Technical support

• Article 6 of 15
• EducationInvestor, April 2012
• View a PDF of the original article

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Successive UK governments have agreed for decades now that those born with special educational needs (SEN) have a right to extra help to enable them to benefit from the education system. Cerebral palsy, visual and hearing impairments, dyslexia, autism, learning difficulties - whether the children have physical disabilities, cognitive disabilities or developmental orders, governments have largely mandated that extra funding be made available to assist these pupils to learn.

Even in the last few years of austerity, this funding has largely been preserved, with the government particularly keen to ensure those with complex difficulties are helped. But as its green paper of last year, "Achievement For All", made clear, what form this funding is going to take, who it goes to, and potentially even the sums available are set to change.

Lorraine Peterson, chief executive of the National Association of Special Educational Needs (NASEN), says that the current system provides three main streams of funding for SEN. "All schools will get an amount of money into their delegated school budget earmarked for SEN by the local authority. There's additional money for pupils called School Action Plus, which is for those pupils with special needs who are getting some kind of external support. Finally, there's funding for those with a 'statement'." A statement is a legal agreement of the difficulties a child with more pronounced SENs has, the level and the type of support needed for the child and the funding from the local authority needed to achieve that. This statement and its provisions follow the child throughout his or her development, rather than being specific to a particular school.

On top of that funding, there have also been additional sources of funds, including fundraising by parents and schools, as well as government schemes intended for the less well off, such as Pupil Premium, and capital funds such as school building-programme Building Schools for the Future (BSF). While the latter programme has now finished, companies such as SpaceKraft, which creates technology and learning areas for SEN children, have been benefitting from the investment in classrooms, with some BSF schools now only just being constructed, according to MD Michael Richards. Traditionally, much SEN money might have gone on support, such as an individual support worker, as well as accessibility provisions for both the pupil and the school. However, the targets for SEN spending have been changing over the past few years to encompass other areas as well. According to Abi James, head of product development at iansyst, "Schools have been in investing more in technology. Schools used to considered accessibility to be ramps and doors, but now it's about if children can go online, whether they can use a mouse or a keyboard, and in the move to e-learning, to ensure child have the ability to use those resources."

As well as an acknowledgement that children with SEN need to be able to access technology for communication and to accomplish everyday tasks, there's been an acknowledgement of the value of technology as part of teaching. "ICT is really good for SEN children since it gives them a personalised learning environment," says Ray Barker, director of the British Educational Suppliers Association (BESA). "If you succeed or fail onscreen, for example, no one knows and that can give kids confidence. But teachers also get a real sense of where kids at, they know when kids haven't grasped the subject and can work around that."

The Renfrewshire-based Isobel Mair school uses Smart interactive whiteboards and tables from Steljes to work with its children. The only special school in the authority so the recipient of steady funding, it's just moved into new buildings and installed the equipment in every classroom. Sarah Clark, the deputy headteacher, says the school uses the boards and table to create multi-sensory material for the children to involve them in teaching and interest. "We'll look at whatever technology we think is the best fit for the child."

In common with other many teachers that work with children with SEN, Clark says that the school has been increasingly investing in iPads and apps for the iPads. Many, including iansyst's Abi James, believe that iPads and other tablets are more natural tools for interactivity with children than laptops are. They can also be cheaper than the 'ruggedised' and saliva-proof laptops that many schools previously invested in, which can cost thousands of pounds, and even those with physical difficulties can use them with the addition of head pointers and/or wheelchair mounts. Some schools are wary of letting children with poor motor control or emotional issues use iPads, but Clark says that the sub-£20 Otterbox Defender cases for the iPads are sufficient. "They're very sturdy and it would take considerable effort or maliciousness to cause damage. We had one boy throw one of them and it was fine," says Clark.

However, iPads aren't the be-all and end-all of school ICT for SEN children. "The iPad touchscreen has fundamental problems for the blindness market," says Mark McCusker, chairman-designate of the British Assistive Technology Association (BATA) and CEO of Texthelp Systems. "How do you screen read? There are all sorts of issues. The iPad does have accessibility functions but they're kludgy and never work - it's an area unsolved and with no clear direction."

Rachel Jones, head of education at Steljes and chair of the British Council for School Environments (BCSE), also argues that to a certain extent, the tablet is just "part of the zeitgeist". "A few years ago, if you'd given schools touch technology, they wouldn't have known what to do with it. Now, there's an increasing expectation that it's part of the core business of the school."

And while apps for iPads and other tablets are an area that McCusker describes as one of the few parts of the ICT market that are "approaching red hot", he warns that the business models are still evolving. "Some guy may have sold a million apps for $1 each, but for each one of those guys, there's 999 who didn't." Texthelp is currently developing less featured packed app-versions of its existing products, with the aim of creating a product suite of apps. But at the moment, he says, everyone is looking for a winning business model.

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