Warnock (1978)

Notes on the text
Preliminary pages Membership, Contents, Introduction
Chapter 1 General approach
Chapter 2 Historical background
Chapter 3 Scope of special education
Chapter 4 Discovery, assessment and recording
Chapter 5 Children under five
Chapter 6 Schoolchildren with special needs: introduction
Chapter 7 Special education in ordinary schools
Chapter 8 Special education in special schools
Chapter 9 Parents as partners
Chapter 10 Transition from school to adult life
Chapter 11 Some curricular considerations
Chapter 12 Teacher education and training
Chapter 13 Advice and support in special education
Chapter 14 Other education service staff
Chapter 15 Health service and social services
Chapter 16 Relations between professionals, confidentiality and coordination of services
Chapter 17 Voluntary organisations
Chapter 18 Research and development
Chapter 19 Priorities and resources
Summary of recommendations

Appendices

Appendix 1 List of contributors
Appendix 2 Categories of handicapped pupils
Appendix 3 Possible grid as basis for statistical returns
Appendix 4 Organisation of health service
Appendix 5 Research project on services for parents of under 5s
Appendix 6 Research project on pre-school education
Appendix 7 Research project on employment experiences of handicapped school leavers
Appendix 8 Survey of teachers' views on special education

Index

Report of the Committee of Enquiry into the education of handicapped children and young people

London: Her Majesty's Stationery Office 1978
© Crown copyright material is reproduced with the permission of the Controller of HMSO and the Queen's Printer for Scotland.

ISBN 0 10 172120 X

Chapter 12: Teacher education and training
[pages 226 - 251]

INTRODUCTION

12.1 Our broader concept of special education and the provisions of Section 10 of the Education Act 1976 will make extensive demands on teachers and our proposals in this chapter for increasing their knowledge of special educational needs are therefore of the utmost importance. It is imperative that every teacher should appreciate that up to one child in five is likely to require some form of special educational help at some time during his school career and that this may be provided not only in separate schools or classes but also, with suitable support, in the regular classes of ordinary schools. The procedures which we have proposed for identifying, assessing and meeting the needs of children who require special educational provision will demand insight on the part of all teachers into the special needs which many children have. They must also be aware of the importance of working closely with parents and with other professionals and non-professionals concerned with helping those children who have special needs. The positive attitudes required of teachers in recognising and securing help for children with special educational needs, and the necessary skills, must be acquired in the course of training. In this chapter we consider the developments necessary in teacher training if this is to be brought about.

12.2 It is also vital that those teachers who have a defined responsibility for children with special educational needs should have considerable expertise in special education. This will be true whether the teachers concerned are in charge of a resource centre or other supporting base within an ordinary school, in charge of a designated special class or unit, members of the staff of a special school, or peripatetic teachers. In this chapter we consider the additional training that these teachers will require, and we make proposals for a pattern of in-service training that will enable them to extend and deepen their specialised knowledge. Our proposals are directed towards improving the quality of the education provided for children with special educational needs and enhancing the status of the teachers who specialise in meeting these needs - aims which are interdependent and should be recognised as such.

12.3 The first four sections of this chapter are concerned with the training of teachers for work in schools or, in the case of children under statutory school age, in the home or in other settings such as nursery schools or classes, day nurseries or playgroups. The fifth section considers the training of teachers in the further education sector. The sixth discusses the admission of people with disabilities to teacher training courses and their subsequent employment as teachers, and the final section emphasises the need for a career structure for teachers specialising in the teaching of children or young people with special educational needs.

I INITIAL TEACHER TRAINING

A special education element

12.4 Since the large majority of children who are likely to require special educational provision will manifest their difficulties for the first time in school they will have to be identified there. Close and continuous observation of all children by their teachers is therefore essential and for this to be effective teachers must be equipped to notice signs of special need. Moreover, having noticed such signs in a child, they must appreciate the importance of early assessment of his needs and must know when and where to refer for special help. We believe that this knowledge and appreciation should be taught to all teachers in the course of initial teacher training and during their induction into their first teaching post. In-service training will be vital if teachers are to help effectively in recognising the children who have special educational needs and in making suitable provision for them; but the groundwork should be laid in initial training.

