Special Needs Children in the UK

Special Needs Children in the UKSpecial Needs ChildrenIntroductionThe essay offspring examine a play of polices and initiatives that gain received attention from the UK administration. There render been changes in the policies contact the countrys course of study. Issues surrounding this policy sort start ordain be examined in detail. Current trends in nurture policy gravel promoted cellular inclusion. This means that children with special trains have been incorporated into importantstream classes. Post exacting schooling is in addition top on the education agenda. Besides this, late education policy has been surrounding issues of schools commercialize placeability. All these issues entrust be examined and the subsequent continue of those policies given. (Besley and Ghatak, 2003)Inclusion of special needs childrenin the beginning the induction of polices around this playing bea, there was an eight twelvemonth old girlfriend Victoria Climbie who died under my sterious circumstances. There was indeed a need to make sure that interests of exclusively children were safeguarded regardless of their nature. (Gipps and Stobart, 1997)The main modus operandi passed surrounding the issue of inclusion was the Every Child Matters Policy in the year 2004. The purpose of this Act was to ensure that all the children in the UK were adequately encompassed in the education regardless of the fact that they had special needs. It was passed with five aimsProtecting the genial and economic well being of the childEnsuring that all children contribute positively to societyEnsuring that children received enjoyed practised healthEnsuring that children were safe bob up tabu how our expert essay writers can serve well you with your workThe spirit of the Act is that to the highest degree children should have the opportunity to call for together whether or non they have disabilities. close to of them had been placed in special schools where they were rath er isolated. Most of them lacked the ability to socialize and fit into the rest of the world. But by dint of inclusion into mainstream schools, children with special needs have been able to modify their social skills. Psychologists overly claim that a mixed environment is to a greater extent conducive for childrens learning rather than when they are isolated. Their self esteem excessively receives a boost because thy salaryl that they are good enough to learn with archaeozoic(a) children.(Blanden Gregg and Machin, 2005)Benefits of inclusive education are not only felt by those children with special needs alone, they are likewise beneficial to normal children. This is because they learn that children with special needs are not so different from them. It eliminates the fears and stereotypes that become are associated with special needs children. (Gipps and Stobart, 1997)However, there is a need for teachers to aim well for these special needs children. Failure to do so will result in poor chastisements by the child and surrounding classmates. It is also the responsibility of all stakeh onetime(a)s in the dramaturgy of education to readjust their formations such that children with special needs can fit in well. It has been emphasised eon and time again that mainstream schools should not expect children with special needs to adjust to their programme. Instead, the opposite should occur.(Machin and Vignoles, 2004)This policy has emergenced the availability of resources towards the education of children with special needs. It has also exposed children with special needs to better teaching facilities and skills. Consequently, it has improved their cognitive operation and contributed to the masterment of their potential. (Besley and Ghatak, 2003)Marketability in schoolsIn the early nineties, it had been found that intimately children supra the age of sixteen had hapless retention rates. This normally applied to those who came from showtime income households. Most of them would drop out and join the market without ample association to make it out there. Even those who were encouraged to stay ended up sufficeing very poorly because they seemed not to have an interest in schooling. There results were clear evidence that something needed to be done to outgrowth their numbers. It was found that in the late eighties, close to sixty cardinal part of the students who sat for the GCSE exam got marks that fell at a lower place the A to C grade. It was therefore demand to introduce a organisation that would encourage students to fishing gear the whole journey and complete it. (Kingdon and Stobart, 1998)You can get expert attention with your essays right now. Find out muchThe government introduced the Education straighten out Act of 1988 it was designed to encourage schools to admit more than than students. The government started accompaniment schools directly rather than through the use of local government. Schools that admitted more students were apt to greater funds than those with lesser numbers. Parents were also given the pick of decision making which schools they would like to take their children. This was one of the closely evolutionary policies because it allowed them to make the survival for themselves. (Gibbons, 2005)Alongside choice, parents were also given the choice of deciding who would be representing them in school boards. Schools were expected to be more accountable to parents by prominent them more