Implementing Inclusiveness Realising
Potential
| "Staff dealing with additional support
needs have to be highly trained and have an
understanding of the needs of the client
group".
[Training Provider ]"There is a need for joint staff
development involving school staff, careers
advisers and training needs assessors and
providers to ensure a holistic approach."
[Local authority] | |
11. Improving Provision: Staff Training and
Development
The Issue
11.1 The role of staff in promoting and developing
Inclusiveness within agencies and organisations will be
paramount. The principle of Inclusiveness will only become
a reality if the management and staff believe in it, and
work towards a culture of Inclusiveness.
It will not be enough that staff who deal directly with
the young people adopt an Inclusiveness approach. The
culture will only become Inclusive when everyone is
engaged, at every level.
The issue is how we can engage the enthusiasm
of staff for the changes which will flow from the
introduction of Inclusiveness policies and
practices.
The Committee's View
11.2 We believe that in an Inclusive organisation, staff
need to be able to:
- recognise the difficulties some young people have
in learning;
- help them identify the areas in which they need
support;
- plan or arrange support arrangements;
- provide a curriculum or training programme which
matches their needs;
- work effectively with young people to help them
achieve the planned learning goals;
- help them prepare for the next steps.
11.3 Strong leadership by senior management will be
essential to promote change through the whole organisation.
If senior managers are actively supportive, it will offer a
strong encouragement to all staff, some of whom may
understandably be less enthusiastic about changing
practices. Senior management should consider how all staff
could contribute to the promotion and development of
Inclusiveness in their organisation. High quality training
and development will be necessary to encourage and enable
staff to take an active role in promoting Inclusiveness in
their organisation. It will be a legitimate concern for
staff that they should have the training opportunities to
help them acquire the skills and expertise that they will
need. We also believe that that there would be great
benefit in arrangements for joint staff training to
encourage greater understanding of the roles of other
agencies.
11.4 While the Committee recognises that a number of
education and training providers are already developing an
Inclusiveness approach, it is our view that all
organisations in the FE, training, community education and
guidance sector will have to consider the training and
development needs of their staff to develop Inclusiveness
within their organisation.
11.5 The Committee has reviewed the existing
arrangements for staff training and development for further
education colleges, training providers and careers service
companies.
Further Education Colleges
11.6 The Committee's FE survey showed that less than
half of academic staff received awareness training on
additional support needs. Two-thirds of the colleges felt
that they had staff development and training needs which
had not been met. The survey responses suggested that staff
development needs were usually identified by individual
members of staff rather than through a strategic
consideration of such needs across the college.
11.7 Staff working with learners with additional support
needs have a range of qualifications and experience. The
main specialist qualifications available at present
are:
- Post Graduate Diploma Special Educational
Needs;
- Post Graduate Certificate in Special Educational
Needs;
- Diploma in Continuing Special Education and
Training Needs. This is a Professional Development
Award validated by the SQA. It is a multi-disciplinary
qualification.
Additional training may be provided by in-house
awareness training or from other organisations e.g.
voluntary sector. This training is often
un-certificated.
11.8 We welcome the fact that a National Training
Organisation (NTO) has been developed for the FE Sector.
FENTO is an employer led body and has a role in defining
the qualifications and training needs of all staff in the
sector, including lecturers, and for conveying those needs
to those involved in the delivery of the provision.
Although FENTO is a relatively new body, it is already
developing national occupational standards for managers in
further education and will be considering the need for
UK-wide standards for lecturers.
11.9 New arrangements, embodied in national guidelines,
have also recently been introduced which link the initial
training of lecturers (the teaching qualification for
further education) with continuing professional
development. The model offers the opportunity to establish
a National Index of professional development units for use
in induction programmes, initial training and continuing
professional development for lecturers. The FE Professional
Development Forum will be responsible for approving the
units in the National Index. These arrangements can readily
incorporate training for lecturers on additional support
needs.
Training Providers
11.10 The Committee recognises that staff working with
training providers come from a diverse range of backgrounds
and will have a variety of experience and qualifications.
Staff may have qualifications related to their vocational
area; some may have relevant experience and/or a
qualification in working with people with additional
support needs. SQMS requires that organisations have
appropriately qualified staff. Staff working for training
providers must also have a training qualification, Training
and Development Lead Body (TDLB) standards D32 and D33.
