SENCos are the multi-taskers of the education workforce. Due to changes in legislation1, the SENCo, or special educational needs coordinator, is now responsible for ensuring that the whole school works effectively towards inclusive practice. Many SENCos have, or are currently undertaking, the mandatory National Award for SENCos—a 60-credit, Master’s level, postgraduate certificate in leading and managing special educational needs and disability (SEND) provision—which includes understanding how to undertake and evaluate research, develop and scrutinise school policy, support colleagues, assess attainment and listen to the needs of pupils in collaboration with parents or carers.
While this level of responsibility is huge, it means that a SENCo can consider how solutions to common challenges may, in fact, lie in whole-school policies and structures. Consider these three fictional yet commonplace scenarios.
Mr. Alcott, a secondary maths teacher, keeps insisting that Jamal, a pupil with SEND, should not be in his maths class. He says that the pupil is working at a different level to the others and cannot access the curriculum.
Mrs. Simpkins says that Charlie never completes her homework. She has sent notes home and given Charlie sanctions, but the problem is getting worse. She knows that Charlie has literacy difficulties and says she always makes sure that the homework is within her reading ability.
Learnwell School has a high number of internal and fixed exclusions, with a high percentage of these being pupils with special educational needs. The SENCo is worried about both upcoming Ofsted inspections and the impact of missed curriculum areas on vulnerable pupils on the SEND register.
“So where should a SENCo start? He or she will have an idea about core areas in which the school might need a policy rethink.”