What is it about?

In March 2020 schools in England closed at short notice for the majority of pupils because of Covid-19. The paper reports the findings from a survey of parents of children with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND), school staff and other professionals across a range of agencies about their experiences during the pandemic. It was clear that respondents wanted to draw on learning from their pandemic experience to reshape both local practices and national policy. Drawing on the knowledge they shared, we identified six statements that we suggest summarise key lessons from the pandemic for future partnership working in the field of SEND.

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Why is it important?

The pandemic resulted in a range of different responses and approaches for pupils with SEND. Although this shone a light on areas of poor practice and geographic inequalities in provision it also highlighted the difference that good partnership working and local flexible responses, tailored to the needs of children and young people with SEND can have. There is an obvious desire to learn from parents’ and professionals’ experiences of working together during the pandemic, and it is important that we do not lose this momentum and hunger for change. The six lessons for partnership working will be particularly important to consider during the SEND Review consultation (published March 2022) and beyond.

Perspectives

This article not only discusses the importance of collaboration and partnership working between teachers, parents and other professionals working in SEND, but it was also produced through a process of collaboration too. It was an absolute pleasure to work with Beate and Julie on this paper, as we took time to understand each other’s perspectives and to work together to produce a piece of work, in which no one perspective dominated and no voice was louder than another. As a parent of a disabled young lady, it was refreshing to see that partnership working can happen if everyone is committed to working together with a shared goal.

Sharon Smith
University of Birmingham

Drawing on a range of voices reflecting on their experiences of various responses to the COVID-19 pandemic in education has highlighted the importance of working in collaboration to for the best outcomes for children and young people with special educational needs and/or disability. Writing this article collaboratively has mirrored this partnership working approach. The result of this research has provided a strong message for the upcoming special educational needs and/or disability reforms about the importance of working together.

Julie Wharton
University of Winchester

Partnership working is not always straightforward and it takes time that we sometimes think we don't have - but collaboration often makes for richer responses and provides new perspectives. Sharon, Julie and I experienced this as we were writing the article. New perspectives are certainly now needed for individual, local and national policy responses to Covid-19 and the SEND Review Green Paper. They need to be in the best interest of children and young people identified with SEND. I am particularly struck by the strong messages from parents and professionals who understand themselves as policy actors who want to be part of of the improvement journey and who have deep insights that we cannot afford to ignore.

Beate Hellawell
UCL Institute of Education

Read the Original

This page is a summary of: ‘What was required above all else was collaboration’: keeping the momentum for SEND partnership working in the wake of Covid‐19, British Journal of Special Education, May 2022, Wiley,
DOI: 10.1111/1467-8578.12413.
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Contributors

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