White Paper
My initial feelings in response to the UK government white paper on SEND reform.
No place, no representation, no inclusion.
I cannot see my child within this paper of proposed reform.
There is no acknowledgement of who my child is and the way he learns. My child who needs more than a quiet space attached to a busy classroom. My child who learns in his own way at his own pace. Who has learnt to read at the age of eight and not five, motivated by the need to read in order to do the things he loves. There is still no acknowledgment of those children that learn in very different ways. In fact, no general acknowledgment that all children learn differently. It still very much feels like a few adjustments made to try and fit this child into this system rather than trying to create a system that fits this child.
What is needed is a complete rethink of what learning looks like. Something radical that would benefit all children and not just some. Something to meet the needs of children that exist in a modern landscape.
I find the statement, ‘all children ready to learn at age five,’ particularly jarring. It’s a bizarre statement as all children are born ready to learn. My child was learning before age five and then suddenly trauma hit from being forced to learn in a way that went against every fibre of his being. We temporarily saw his passion for learning extinguished as he associated learning with trauma. His passion is slowly coming back now he is out of the mainstream environment, the one they want all children to ‘thrive’ in. Perhaps a more accurate statement reflecting the government’s plans would be, ‘all children ready to learn in the same way at the same time in large groups by age five.’ And if you can’t do that then we will stick you in another room but you still need to learn in the way we prescribe. Where is the inclusivity in that?
I see the MP’s smile as they deliver what they believe to be ground-breaking reforms whilst all of us sigh in frustration as they miss the point that us SEN parents have been shouting from the rooftops for years.
This is my knee-jerk response to the government’s white paper on SEND Reform. I know that it needs to be properly dissected by the SEN lawyers and advocates who can make sense of what exactly is being proposed and it has a way to go before it becomes policy, so I shan’t panic just yet, but I will acknowledge my sadness that yet again it appears my child hasn’t been included.
Yep my thoughts entirely.
I was waiting to see if I should try for EOTAS / ehcp and waiting for both the welfare bill and the white paper to do their thing- I’m scared that an ehcp mignt make ehe harder given the welfare bill. I’m try to follow it all but it’s so anxiety inducing and as you say, my kid doesn’t fit in. We have “fallen through the cracks” to use their language. I think I will stay here in the cracks even though it is a lot not to have any support. But I prefer the cracks to their “vision” as you so well describe it of every child all learning at the same time the same thing sitting down. I’m not sure I’ve got it in me to fight for EOTAS , but maybe I should whilst parents can still apply for ehcps themselves. Then I thjnk, I don’t want anything they have to offer.
On the plus side my 9 year slept through the nignt two nignts in a row so maybe just maybe I will be less exhausted in future!
I’m trying not to let all this send politics get me down and concentrate on spring coming !