decision of the Responsible Clinician as to whether she is allowed supervised leave which may enable her to attend and this would depend on her mental health and the nature and extent of her difficulties. If it is not possible then alternative education must be provided. If she is under 16 then this must be full time as long as this is in her interests. The professionals involved in your daughter’s care should work cooperatively with you and the LA to ensure her needs are met.

Your daughter also has the right to challenge her section to the Mental Health Tribunal.

Sarah Woosey Sarah is a solicitor and partner at Simpson Millar www.simpsonmillar.co.uk

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This magazine is published by: The Alliance for Inclusive Education (ALLFIE)

A national campaigning organisation led by disabled people. ALLFIE works to change laws, practices and procedures which discriminate against disabled young people and prevent inclusion. ALLFIE works together with allies to build a social climate in which everyone has a valued place.

336 Brixton Road, London SW9 7AA Tel: 020 7737 6030 Email: info@allfie.org.uk Website: www.allfie.org.uk

In collaboration with: Inclusive Solutions

A team of psychologists and associates who specialise in cutting edge practical strategies and ideas for developing effective inclusion in local mainstream schools and communities. We work with anyone who wants to bring about the real systems changes that are necessary to move towards a truly inclusive society.

Tel: 0115 9556045 or 01473 437590 Email: inclusive.solutions@me.com Website: inclusive-solutions.com

World of Inclusion

A consultancy that provides advice, resources and training in the UK and around the world to develop equality for disabled people especially in education. Richard Rieser is an expert disabled international equality trainer, consultant, film maker and writer and teacher.

Basement, 78 Mildmay Grove South, London N1 4PJ Tel: 020 7359 2855 or 07715 420727 Email: richardrieser@worldofinclusion.com Website: worldofinclusion.com

Disabled people, parents and allies, working together to educate, facilitate and empower everyone who wants to be part of the growing inclusion movement. Together we want to bring down the barriers so all young people can learn, make friends and have a voice in ordinary school and throughout life. For each and every young person, this is an essential human right.

ALL MEANS ALL