12.5 Courses of initial teacher training already include instruction in teaching methods and forms of classroom organisation to promote effective learning. It will be increasingly important in future that this should cover the variety of learning and behavioural problems which are likely to be found in many classes. A recent survey in Scotland of the views of newly qualified teachers who had completed the primary diploma course revealed that many felt insufficiently prepared for teaching children with a range of needs: 58 per cent felt inadequately prepared for teaching slow learners and 6 per cent said the topic had not been dealt with; 28 per cent felt inadequately prepared for teaching handicapped children and 61 per cent said the topic had not been dealt with. (1) We have no reason to think that a similar survey in England and Wales would produce significantly different results. We suggest that in future courses should give more attention to the organisation and management of different learning activities by means of which the disparate educational needs of individual children may be met within the unity of the ordinary class. Moreover, teachers should be helped to understand the wide variety of reasons why individual children behave in a disruptive manner, for example tensions in the family, school or community or the frustrations of a highly gifted child whose abilities are insufficiently recognised and developed.

12.6 Initial teacher training courses already include elements in educational psychology and child development which normally devote some attention to children's individual differences in the main areas of development - physical, intellectual, emotional and social. The evidence we have received and our own observations, however, indicate that in some courses the teaching of child development is too theoretical and limited in scope. We recommend that the teaching of child development should always take account of different patterns and rates of individual development, particularly as they affect learning, and should include the effects of common disabilities and other factors which influence development.

12.7 The teaching of child development, orientated in the way that we have proposed, will provide a basis for promoting among teachers awareness of their part in recognising children with special needs and of the importance of taking steps to see that such needs are met, first and foremost by seeking skilled help. A large number of contributors to our evidence proposed that an element should be included in all initial teacher training which would promote this awareness and afford a basic knowledge of special education services. We entirely support this idea and recommend that an element, which we shall from now on describe as a 'special education element', should be included in all courses of initial teacher training, including those leading to a postgraduate certificate in education. We further recommend that it should be taught within the general context of child development. Its aims should be as follows:

(i) to develop an awareness that all school teachers, whatever the age group of their pupils or level of their work, are likely to be concerned with helping some children who have special educational needs;

(ii) to enable teachers to recognise early signs of possible special educational need;

(iii) to give teachers knowledge of the part which they can play in the assessment of a child's educational needs and in the execution of any special measures prescribed;

(iv) to give teachers knowledge of what special education is like, together with knowledge of the range of various forms of special educational provision and of specialist advisory services;

(v) to provide some acquaintance with special schools, classes and units;

(vi) to give teachers some understanding of how to communicate effectively with parents and an awareness of the importance of appreciating parents' anxieties and encouraging their continued involvement in their child's progress; and

(vii) ABOVE ALL, to give teachers knowledge in general terms of when and where to refer for special help.

(i) practical skills in the observation of children, both individually and in groups, to help teachers sharpen their perception of variations in children's learning and behaviour and develop their awareness of variations in children's circumstances (such as their home conditions, which may give rise to difficulties in school);

(ii) appreciation of the educational needs of children with developmental difficulties - physical, sensory, emotional, behavioural or learning - the needs of their parents and the value of the contribution which parents can make to their children's development. It will not be appropriate, nor will there be time, for students to study specific disabilities in any depth within this element of the teacher training course;

(iii) some understanding of the practical steps necessary for meeting a child's special needs, and an ability to adopt the attitudes most suited to dealing with his particular difficulties and to appreciate the need for modification of the school or classroom organisation, the curriculum or teaching techniques. The special education element will not, however, be intended to equip teachers to provide specialist help themselves;

(iv) appreciation of the range of specialist services available to children with special needs and their families and of the advisory services available to teachers. This might best be developed by inviting professionals from the various services to visit the college so that, through discussion, the students can learn about the work of teachers in relation to other professions, the contributions which different specialists can make, the services to expect from them and the kind of questions to put to them; and

(v) awareness of the range of career and professional opportunities in special education, the availability of further qualifications in special education, and the fact that special education offers the teachers engaged in it an intellectual challenge of the highest order.

*Techniques which focus on a small segment of a lesson in order to help teachers to improve their teaching skills; for example a teacher may be asked to spend three minutes demonstrating how he would teach a single concept (eg a plural form; a chemical formula) to a group of children. His exposition is videotaped, played back and critically discussed.