Careers Service Companies
11.11 Careers advisers currently have the Diploma in
Careers Guidance which will include aspects of working with
clients with additional support needs. The initial
qualification for careers advisers is currently being
reviewed. The new Qualification in Careers Guidance (QCG)
has been developed by the Careers Guidance Training Council
with the support of national stakeholders in careers
guidance including DfEE, Scottish Office, Welsh Office,
Institute of Careers Guidance, CAMPAG (the careers guidance
standards setting body), and the Improvement and
Development Agency for Local Government (IDA). The new
qualification will be piloted in a small number of areas in
the UK from 1999 onwards. Work is also underway to review
the 14 units of the SVQ/NVQ level 4 in Guidance. The review
will look in particular at the competence needs for:
- work with clients who have disabilities and other
support needs;
- work with disaffected clients;
- work in multi-disciplinary teams that include other
professionals.
11.12 We are also aware of the work which is currently
being done by CAMPAG, the careers guidance standards
setting body. CAMPAG have been commissioned to develop
standards and national certification for all careers staff
who work with young people with special needs. This
includes generic careers advisers and mangers. The work
should be complete by 2000. CAMPAG are also hoping to link
with employment service staff who work with people with
disabilities.
Community education
11.13 We welcome the Government's commitment to review
initial training and ongoing professional development for
community education workers with a particular emphasis on
inter-disciplinary work, as recommended in "Communities:
Change through Learning". We understand that the creation
of a NTO to cover the interests of community education is
also being considered. When/if it comes into being,
relevant comments in the following sections should be seen
as applying also to community education.
A Framework for Staff Training and
Development
11.14 It is the Committee's view that staff competence
in planning for, and working directly with, the young
people is of the greatest importance. It is also vitally
important that there should be consistency in the quality
and availability of staff development opportunities across
the training and education sectors. Similar opportunities
should be available to others who are engaged in providing
learning or guidance to young people with additional
support needs, for example, in adult and informal
education, guidance and in social work contexts. We
recognise, however, that staff training needs vary
according to the organisation, the particular work an
individual member of staff is doing, and the range of needs
presented by the learners. Some posts demand extensive
training and experience, others need a narrower and perhaps
more specialised range of competence. Larger organisations
may require a different range of skills for their staff
complements than smaller, voluntary organisations.
11.15 We also looked at staff development from the
perspective of the staff member. Many staff members enter
the education and training sector with considerable
experience and the interpersonal skills needed to work with
their learners. Others are new to the work, or are
re-training from another field. Some may want to take their
training and professional development to higher academic
levels, and some will not. In any case we believe that
staff should be accredited for the training and development
they have to undertake, and should be able to use their
accreditation to build up a coherent career development
path, leading to further qualifications, if they wish. This
reflects current developments on credit accumulation and
transfer.
11.16
We therefore recommend that all organisations
offering learning, guidance or support to young people with
additional support needs should have a coherent and
comprehensive framework of staff training and
development. This should include:
- basic level training for all staff;
- ongoing training and development;
- progression routes for staff.
11.17 We believe that
all staff working in an inclusive
organisation need to have some basic training to raise
their awareness of learning and support needs among young
people.
We recommend that all organisations offering
learning, guidance or support to young people should ensure
that their staff have a basic training in recognising and
understanding the needs of young people who require
additional support. We also recommend that staff working
for the first time with young people who have additional
support needs should have a minimum level of in-service
training. This should be linked to the organisation's staff
training plan and quality assurance systems, for example,
FE Quality Indicators, SQMS, Investors in
People.11.18 Staff with more direct
links with young people with additional support needs
should have access to accredited training and ongoing
development and support. We would like to see a range of
free-standing staff development units/programmes for
practitioners. We think the core and options pattern, as
used in current qualifications such as the Diploma in
Continuing Special and Education and Training Needs and the
Post-Graduate Certificate in Special Educational Needs, is
valuable for those who want to build up to an accredited
qualification. We recognise the contribution of some of the
key voluntary organisations to staff training and
development, and see scope for some of their training
provision being included in the framework. Non-graduate
staff, and those who do not want to work at a post-graduate
academic level, should be offered training at an
appropriate level, while post-graduate level study should
remain an option. We would also like to see training for
senior managers.
We therefore recommend that SFEFC, the enterprise
networks, the FE Professional Development Forum, and the
relevant National Training Organisations (the Employment
NTO and FENTO) in discussion with the SQA should commission
the development of a joint training and qualifications
framework building on existing approved qualifications.
They should do this in consultation with organisations
which have responsibility for, or an interest in, staff
training and development in the FE and training
sectors.11.19 The framework could also be used by other
organisations working with young people with additional
support needs where appropriate. An example of what we
envisage as a basic framework for most staff is outlined in
the appendix to this chapter.
11.20 We recognise the costs involved in staff training,
and we believe that as well as being relevant and of good
quality, the staff training and development arrangements
should be cost-effective to employers. This would mean that
the staff development units should be available in flexible
ways, using for example:
- flexible and distance learning packages;
- electronic delivery;
- self-study and in-house supported tutorial;
and
- accreditation of prior learning (APL).
