Addressing Special Educational Needs and Disability in the Curriculum: Science

Marion Frankland

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2017
• Print ISBN:
  9781138209046
• eBook ISBN:
  9781315457833
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Education General

The SEND Code of Practice (2015) reinforced the requirement that all teachers must meet the needs of all learners. This topical book provides practical, tried and tested strategies and resources that will support teachers in making science lessons accessible and exciting for all pupils, including those with special needs. The author draws on a wealth of experience to share her understanding of special educational needs and disabilities and show how science teachers can reduce or remove any barriers to learning.

Offering strategies that are specific to the context of science teaching, this book will enable teachers to:

• help all students develop their 'evidence-gathering' skills and aid their scientific discovery by involving the use of all of the senses and structuring tasks appropriately;
• create a supportive environment that maximises learning opportunities;
• plan the classroom layout and display to enhance learning;
• use technology to adapt lessons to the needs of individual pupils;
• successfully train and fully use the support of their teaching assistants.

An invaluable tool for continuing professional development, this text will be essential for teachers (and their teaching assistants) seeking guidance specific to teaching science to all pupils, regardless of their individual needs. This book will also be of interest to SENCOs, senior management teams and ITT providers.

In addition to free online resources, a range of appendices provide science teachers with a variety of writing frames and activity sheets to support effective teaching. This is an essential tool for science teachers and teaching assistants, and will help to deliver successful, inclusive lessons for all pupils.

1 Meeting special educational needs

Your responsibility

New legislation and national guidance in 2015 changed the landscape of educational provision for pupils with any sort of ‘additional’ or ‘special’ needs. The vast majority of learners, including those with ‘moderate’ or ‘mild’ learning difficulties, weak communication skills, dyslexia or social/behavioural needs, rarely attract additional resources: they are very much accepted as part of the ‘mainstream mix’. Pupils with more significant special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) may have an Education, Health and Care plan (EHC plan): this outlines how particular needs will be met, often involving professionals from different disciplines and sometimes specifying adult support in the classroom. Both groups of pupils are ultimately the responsibility of the class teacher, whether in mainstream or special education.

High quality teaching that is differentiated and personalised will meet the individual needs of the majority of children and young people. Some children and young people need educational provision that is additional to or different from this. This is special educational provision under Section 21 of the Children and Families Act 2014. Schools and colleges must use their best endeavours to ensure that such provision is made for those who need it. Special educational provision is underpinned by high quality teaching and is compromised by anything less.

(SEND Code of Practice 2015)

There is more information about legislation (The Children and Families Act 2014; The Equality Act 2010) and guidance (SEND Code of Practice) in Appendix 1.1.

Definition of SEND

A pupil has special educational needs if he or she:

• Has a significantly greater difficulty in learning than the majority of others of the same age or
• Has a disability which prevents or hinders him or her from making use of facilities of a kind generally provided for others of the same age in mainstream schools or mainstream Post-16 institutions
  (SEND Code of Practice 2015)

The SEND Code of Practice identifies four broad areas of SEND, but remember that this gives only an overview of the range of needs that should be planned for by schools; pupils’ needs rarely fit neatly into one area of need.

Whole-school ethos

Successful schools are proactive in identifying and addressing pupils’ special needs, focusing on adapting the educational context and environment rather than on ‘fixing’ an individual learner. Adapting systems and teaching programmes rather than trying to force the pupil to conform to rigid expectations will lead to a greater chance of success in terms of learning outcomes. Guidance on whole-school and departmental policy making can be found in Appendix 1.2, and a sample departmental policy for SEND can be downloaded from our website at www.routledge.com/9781138209053.

Table 1.1 The four broad areas of SEND

Communication and interaction	Cognition and learning	Social, emotional and mental health difficulties	Sensory and/or physical needs
Speech, language and communication needs (SLCN) Asperger syndrome and autism (ASD)	Specific learning difficulties (SpLD) Moderate learning difficulties (MLD) Severe learning difficulties (SLD) Profound and multiple learning difficulties (PMLD)	Mental health difficulties such as anxiety or depression, self-harming, substance abuse or eating disorders Attention deficit disorders, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder or attachment disorder	Vision impairment (VI) Hearing impairment (HI) Multi-sensory impairment (MSI) Physical disability (PD)

Policy into practice

In many cases, pupils’ individual learning needs will be met through differentiation of tasks and materials in their lessons; sometimes this will be supplemented by targeted interventions such as literacy ‘catch-up’ programmes delivered outside the classroom. A smaller number of pupils may need access to more specialist equipment and approaches, perhaps based on advice and support from external specialists.

