1. Welcome Back
This final module of the course has been created to enable you to analyse consultative and collaborative working practices and strategies
in your own school.
In schools there are many roles, each of which carries its own expectations and mandates. We will be referring to these roles as
'stakeholders' throughout this module. There are huge variations in each stakeholder's levels of accountability, motivation, power, interest
and responsibility - not to mention the differences in their personalities, professional priorities, communication styles, knowledge,
training and experience.
In schools there are many roles, each of which carries its own expectations and mandates. We will be referring to these roles as
'stakeholders' throughout this module. There are huge variations in each stakeholder's levels of accountability, motivation, power, interest
and responsibility - not to mention the differences in their personalities, professional priorities, communication styles, knowledge,
training and experience.
Why are these factors important? Often the provision for children with special educational needs involves a larger number of
professionals, from class teachers and teaching assistants to head teachers and educational psychologists. Each stakeholder brings their
own understanding of what will serve the child's needs best, some with a high degree of influence over decisions; some with very little
influence over decisions at all. A further difficulty is the amount of time some professionals spend with these children - some know the
child extremely well and spend large amounts of time with them; others barely know the child at all. On top of this is the individual
culture of each school and the values that it holds central which can have either a limiting or empowering affect upon the working
assumptions of each stakeholder and the relationship they will have with each other. One of the real challenges of working in a school
environment therefore is negotiating these factors and understanding how they can heavily influence the collaboration that is so crucial in
providing a comprehensive programme of interventions for children with SEN.
As in the first two modules, this module is split into two blocks; the first will lead you to presentation and the second will lead you to the
assignment.
The suggested timeline for this first block is:
Weeks 1 and 2 - Discussion tasks and group negotiation
Weeks 3 and 4 - Individual and group activity
Remainder of block 1 - Presentation preparation