Pictures: Courtesy of Appletree School, Cumbria
Information
Representation
Our Association has been asked to contribute to reviews of national policy and the creation of guidance on various occasions in recent decades. We seek to respond to major government consultations relevant to working with children and young people with SEBD.
We will continue to consult members, represent and disseminate their views (e.g. in a follow up study to the 2005 Membership Survey).
In England
We played an active role in the creation of the still-current government guidance Circular 9/94 'The Education of Children with EBD'. We now sit on the DfES BESD Working Group and have contributed to discussions about developing new guidance (likely to be issued in 2007). Dr Ted Cole attended national meetings monitoring the development of the National Programme for School Leadership and Attendance at the NPSLBA headquarters in Reading (2004/06).
SEBDA Officers are active in establishing links with and representing members' views to Government Offices and Regional Partnerships.
Joan Pritchard, Chair of SEBDA, chairs the DfES/BILD group overseeing approaches to physical interventions.
Dr Ted Cole is on the Steering Group for the DfES-funded project, 2006 -2009, on exclusions from special schools and PRUs. We have contributed to other important research initiatives (e.g. work by Prof David Berridge and colleagues on services for troubled and troublesome children; study by Esmee Fairbairn Foundation into pupils with moderate special needs).
We have sent responses to government on major Green Papers, such as 'Care Matters'.
SEBDA is part of the Special Education Consortium, on the council of Young Minds and a member of the National Children Bureau. We liaise with NAES and www.prus.org .
In Scotland
SEBDA Scotland contributed to consultations leading up to the Additional Support for Learning Act. We seek to play a more active role in advocating and responding to evolving policy in future.
In Wales
SEBDA Council member April May Kitchener is on the Steering Group for the National Behaviour and Attendance Review (NBAR).
In Ireland
Dr Maeve Martin visited SEBDA headquarters and interviewed the SEBDA Director as part of her 2005/06 review for the Irish Government of behaviour in Irish secondary Schools.