12.10 It will be argued that it will be difficult to accommodate our proposed special education element within the timetable of existing initial teacher training courses. It is difficult to specify the exact number of hours needed to teach the skills and knowledge to be covered. We contend, however, that if they are taught within the general context of the study of child development, orientated as we have recommended, the additional demands on the timetable should be small. We regard it as essential that they should be explicitly covered in all initial teacher training courses for teachers of all subjects and age ranges, including postgraduate courses, as part of a coherent and well coordinated plan drawn up by each college and department of education. Every college will need to have a base for providing this special education element; where the college is also providing options in aspects of special education it may be a separate special education department. We recognise that this recommendation for a special education element will have implications for the content and order of other parts of existing teacher training courses, particularly those leading to the post-graduate certificate in education, which will need to be worked out. In our view, however, the need for this element is so great that it should be included in all courses of initial teacher training as soon as possible.

12.11 Our recommendation for a special education element in initial teacher training is addressed to colleges and departments of education and, in addition, to the bodies which validate teacher training courses. We recommend that those responsible for validating teacher training courses should make the inclusion of a special education element a condition of their approval of all initial teacher training courses.

12.12 Some 40 years will need to elapse from the time that the proposed special education element is introduced before it can be assumed that all teachers have undertaken such an element in the course of their initial training. It is therefore essential that teachers already in post should have the same opportunity as future entrants to courses of initial teacher training to gain an insight into the special needs which many children have. We regard this as a prerequisite of the progressive integration of more children with disabilities or significant difficulties in ordinary schools. We therefore recommend that a determined effort should be made to ensure that short in-service courses which cover the same ground as the proposed special education element are provided as a matter of urgency and that the great majority of serving teachers take one of these courses within the next few years. This proposal, though a novel one, is in our view a necessary corollary of Section 10 of the Education Act 1976 and should be implemented without delay.

12.13 The short in-service courses which we have in mind will comprise about a week's full-time study or its part-time equivalent. Ideally they should be taken full-time but in practice they will need to be organised in a variety of ways. Where they are taken on a part-time basis, however, they should be completed in as short a period as possible. We would urge the Education Departments, in collaboration with Her Majesty's Inspectorate, local education authority representatives, including members of the proposed special education advisory and support service (see the next chapter), the Open University and other academic bodies to take the initiative in devising suitable courses.

12.14 We recognise that our proposal that the great majority of serving teachers should take a short course on special educational needs within the next few years will be expensive. As we explain more fully in Chapter 19, at least 200 additional full-time lecturers or their part-time equivalent would be required if courses were to be provided for the great majority of serving teachers within a period of five years. We firmly believe, however, that such courses are urgently required if special educational provision in ordinary schools is to be both extended and improved.

Special education options

12.15 Options in aspects of special education, for example the education of slow learners, are included in a number of initial teacher training courses. These are offered either as educational or professional studies options or as main subject options. We believe that these should be more widely available and we recommend that, wherever possible, students should have the opportunity in their initial teacher training to take an option that enables them to pursue their interest in children with special educational needs in more depth than will be possible in the proposed special education element. Such an option should not, however, be so specialised that it restricts the breadth of the training offered. It should be closely related to and integrated with the rest of the course.

Specialist initial teacher training

12.16 In some countries very specialised initial teacher training in teaching children with different disabilities is offered, which prepares students for teaching only children with such disabilities. No such training is available in England, Wales or Scotland, although initial courses with a significant element directed to preparing newly qualified teachers to work with children currently designated as severely educationally sub-normal are available in 18 colleges or polytechnics in England and Wales. The status and qualification gained by students completing these courses, however, are the same as those of all other newly qualified teachers, and the general elements in the training are sufficient to enable the students to take up initial and subsequent appointments within a range of different kinds of school, ordinary and special. Such courses are not offered in Scotland. Teachers of severely mentally handicapped children in Scotland, like other teachers in special education, train initially as primary or secondary school teachers; the subsequent additional qualification in special education which they are required to obtain is expected to include a specialist module in the teaching of severely mentally handicapped pupils.

12.17 There is also an initial teacher training course at Manchester University's Department of Audiology and Education of the Deaf which specialises in training to teach deaf pupils. This is a four-year degree course combining academic study of audiology with a course of teacher training, and a specialist course for teaching the deaf. Successful completion of the course leads to both qualified teacher status and a recognised qualification for teaching the deaf. The one-year Certificate for Teachers of the Deaf at the same university may be taken either concurrently with a postgraduate certificate in education, or at any time after completion of an initial teacher training course.

