Critical Reflection on the Use and Understanding of SEN Data - Coursework Example

Critical reflection on the use and understanding of SEN data Special Education Need (SEN) is a program established for fulfilling the requirement ofthe pupils with challenging or physically disabled nature. Students having problem with learning or communicating or having physical disability and emotional and behavioral disorder are benefited from this program. “It has been estimated that around 20% of children will need some form of extra support during their time at school. For many this will be relatively short-lived, for others it will affect their entire school – and home – lives. Thankfully, SEN is very well-regulated in English law and every child – including those in independent schools – is covered equally”(Summersgill, 2009).Data are used to analyze and monitor the academic, social and behavior progress of these children with special needs. It is a basic component of special education and it is necessary to measure the effectiveness of therapies applied on the student with special needs. SEN Data is an important aspect of educational process. There are various ways a co coordinator can collect data to assess the progress of the students. One type of data is student performance data in which data comprise of information on individual students. They include information on school previously attended, courses taken, scores attained, current class room assessments, grades, diagnostic assessment, programs enrolled in, participation in projects and extra curricular activities of the students etc. The program for special educational need is conducted in the schools at all levels. SENCO approaches schools and collect data and study them exclusively to benefit the students. Data is very crucial element in the Special Education Need program . It allows the student performance appraisal and assist in the progression of the educational standard of the student.“Data are raw ingredients from which statistics are created”(Erickson).Data are produced and collected in various ways and also used by different parties like teachers, SEN coordinators and Government officials. Teachers analyze the data in order to improve the learning capacity of the students. The primary subject of data is dominatingly student and their learning process. Even though students are the focus of the process it also includes people who support students in the learning process. These are teachers, principals, parents, school management, school communities etc. The sources of data can be various like simple observations, questionnaires or surveys. To evaluate the performance of students with special needs different tests are conducted by the school. Students are asked to attend test with mathematical nature and spell check are also conducted. NFER tests are conducted to over view the reading capability of the pupil and the outcome is recorded on the computer. QCA optional national tests conducted also enabled to over view the performance quality of the children. School also uses its own certificates to analyze the performance. French public speaking, hand writing and spelling test, merit awards, ICT time tables are various certification process used by the school. All the results of such test form the part of the data accessed by a coordinator. When collecting the data the co coordinators have to also look at the cultural background of the students. Culture also plays an important role in the development of the students. Data has to be acquired with relate to the religious back ground, and social environment of the student. The society plays a big role in the development of the student’s behavior. Students with special need require a big encouragement from the society. The co coordinator has to collect information from student’s parents, friends, neighbors etc regarding his/her interaction with public and parents. The coordinator should pay visits to the home of the students on a monthly interval so that a continuous observation is practiced to over view the development of the student. The information also has to be collected from previous schools where the students have attended in the past in order to understand the performance standard of the individual. This gives an idea as to which are the key areas the students need motivation and encouragement. The educational activity of the student in the past is very important because it plays a big role in building a behavioral pattern in the mind of the student .The grades achieved by the pupil allows the coordinator to understand the skills and knowledge achieved by a particular student in the past. Conversation held with the staff of the previous school gives idea as to the weakness and strength of the particular child. The extra curricular activities of the child also play a vital role in understanding his/her performance. Today the data collection and integration has become easier with the emergence of computer software and web based products. These soft wares help in recording the outcomes of the tests and learning curriculum to enhance the reliability and quality of the data. There are also computer packages which give better access to the statistics and mathematical models to aid the data collection process. This information has to be used wisely so that results come out accurate. If used unwisely, it can give false confidence and shallow understanding. This would not do much to the calculation of statistics, and cannot be easily perceived and communicated to others. Even the data entered by the staff can have errors and there should be a counter checking practice in order to avoid defective information. The most important aspect of data is the scores of reading and writing