My Lords, I support my noble friend in these two amendments. Amendment 195 seeks to put what sort of qualifications a SENCO should have in the Bill, because currently it just says:
“The appropriate authority must designate a member of staff at the school (to be known as the “SEN co-ordinator”)”.
Clause 63(3) says that regulations may,
“require appropriate authorities ... to ensure that SEN co-ordinators have prescribed qualifications or prescribed experience”.
Looking at the draft SENCO code of practice, I was reassured to see that it says on page 78 that governing bodies,
“must ensure that there is a qualified teacher designated as Special Educational Needs (SEN) co-ordinator (SENCO) for the school. The SENCO must be a qualified teacher working at the school”.
Newly qualified SENCOs,
“must achieve the National Award in Special Educational Needs Coordination within 3 years of appointment”.
That is very reassuring, but what I do not understand is why that cannot go in the Bill. That is what my noble friend is looking for in Amendment 195.
Amendment 196 goes further and suggests that all teachers in their initial teacher training should have some proper training in how to identify special educational needs. The fact is that all teachers know that they are teachers of SEN because in every class there are children with special needs. It is crucial that every teacher has some idea of how to spot that and make sure that the appropriate, additional and more specialist skills and provision are made for them if the teacher cannot give it themselves. There is something in these two amendments which requires a little more reassurance and explanation from the Minister.
5.45 pm