12.18 Initial teacher training courses with a significant element directed to work with the mentally handicapped were introduced in England and Wales in 1970 in anticipation of the need to provide special training for teachers of children with severe mental disability, when responsibility for their education was transferred to the education service. Training for teachers of such children had previously been provided through diploma courses run by the Training Council for Teachers of the Mentally Handicapped. The present courses are basic general teacher training courses with a specialist bias. In some colleges, mental handicap is a main course of study, alternative to an academic subject, while in others it is a professional course of study. In most colleges offering the courses, teaching practice begins in ordinary schools and progresses towards specialisation in special schools as the course proceeds. The basic design of the combined studies course at Manchester University which specialises in teaching the deaf is different, in that audiology is studied as an academic subject additional to the teacher training elements.

12.19 There was a difference of opinion among contributors to the evidence submitted to us about the appropriateness of initial teacher training for immediate employment with children with disabilities and, among those who supported specialist initial teacher training courses, about how specific in their aims such courses should be. So far as the present courses for work with children currently designated as severely educationally sub-normal are concerned, it was argued on the one hand that the training should be more specific and place greater emphasis on the needs of severely and multiply handicapped children; and on the other, that the courses should be broader and more general, rather than being confined to one area of disability.

12.20 As a general principle we believe that it would be undesirable to afford opportunities for specialisation in special education in initial teacher training to such a degree that teachers completing their training were qualified to teach only children who required special educational provision. Moreover, we hold that a teacher can benefit very considerably from a period of wider teaching experience, normally in an ordinary school, before he begins to specialise in the teaching of children with special educational needs. We recognise, however, that general courses with a specialist bias such as those for teachers of severely educationally sub-normal children are helpful in enabling students with a high level of commitment to teaching a particular group of children to start to specialise straight away. Moreover, these courses have been a means of attracting candidates of good intellectual and professional ability to work with severely handicapped children.

12.21 Knowledge of teaching children who, in our terminology, have severe learning difficulties and whose intellectual functioning is well below that of children with other disabilities is still in its infancy. The present initial training courses which specialise in the teaching of such children have helped to create a body of suitably qualified teaching staff and we would not wish to suggest that they should be discontinued. On the other hand, we consider that no new courses should be established and that continuation of the present courses should not preclude the development of one-year full-time courses or their equivalent which concentrate upon children with severe learning difficulties such as we propose in paragraph 12.41. We envisage that our proposed courses would be taken by teachers already working with children with severe learning difficulties, as well as by other teachers wishing to do so.

12.22 With regard to training for the teaching of deaf and partially hearing children, we recognise that the combined studies course at Manchester University offers some prospective teachers of the deaf the opportunity to study audiology in far greater depth than is at present possible in the one-year post-qualification courses which lead to a recognised qualification as a teacher of the deaf. We consider that, on this account, it should continue but that, as at present, it should be only one of several ways of obtaining a recognised qualification as a teacher of the deaf. Moreover, wherever possible, teachers completing the course should gain experience of teaching children with unimpaired hearing before taking up posts with responsibility for those with hearing disabilities. We consider the provision of one-year full-time courses or their part-time equivalent which specialise in the teaching of deaf and partially hearing children in paragraphs 12.42-45.

12.23 We believe that specialist training in the teaching of children with other kinds of disability should be carried out through one-year full-time courses or their equivalent and that the principle of specialist initial teacher training should not be extended. It is most important that candidates admitted to the initial training courses with a specialist element in the teaching of children currently described as severely educationally sub-normal should be emotionally mature and have at least some acquaintance with severely handicapped children. Moreover, wherever possible, opportunities should be available for students on such courses to transfer to ordinary courses of initial teacher training if they so wish. There should be a close interrelationship between different elements of the course, and the specialist element should be directed to children whose learning difficulties are severe and who may have multiple disabilities. Opportunities should be provided for students to learn about the contributions of other professionals to meeting the needs of such children. We recommend that the training provided through the existing initial teacher training courses directed to work with children currently described as severely educationally sub-normal should be closely monitored by Her Majesty's Inspectorate and its effectiveness in preparing teachers to work with such children evaluated.

