Achieving Curriculum Parity For Pupils With SEND

‘Curriculum parity for all pupils with SEND, whatever their starting point’ is what Ofsted are looking for as a fundamental element in their quest to see schools provide equality of opportunity for all pupils.

Ofsted’s recent review of the SEND Research and Analysis: Supporting SEND assesses the provision for pupils designated as having special needs and disabilities in the mainstream sector. The government’s SEND and Alternative Provision and Improvement Plan looks in detail at plans to reform the provision for pupils in special school settings and other forms of provision.

Both focus on the need for a closer look at how current provision might be improved and opportunities for pupils deemed to be ‘special’ to have the life chances of all pupils.

These two reports do not reveal a great deal about the curriculum, except to say that there needs to be greater emphasis on training for both teachers and their learning support assistants or teaching assistants. The intention to create curriculum parity is there in most schools, but the co-ordination to make sure that there is curriculum parity for all pupils is not possible unless there is a much greater emphasis on how pupils can access a deep and broad curriculum that is well-sequenced and leads to progression and positive learning.

The best way to assess how well your curriculum intent concerning parity for pupils with SEND is implemented across the whole curriculum is to look at the latest Ofsted handbook and ask the following questions:

• How does the planned curriculum offer meet the needs of learners with SEND?
• How do you assess the individual needs of pupils, especially those who have SEND?
• What strategies are in place to ensure pupils do not lose lesson time due to specialist intervention?
• What evidence suggests the curriculum allows pupils with SEND to make good progress year on year?
• How is reading prioritised to address gaps in pupils’ ability to read fluently and comprehend with clarity over time?
• What provision is there for specialist training for all staff (including support staff) in teaching, learning, curriculum sequencing and behaviour?
• How do you ensure that pupils with SEND can access extracurricular provision and embrace cultural capital and SMSC activities?
• How are pupils with SEND tracked to assess their progress, their deepening knowledge and their broadening range of skills for learning?
• How are parents involved in supporting their child and how are other agencies involved in providing support for pupils who need it?

The curriculum determines the quality of the education we provide for all pupils in a school, whether it is a mainstream school with pupils with special needs or a special school that provides a space for those pupils who can’t cope with the rigours of a mainstream environment. It is how we implement the curriculum content, the depth and breadth we build into how we teach and the understanding we have of the needs of each individual pupil that will lead to deep learning and parity for all learners, including those with SEND.

This requires a consensus across all subjects, core and foundation, that the pupil is at the heart of curriculum planning. Their needs are an essential element in the process of implementation and provide the answers to questions about the impact the curriculum has on pupils’ progress and achievement. Curriculum parity can only be achieved if there is a consensus across the whole school on the needs of all pupils and how these will be met.

All parts of the Education Inspection Framework apply to a school’s provision for pupils with SEND, especially when focusing on curriculum parity. However, there are some very specific factors that must be considered in order to produce the evidence that inspectors seek. The handbook specifies that leaders – senior, middle, curriculum and subject – should all demonstrate that they are ambitious specifically for pupils with SEND and adapt the curriculum so that it is coherently sequenced for all pupils, including those with special needs.

There needs to be coherence across all subjects so that pupils with SEND have the same opportunities for extracurricular and off-site learning and that the correct procedures are in place to ensure their safety. Understanding how to assess the learning and development of pupils with SEND is also important here and the need for a deep level of consistency across all learning needs to be apparent when inspectors talk to teachers across the subject spectrum.

A trawl of some of the inspection reports, especially where schools have been downgraded because of their lack of evidence for some of the above, is telling. What Ofsted want to see (and what schools should want to continually strive for regardless) is a constancy of purpose that focuses on how best to ensure all pupils can access the curriculum and are deepening their learning and enhancing their skills over time in every subject. This must be as part of a cross-curricular quest for excellence in literacy and numeracy, the metacognitive skills that bind the learning together and give pupils a wealth of experiences of life within and outside school.

Below are some of the quotes pasted from Ofsted reports that refer to special education and reinforce exactly what I am saying.

‘The teaching of reading is not as well-developed. There are not enough opportunities for pupils to focus on how well they understand what they are reading. As a result, pupils read fluently but do not always understand what they have read. Pupils are not always able to use what they have read to effectively support their learning across the curriculum.’

‘Teachers are not yet confident in how the content they are teaching links to pupils’ future learning or builds on what they know already. Also, the school has not yet fully developed teachers’ understanding of how to best teach across the foundation subjects.’

‘The school has not clearly identified the knowledge pupils will learn or when they will learn it. The way the school checks how well pupils are learning does not identify specific gaps in their knowledge. This means that it is difficult for teachers to adapt lessons so that pupils can catch up. Further, in some subjects, some staff have not had the training they need to teach these subjects well.’

‘There are still several subjects which have not had the same level of curriculum thinking. Curriculum leadership in these subjects is not as strong. It is not clear for teachers what pupils need to learn and when they should learn it. Teachers’ use of assessment information is also not as effective. They are therefore unsure of what pupils have remembered from previous learning.’

‘Not all teachers know how to assess pupils’ prior knowledge. Where this is the case, they do not know how to identify and address any gaps that pupils have in their knowledge. This means that pupils are sometimes given activities that are not well adapted to their needs. When pupils are given work which is too easy or too hard, they tend to lose focus in lessons.’

Extracts from Ofsted reports where schools have been downgraded from ‘outstanding’ to ‘requires improvement’

For me, the watchword here is consistency. The way to avoid the kinds of criticism we see above is to ensure all curriculum and subject leaders are engaged in a continuing professional dialogue that builds a consensus. This consensus should address some of the issues relating to gaps in how the curriculum is defined as part of the whole school vision and how it is implemented across all subjects both core and foundation.

Professional development should be an ongoing and continuing process that carves out the kind of curriculum that will deliver parity for all pupils and ensure everyone with a responsibility for curriculum and subject-specific learning knows what to teach, when to teach it, how they are building on prior learning, what we mean by sequencing the learning, how we teach concepts as well as facts and how literacy, numeracy and the wider thinking skills are essential in every subject.

The way forward to ensure curriculum parity for all pupils is to use our content-rich and deeply researched Developing Curriculum Leaders Programme. There are five modules and over 60 lessons that will deliver the consistency and the knowledge bank that all those with curriculum and subject leadership responsibility need to have. The programme’s resources provide the evidence and the dialogue leaders need to demonstrate how their school’s curriculum delivery is exceptional and create the data that confirms progress, sustainability and deep, school-wide wellbeing among pupils and staff.

I have written and narrated the programme and it is rich with the CPD materials and resources that have made Learning Cultures such a successful provider of professional learning over the last 14 years. For those of you who work with pupils with SEND, it will answer many questions and build robust strategies that will enhance teaching and learning for those who need that extra help and support. Watch our short video to see the programme explained in more detail.

Buy your programme and talk to Glynis about how coaching will support all your curriculum and subject leaders to develop their leadership potential, deepen their knowledge of curriculum implementation and build highly successful teaching and learning teams across all subjects. Glynis’s telephone number is 07974 754241 and her email address is glynis@learningcultures.org.

Find out more about the power of coaching as a way forward towards whole school excellence and cohesion.