The main thrust of the Children and Families Act and chapter 6 of the SEND Code of Practice is that outcomes for pupils with SEND must be improved and that schools and individual teachers must have high aspirations and expectations for all.

In practice, this means that pupils should be enabled to:

• Achieve their best: additional provision made for pupils with SEND will enable them to make accelerated progress so that the gap in progress and attainment between them and other pupils is reduced. Being identified with SEND should no longer be a reason for a pupil making less than good progress.
• Become confident individuals living fulfilling lives: if you ask parents of children with SEND what is important to them for their child’s future they often answer ‘happiness, the opportunity to achieve his or her potential, friendships and a loving family’ – just what we all want for our children. Outcomes in terms of well-being, social skills and growing independence are equally as important as academic outcomes for children and young people with SEND.
• Make a successful transition into adulthood, whether into employment, further or higher education or training: decisions made at transition from primary school in Year 7 and beyond should be made in the context of preparation for adulthood. For example, where a pupil has had full-time support from a teaching assistant in primary school, the secondary school’s first reaction might be to continue this level of support after transition. This may result in long-term dependency on adults, however, or limited opportunities to develop social skills, both of which impact negatively on preparation for adulthood.

Excellent classroom provision

Later chapters provide lots of subject-specific ideas and guidance on strategies to support pupils with SEND. In Appendix 1.3 you will find useful checklists to help you support pupils with identified ‘conditions’, but there are some generic approaches that form the foundations of outstanding provision, such as:

• Providing support from adults or other pupils
• Adapting tasks or environments
• Using specialist aids and equipment as appropriate

The starting points listed in the following provide a sound basis for creating an inclusive learning environment that will benefit all pupils, while being especially important for those with SEND.

Develop pupils’ understanding through the use of all available senses by:

• Using resources that pupils can access through sight and sound (and where appropriate also use the senses of touch, taste and smell to broaden understanding and ensure stronger memory)
• Regularly employing resources such as symbols, pictures and film to increase pupils’ knowledge of the wider world and contextualise new information and skills
• Encouraging and enabling pupils to take part in activities such as play, drama, class visits and exploring the environment

Help pupils to learn effectively and prepare for further or higher education, work or training by:

• Setting realistic demands within high expectations
• Using positive strategies to manage behaviour
• Giving pupils opportunities and encouragement to develop the skills to work effectively in a group or with a partner
• Teaching all pupils to value and respect the contribution of others
• Encouraging independent working skills
• Teaching essential safety rules

Help pupils to develop communication skills, language and literacy by:

• Making sure all pupils can see your face when you are speaking
• Giving clear, step-by step instructions and limiting the amount of information given at one time
• Providing a list of key vocabulary for each lesson
• Choosing texts that pupils can read and understand
• Making texts available in different formats, including large text, symbols or screen reader programmes
• Putting headings and important points in bold or highlighting to make them easier to scan
• Presenting written information as concisely as possible, using bullet points, images or diagrams

Support pupils with disabilities by:

• Encouraging pupils to be as independent as possible
• Enabling them to work with other, non-disabled pupils
• Making sure the classroom environment is suitable, e.g., uncluttered space to facilitate movement around the classroom or lab; adapted resources labelled and accessible
• Being aware that some pupils will take longer to complete tasks, including homework
• Taking into account the higher levels of concentration and physical exertion required by some pupils (even in activities such as reading and writing) that will lead to increased fatigue for pupils who may already have reduced stamina
• Being aware of the extra effort required by some pupils to follow oral work, whether through use of residual hearing, lip reading or signed support, and of the tiredness and limited concentration which is likely to ensue
• Ensuring all pupils are included, and can participate safely, in school trips and off-site visits

These and other, more specific strategies are placed in the context of supporting particular individuals described in the case studies in Chapter 6, ‘Real Pupils in Real Classrooms’.

2 An inclusive learning environment

Science is all about discovery. The greatest discoveries have been made when scientists observe particular phenomena, generate ideas to explain these and then search for further evidence to either prove or disprove these ideas. As part of this evidence-gathering process a scientist needs to employ a range of practical skills which include making observations that involve the use of all the senses. It is our job, as teachers, to develop all these skills in our pupils.

Pupils with special educa...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Website materials
• List of appendices
• Series authors
• A few words from the series editor
• Acknowledgements
• Introduction
• 1 Meeting special educational needs: your responsibility
• 2 An inclusive learning environment
• 3 Teaching and learning
• 4 Monitoring and assessment
• 5 Managing support
• 6 Real pupils in real classrooms
• Resources and useful websites
• Appendices
• Further reading and references
• Index