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Back in the early 2000s I was one of the trainers on the government's NOF ICT training. It was £230 million of Big Lottery Fund money. I went around the country talking to teachers about how to use ICT in their teaching. There was also a big fat folder of resources, and an online portal. It was, according to one researcher, a “shocking failure”.
So in 2026 (27…28…??) what will £200 million get us to train all teachers and teaching assistants, and early years staff?
“Underpinning the training will be a new expectation set out in the SEND Code of Practice, confirming that all staff in every nursery, school and college should receive training on SEND and inclusion – making sure that every teacher nationwide is reached.“
By Department for Education and The Rt Hon Bridget Phillipson MP
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/200-million-landmark-send-teacher-training-programme
“We hope the focus is on sustained, evidence-informed development that ensures staff can plan, deliver and assess in ways that are ambitious, inclusive and accessible. Investing in knowledgeable, trusted support staff and teachers who understand responsive planning, adaptive classroom practice and resource selection, allows children to not just access but excel in their work and is transformational.”
https://headteachersroundtable.wordpress.com/2026/01/17/stepping-onto-the-send-rollercoaster/
Mainstream inclusion with Tom Rees, Kellie Bright and Marsha Martin
“The DFE have emphasized that inclusion should mean responsibility within the whole school to be inclusive. And so that could be improving training for teachers and support staff. There has been some progress on, you know, introducing, SEND specific training for new teachers, but there is more that needs to be done, I think, around upskilling existing teachers in mainstream to recognise, SEND and intervene and provide the right support.”
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0mtg57j
“The feedback from almost all parents about the online meetings has been dire. Most reported being unable to participate in the chat or to access the question and answer facility. Even though this was fed back many times to the department before Christmas, it wasn’t solved for later events. Those with paid or work Teams accounts had better luck, but even their experience was variable. Most felt it was, at best, a conversation between those sat beside minister, Georgia Gould, rather than those joining from home. Embarassing."
by Diana Read
“For reform processes to succeed, effectiveness must be designed into the system, through aligned accountability, trusted evidence use, early intervention, and genuine partnership with families, not retrofitted once children have already fallen through the gaps.”
by Dr Sharon Smith
“How did we ever end up in a world where we have children and we have SEND children, as if they
themselves are some strange sub-species, when they’re clearly not?”
“Lenehan also said she was “really quite surprised about the lack of evidence on effective interventions and what works”.
Reporting by Samantha Booth
https://schoolsweek.co.uk/schools-at-the-heart-of-send-reforms-says-adviser/
“Meanwhile, DfE advisers fret over words “Lenehan said…SEND was “such an amorphous context…it means nothing. It’s a word that’s almost meaningless.” This is ridiculous—it’s an ACRONYM, it’s the least of your worries.”
https://bsky.app/profile/spcialndsjungle.bsky.social/post/3mcmageawiw25
“...the latest TIMSS study which showed low and falling figures for England in terms of the sense of “belonging” particularly secondary school pupils”
by Warwick Mansell
“There are frameworks posed to better integrate different ideas and theories about belonging. School leaders likely need to create their own framework, or plan, to help shape their work.”
by Alex Quigley
https://alexquigley.co.uk/the-challenge-of-belonging/
“For some kids, social media was and is the key to keeping happy and positive”
“Moreover, there seems to be an illusion that if we took social media (and phones) away from kids they would all suddenly take up healthy pursuits, from sports to arts and crafts, to reading Jane Austen or doing embroidery. The reality is that they generally can’t do any of that, because we’ve sold off the playing fields and shut down the youth clubs.”
by Paul Bernal
https://paulbernal.wordpress.com/2025/12/03/banning-kids-from-social-media-a-very-bad-idea/
The word “SEN-betweeners” is new to me, but this LinkedIn carousel has some familiar ideas, which are quite powerful when grouped together.
by Helen Buzdugan
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