of the student. This gives an idea as to the basic ability of the student with regard to the reading and writing practice. If the student is found to be physical challenged in writing or reading, special therapies are to be recommended so as to improve his/her condition. “Learning Disabilities in writing may be hereditary, caused by differences in brain development, brain injury, or stroke. They are not solely the result of problems with expressive or receptive language, visual or hearing problems, or hand-eye coordination, but they can be complicated by these conditions”(Logston,2010). So a slight understanding of the medical background of the student can also helps in supporting the child in many ways. Teaching techniques can be created specifically to aid the student taking in consideration his special need. The data is very beneficial for the teachers, parents and the co coordinators .It gives information to the teachers as to the cognitive and learning ability of the student. The behavioral, social and emotional progress of the child is also recognized from the data. Parents can see the progress reports and evaluate how their child is progressing in educational and other field. They can assist the teacher and coordinators in reaching their goal of improving the educational quality of the student. It also allows the parents to work with out side agencies, therapist or doctors in a better way .The coordinators can plan the work better and can accommodate new style of teaching based on the data acquired from the performance level of the student. There exist also an ethical guideline for the use of data and circulation so as to avoid unjust practice on the students. The exercise of integrity and rigor is given utmost importance. The fairness and quality of data is closely monitored. There is a constant vigilance on the educational community on the misuse of data. “Confidentiality is an area that has to be taken seriously. To some pupils, and their families, having special educational needs still carries a stigma of shame”(Wright, Brandom, 2000).So the aspect of privacy has to be given due respect when dealing with data. When concluding it can be very well said that students performance data has a major role and potential in supporting learning in school. In order to have a correct outlook of the student’s learning outcome we should have access to genuine source of data. It is not possible to study the activity of the brain of a student internally by fixing electrodes to its cerebral cortex. We have to observe the child and verify the performance through tests and interviews. If data collection is weak then the interpretation available from the analysis will also be weak. “In response to the lack of specificity in the SEN data, in part because of moves to be less categorical, some countries also collect additional pupil level data for statistical purposes”(Evans,Deluca,2009,Pg.123,).The quality, quantity, reliability and comparability of qualitative and quantitative data on students has to be strengthened. The tests and other exams conducted should be fairly judged and the results should not be biased. The students have to be scrutinized thoroughly and quality time has to be spent with them in order to extract information to form data. The staff and the coordinators have to build in trust with the children and opportunity must be given to explore their full capability. The data can be genuine only if the students with special needs are given enough space to bring about their genuine skill and ability. The whole assessment of a child with special need is done on the basis of the data collected .So a coordinator has to be very vigilant as to the reliability and credibility of the information collection because it is a future of a child he/she is dealing with. Work Cited Evans, Peter, and Deluca Marcella. Students with Disabilities,Learning Difficulties and Disadvantage in the Baltic States,Southern Eastern europe And Malta. OECD Publication, 2009 Erickson,Sue."FindingDataforResearch".July19,2010. Logston, Ann.(2010) "Writing Disabilities - Basic Writing Disabilities and Learning Disabilities". July 19, 2010. Summersgill, Ian.(2009) "Special Educational Needs (SEN) and Independent Schools". July 19, 2010 . Wright, Andrew, and Brandom, Ann- Marie. Learning to Teach Religious Education in the Secondary School. London: Routledge Falmer, 2000. 4 . The aim of all the professional development materials in this folder and CD-ROM is to encourage schools to take a more strategic approach to managing inclusion issues, focusing on whole-school development rather than solely on meeting the needs of individual children. The framework for all the sessions is the school improvement cycle in which the school asks itself the questions: • How well are we doing? • How do we compare with similar schools? • How well should we be doing? • What more can we aim to achieve? • What must we do to make it happen? The sessions on self-evaluation and understanding data particularly relate to the first four of these questions. The sessions on planning effective provision focus on the last. An additional aim of these materials is to enhance the middle management skills of inclusion coordinators or SEN or EMA coordinators and their contribution to distributed or collaborative leadership within their school. In this sense, they follow the model of materials provided by the National Strategies for literacy and mathematics coordinators, which were highly successful in developing this group of staff as leaders in their own schools. http://nationalstrategies.standards.dcsf.gov.uk/node/123043?uc=force_uj http://www.governornet.co.uk/linkAttachments/GovernorExplanatoryNote%20SENCO%20regs%20nov%2008.doc (2) Read More