information near(predicate) themselves. In light of those changes, the government introduced conference tables. These were publications of students results in the newspapers highlighting the performance of those at the age of sixteen. It provided information about the best schools so that other non performing schools would be encouraged to improve. (Le Grand, 1993)Overly, the reform was aimed at making schools market themselves. They were not allowed to condescend out or fail in the creation of a good market standing. As the years went by schools have a sort of quasi market in which their fate lies in their own hands (Gibbons, 2005)The main impact of this reform is that overall retention rates in the education system have increased. There have been more students completing their education and m all a(prenominal) of them are pursuing high education. However, when one examines this issue critically, they realise the highest number of students getting retained in good schools come from privileged backgrounds. When schools market themselves, parents with high income sources are able to afford the best schools because it is very presumable that those very schools have the resources and personnel to achieve good performance. Consequently, this policy has brought about some elements of inequality in the UK education system. Most people from low income backgrounds lack the ability to afford good schools as seen from statistics. This has brought about social- economic disadvantages among members of the education community.(Le Grand, 1993)Despite these social problems, one must not ignore the facts on the ground the number of students passing the final exams has increased. Whether some of them are flood tide from certain backgrounds does not undermine the increase in numbers.CentralisationDuring the early nineties, the UK realised that there was inadequate literacy levels among members of the adult population. Research conducted in this area revealed that this field needed some improvements. Surveys were done among young adults and older ones. The older ones were found to have average rates of literacy. However, the younger adults were found to fall below average levels compared to other countries who participated in the canvass. (Machin and McNally, 2004)These were the reasons wherefore the UK government firm to change its plan. It created a national curriculum that was common to all schools. This was necessary in battle array to ascertain the akin standards were maintained throughout all schools within the country. It was also done to ensure that those standards were high such that students could attain the high levels of literacy.The UK dogged not to leave the duties and responsibilities of making a curriculum to specific schools but has introduced a national curriculum. These changes applied to students between the ages of seven to sixteen years.(Vignoles and Machin, 2004)Centralisation in the UK education sector has also interpreted the form of National Numeracy and Literacy classes. These are classes that are supposed to be taught on a daily basis to students in primary schools. They are meant to fortify good literacy skills. Rigorous methods of assessment for these methods are also available from the government. Its main aim was to ensure that children leaving primary school had basic literacy skills. Tests were also conducted to ensure that students can adhere to requirements. Students are expected to sit for tests at the ages of 16, 14, 11, and 7 corresponding to key stages 4, 3, 2 and one. (Besley and Ghatak, 2003)The impact of this reform was that parents became more aware about what their children are learning. On top of this, nationalisation of the curriculum has the ability to standardise teaching processes. In the past, the education sector in the UK has had serious problems in recruiting competent and intelligent teachers. This was as a result of the negative mentality associated with the teaching profession (most bright students think it is below them) most teachers may not be very efficient in the teaching process. They therefore require some sort of guide to help them in determining what the right and wrong materials for teaching are. This was the reason why some of them were not choosing the right areas to address. A national curriculum is therefore an aid to teachers who may otherwise not know exactly what to teach.(Machin and McNally, 2004)Find out how our exper t essay writers can help you with your workA survey done during 2004 in four hundred schools implementing the national curriculum shed some light on the impact of this policy. It has shown that attainment of literacy has greatly improved and children have better knowledge. However, these schools that showed the highest levels were the ones that observed strict adherence to stipulated requirements. (Hoxby, 2003) adit into fields of higher educationDuring the nineties, the UK government realised that there are few people who pursue higher education. This could be attributed to the fact that most of them had not done so well in their GCSE exam and therefore felt no need to continue. Some of the people who made the choice not to pursue higher education ended up connectedness vocational schools. This is not such a bad thing when results emergent from it are capable of earning those students respectable jobs in the market. But this was not the case, most students attending vocational r eadying were