Within the Act, all children and young people and their parents should be encouraged to participate in decision-making processes and have the opportunity to make their views known about decisions which affect them. The Act serves to strengthen further the involvement of children, young people and their parents in working with authorities to reach decisions which enable children to benefit from education. These decisions include whether a co-ordinated support plan is required and choices about the nature of support required. Good communication with families is therefore essential to enable them to influence decisions made about children’s learning.
Although almost all parents felt well supported and informed about their children’s progress by schools, three-quarters of parents were critical of authorities in relation to raising awareness of their rights within the new legislation and advocacy.
Quality of consultation and communication with families
Most authorities included parents on implementation or reference groups. Notably, where parents were members of strategic planning groups, they perceived themselves as equal partners. In most authorities, the main approach to providing information to parents about their rights within the Act was through issuing leaflets to schools. Sources of information included posters, amendments to parent handbooks to take account of the Act and newsletters which raised awareness of the legislation and provided advice on the rights of children and young people and their parents. Other forms of information issued to parents included leaflets about mediation and dispute resolution, most frequently asked questions about the Act and quick reference guides to the legislation for parents. In a few authorities, parent co-ordinators and voluntary agencies operated a phone line for parents which was widely used to respond to enquiries about education-related issues and the Act.
General information workshops about the Act had taken place prior to implementation in most authorities with special interest groups and school boards. In one authority, parents were directly involved with and consulted about the piloting of co-ordinated support plans. However, in almost all authorities, this information had been issued only to parents of children and young people with Records of Needs and not to all parents.
Parents’ forums were regarded by most authorities as the most effective means of consulting systematically with parents. However, over half of parents were unaware of parent forums in their authority. A few voluntary agencies stated that parents of children and young people with social, emotional and behavioural difficulties did not join parents’ panels or support groups. A few authorities had built on existing regular meetings and used these to discuss local authority policy with parents, including implementation plans for the new legislation. Parents varied considerably in the extent to which they felt involved in the implementation process. A few had not been informed about transitional arrangements. It was unclear whether parents of children and young people attending independent or residential special schools outwith the local authority had been informed of changes in the legislation.
More than half of voluntary agency staff reported that parents approached them to access advocacy as a route to accessing services and in order to avoid disputes with authorities and tribunal referrals.
Views of children and young people
There was considerable scope across most authorities for developing approaches to involving children and young people in a meaningful way about decisions which affect them. Meaningful consultation could include, for example, focused discussion with a range of young people with additional support needs and, where appropriate, using advocates, communication support workers or specialist equipment. A few authorities had begun to involve children and young people in discussion and in some cases had employed outside consultants to facilitate and advise on this. However, most of these developments were not yet fully implemented. Most authorities planned to consult children and young people through pupil forums and conferences, school councils and the reviews of progress. In the best practice, authorities had produced timelines and action plans for their consultative and information-disseminating work with children and young people.
Most authorities were at an early stage in developing their approaches to consulting with and involving children and young people who lacked capacity to make their views known. Reasons for this lack of capacity might include mental illness, developmental disorder or learning disability, or inability to communicate because of a physical disability, where an alternative means of communication or interpretation (human or mechanical) would assist that child or young person to make his or her views known. A small number of authorities were planning to appoint a children’s rights officer to develop consultation with children and young people and some had issued booklets for children explaining procedures in child-friendly language. However, almost all authorities recognised that work needed to be done to include the voices of children and young people appropriately.
Voluntary agencies identified some examples of good practice in consulting with and involving children and young people with additional support needs in their own provision. These included:
Although few children and young people interviewed for the task were able to identify improvements in their provision, all felt that support that they received from the school and partner agencies was helping them to make progress. Most were able to describe whole school systems for taking account of pupils’ views on provision in general. In primary schools, peer supporters and classroom assistants who worked with pupils sometimes discussed the format of reviews with them in advance. In secondary schools, pupil support staff explained the purpose of reviews and sometimes sought their views in advance of the meeting. In some schools, guidance staff or careers advisers arranged special meetings with young people with additional support needs to assist them in subject choices and careers advice. Almost all pupils attended reviews of their progress personally and a small number were members of a pupil council representing all pupils.
In a few authorities, an ‘advocacy mapping’ exercise had been undertaken with the intention of using the recommendations from this exercise to inform proposals to set up a children and young persons’ advocacy service. In one authority, a team of young people working with a graphic designer had developed an effective publicity campaign to inform other young people about the broader concept of additional support needs, the Act and its implications for their rights and advice on obtaining support. In another authority, a children’s forum consulted effectively with young people using professional facilitators. Children’s views were built around vision statements which provided evidence that children were broadly positive about the help they received in schools. In the majority of authorities, parent supporters from voluntary agencies and family support workers attended meetings with parents and young people and explained what was likely to happen at meetings and how decisions are made. In a few authorities, authorities provided advocacy training for workers to support families and young people with complex needs to express their views. A few issued information to schools on the use of supporters and advocates with feedback from parents built into the process. Most authorities sent letters to parents prior to review meetings, inviting them to bring a supporter.
In most authorities, existing mechanisms for communicating with children and young people and their parents were still in the process of being reviewed and developed to take account of the Act and its implications.
Key strengths
Areas for improvement