11.21 All organisations have to make decisions about
their complement of staff, how they deploy them and what
qualifications and continuing professional development is
required to meet the needs of the organisation and its
users. This is monitored variously in the training and FE
sectors, for example, through SQMS, Investors in People,
Staff Development and Appraisal or Review Schemes, and
through Development Planning and self- assessment against
development planning targets.
Joint Staff Training and Development
11.22 Elsewhere in the report, we have recommended joint
staff training and development in the areas of assessment
and provision of support for learners with additional
support needs. The Committee's consultations highlighted
the need for more joint staff training and development. As
one respondent noted, "joint training seminars and meetings
are useful in raising awareness and tackling individual
issues surrounding training for young people with
additional needs."
11.23 We believe that joint staff training and
development is essential in improving mutual understanding
and co-operation between agencies, and to ensure that the
range of young people's needs are understood, and
ultimately met.
11.24 Joint training and development could cover raising
awareness of particular issues e.g. disabilities,
homelessness; the role of other agencies; effective team
working; and referral arrangements. The first step may be
for agencies to find out more about what other agencies in
their area do. If agencies are better informed about their
respective roles and responsibilities, they will be more
able to develop positive working relationships with each
other, and most importantly, work together for the benefit
of young people.
11.25
We recommend that the proposed Area Strategy Groups
should devise a joint staff training and development
strategy. Training should be organised at a local level and
should include staff from FE, training providers, careers
service companies, community education, social work,
voluntary sector, health and any other relevant
agencies.Summary of Recommendations
We recommend that:
All organisations offering learning, guidance
or support to young people with additional support
needs should have a coherent and comprehensive
framework of staff training and development. (Paragraph
11.16)
All organisations offering learning, guidance
or support to young people with additional support
needs should ensure that their staff have a basic
training in recognising and understanding the needs of
young people who require additional support. (Paragraph
11.17)
Staff working for the first time with young
people who have additional support needs should have a
minimum level of in-service training. This should be
linked to the organisation's staff training plan and
quality assurance systems, for example, FE Quality
Indicators, SQMS, Investors in People. (Paragraph
11.17)
SFEFC, the enterprise networks, the FE
Professional Development Forum and the relevant
National Training Organisations (the Employment NTO and
FENTO), in discussion with the SQA should commission
the development of a joint training and qualifications
framework building on existing approved qualifications.
This should be done in consultation with organisations
which have responsibility for, or an interest in,
overseeing staff training and development in the FE and
training sectors. A possible model framework is
outlined in the appendix to this chapter (Paragraph
11.18, 11.9)
The proposed Area Strategy Groups should devise
a joint staff training and development strategy.
Training should be organised at a local level and
should include staff from FE, training providers,
careers service companies, social work, voluntary
sector, health and any other relevant agencies.
(Paragraph 11.25)
Appendix
Model Framework for a Training and
Qualification Framework for Education and Training
Providers
A review of staff development needs for staff working
with people with additional support needs should draw
on:
- Competencies needed by:
- Managers;
- Specialist staff; and
- All lecturers/trainers.
- Drawing on:
- Job descriptions, policy papers etc;
- Course/training programme content documents;
- HMI Quality Indicators/SQMS;
- National Training Organisations (Employment NTO,
FENTO), the expected NTO for community education;
- Direct evidence from colleges, training providers
and other agencies.
A review of existing training opportunities and
qualifications should review:
- How well do they cover the competencies
identified?
- How accessible are they to staff? (location,
flexible and distance learning, delivery in home
college, work-based elements, costs to college,
prioritisation in budgets).
Development of a training and qualifications
framework which should:
- Draw on current arrangements where appropriate
(e.g. the Professional Development Award and the
Post-Graduate Certificate in Special Educational
Needs);
- Be applicable to staff in FE, the training sector,
community education and other relevant agencies;
- Be appropriately and consistently validated;
- Be affordable by colleges/training providers and
other organisations;
- Be capable of flexible delivery;
- Allow the use of APL and credit transfer;
- Allow staff to build up qualifications over
time.
Include units for the following levels of staff:
Managers:
Single Unit to include:
- Strategic planning; inclusive approaches;
- Managing curriculum and support arrangements.
Specialist Staff:
- Certificate or Diploma - could be built up over
time
Core (for example):
- Assessing learner needs;
- Understanding learning difficulties;
- Planning learner support;
- Teaching approaches;
- Programme design and delivery.
Options (for example):
- Specific learning difficulties;
- Enabling technologies;
- Sensory Impairment;
- Supporting learners recovering from mental
illness;
- Working with underachievers.
All lecturers/trainers:
- A single unit could be available on working with
learners with additional support needs.
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