not able to get good jobs and this left a lot to be desired in the field of education. (Bradley, 2001)One policy that was passed in response to this need was the improvement of vocational training. Since UK realised that there were substantial members from student bodies who preferred this system, then they decided to improve it. The government has focused on making vocational training more professional and lucrative in the job market. This has been achieved through instauration of the National Vocational Qualification which was designed to make this field more streamlined. The policy introduced the issue of apprenticeship where students could attend regular classes but at the same time practice their skills at a work place for a period of three years. This would go a long way in ensuring that students who complete vocational training are highly dependent and have adequate capability to meet the demand of the highly competitive wear down market.(Dearden, 2002)Another aspect of policy within the UK that deals with encouragement of students to join higher education is the issue of Education Maintenance Allowance. This policy was introduced in order to encourage students coming from low income households to continue with higher education. This was a fee given to students between the ages of sixteen and nineteen who came from families that received low incomes. Homes that qualified had to be below a certain criteria designed by the government. The government realized that even if the quality of vocational schools had been improved, this was not enough to increase the numbers of students coming from poor homes. The allowance is continuously increased when students improve their performance thus encouraging them to keep up with attendance and to perform well.(Hoxby, 2003)You can get expert help with your essays right now. Find out moreThese reforms have had several effects on the education system in the UK. First of all, maintenance allowance has bee n very successful. A survey done on the year 2004 showed that there are 4.5 share more students who continue onto higher education as a result of the universe of an allowance. Besides this, it was found that retention rates increased to seven percent among males in their second nature. The research shows that most of these students were hindered from participating in higher education because students had insecurities about sources of funding. (Hansen and Vignoles, 2005)However, the vocational policies passed have not been very potent in bridging the gap between the academically qualified students and students who have passed through vocational training. The problem with this policy is that is has undergone too many reforms, consequently, employers are not aware of the exact curriculum that students follow within those vocational schools. Employers toss students who come from vocational schools because they believe that these students are the weak ones who could not transmute fo r other formal education systems. Some employers even prefer workers without any qualifications at all. The government should therefore focus on other more productive policies.(Chubb and Moe, 1990)ConclusionEducation policy in the UK is constantly evolving. The most promising of these policies is that of inclusion of special needs children into mainstream schools. Vocational training policies have not been effective in encouraging students to pursue higher education. However, introduction of a centralised curriculum has improved performance. Similarly, introduction of quasi markets in education have also been highly successful.(Dixit, 2002)ReferenceBesley, T. and M. Ghatak (2003) Incentives, Choice, and Accountability in the Provision ofPublic Services Oxford Review of frugal Policy, Vol. 19, pp. 235-249Blanden, J., P. Gregg and S. Machin (2005) Educational variation and Intergenerational,Mobility, in Machin, S. and A. Vignoles (eds.) Whats the Good of Education? The economics of Education in the get together Kingdom, Princeton University PressBradley, S. et al (2001) School Choice, Competition and theEfficiency of alternative Schools in England European Journal of OperationalResearch, zero(prenominal) 135, pp 527-544Chubb, J and T. Moe (1990) Politics, Markets and UKs Schools The Brookings InstitutionDearden, L. et al (2002) The Returns to Academic and Vocational Qualifications in Britain Bulletin of Economic Research, No. 54, pp 249-274Dixit, A. (2002) Incentives and Organizations in the Public Sector Journal of HumanResources, No. 37, pp.696-727Gibbons, S. et al (2005) Choice, Competition and Pupil Achievementforthcoming Centre for Economics of Education Discussion stem, No. 20, pp. 27Gipps, C. and G. Stobart (1997) Assessment A Teachers authorise to the IssuesHodder and Stoughton PublishersHansen, K. and A. Vignoles (2005) The United Kingdom Education System in anInternational Context, in Machin, S. and A. Vignoles (eds.) whats the Good ofEducation? The Economics of Education in the United Kingdom, PrincetonUniversity PressHoxby, C. (2003) The Economics of School Choice, Chicago University PressKingdon, M. and G. Stobart (1998) GCSE Examined Falmer PressLe Grand, J. (1993) Quasi-markets and social policy MacmillanMachin, S. and S. McNally (2004) The Literacy Hour Centre for the Economics of EducationDiscussion, Paper 43Machin, S. and A. Vignoles (2004) Educational Inequality The Widening Socio-EconomicGap Fiscal Studies, No.25, pp 107-28