11 A RECOGNISED QUALIFICATION FOR TEACHERS WITH RESPONSIBILITY FOR CHILDREN WITH SPECIAL EDUCATIONAL NEEDS

12.24 All teachers in special schools in England and Wales are, with certain exceptions, required under the Handicapped Pupils and Special Schools Regulations 1959, as amended, to have qualified teacher status. Teachers of blind, deaf or partially hearing pupils (except those engaged exclusively in teaching craft, domestic or trade subjects) in special schools are further required to have a recognised qualification in teaching such pupils and must obtain such a qualification within three years of taking up a post. Teachers of classes or units for the partially hearing in ordinary schools are required to have obtained a recognised qualification in teaching the deaf before taking up a post. Teachers of classes or units for children who are blind in addition to being deaf or partially hearing (whether in a school for the blind or in one for the deaf or partially hearing) must have, or obtain within three years, a recognised qualification in teaching the blind or deaf. In practice, about 57 per cent of teachers in special schools for the blind, 67 per cent of teachers in special schools for the deaf and 74 per cent in special schools for the partially hearing (maintained and non-maintained) in England and Wales in January 1977 had such a qualification. Of the rest, some were teachers of craft, domestic or trade subjects and were not therefore required to have the qualification; the majority, however, were either taking in-service training or awaiting secondment to a full-time course. The requirement of an additional recognised qualification does not apply to teachers of children with other types of disability; and the proportion of teachers in all special schools in England and Wales in 1977 who had an additional qualification in the teaching of handicapped children was about 22 per cent. (2)

12.25 In Scotland the Schools (Scotland) Code 1956 (as amended) requires that all teachers employed wholly or mainly in teaching deaf, partially deaf or mentally handicapped pupils should hold a special qualification. Teachers employed wholly or mainly in teaching blind, partially sighted or physically handicapped pupils whose initial teaching qualification is in primary education must also hold a special qualification. It has not yet been possible, however, to implement these requirements and at present the proportion of teachers in special schools in Scotland who have a special qualification is about 50 per cent. (3)

12.26 There was wide support from contributors to the evidence submitted to us for the view that all teachers specialising in the teaching of children with special educational needs should undertake additional training leading to a special qualification. A proposal to this effect was put forward in 1954 by the National Advisory Council on the Training and Supply of Teachers, who recommended that all teachers of handicapped pupils in special schools should be required to undergo special training and to obtain a special qualification as a teacher of handicapped children, and considered it desirable that a proportion of teachers in ordinary schools should have similar training. The Council recognised, however, that its recommendation could not be implemented until adequate training facilities were available and until a considerable proportion of teachers of handicapped children had undergone special training. (4)

12.27 In principle we believe that all teachers with defined responsibilities for children with special educational needs, wherever they are receiving education, should have an additional qualification in special education. We envisage that these would include teachers in charge of a resource centre or other supporting base in an ordinary school, teachers in charge of a designated special class or unit, members of staff of a special school, teachers in community homes with education on the premises and peripatetic teachers of children with special needs. A number of recognised qualifications is therefore needed, including not only the existing ones for teaching the blind, deaf or partially hearing but also some specific to other disabilities and others of a more general kind. We therefore recommend that there should be a range of recognised qualifications in special education, to be obtained at the end of a one-year full-time course or its equivalent.

12.28 The Burnham Primary and Secondary Salaries Document contains provisions for the award of extra payment to teachers who have obtained special qualifications in teaching the blind, deaf or partially hearing or other specified qualifications in the education of handicapped children, and to those who have satisfactorily completed certain one-year courses for teachers of handicapped children. Holders of some of the special qualifications within the terms of the document are allowed to receive a salary increment above the maximum of the scale provided that they are teaching in special schools or classes. We recommend that the list of qualifications which at present entitle a qualified teacher to obtain extra payment under the terms of the Burnham Salaries Document should be extended to cover all recognised qualifications in special education in the range we have proposed. In view of the intrinsic value of the training and the fact that the teaching skills acquired during the training would be applicable to a considerable proportion of school children (up to one in five at some time during their school career), we regard it as important that the extra payment for a recognised qualification in special education should be made whether or not the qualification appears to be directly relevant to the teacher's current post. Moreover, in order that there should be a sufficient financial incentive to teachers to obtain the qualification we recommend that this extra payment for a recognised qualification in special education should continue to be made after a teacher reaches the maximum of his salary scale, whether he is teaching in an ordinary or a special school.

12.29 At present teachers in special schools in England and Wales receive an extra allowance. Teachers taking full-time charge of special classes of partially hearing or partially sighted children in ordinary schools are also entitled to the extra allowance, while teachers of classes of other pupils with disabilities may receive it at the discretion of the local education authority. We recognise that this extra allowance may have been useful as a way of attracting teachers into special schools and special classes at a time of teacher shortage; but it should not be needed on these grounds in the foreseeable future. We believe that teachers in special schools and classes should be entitled to extra payment in respect not of where they teach but of any recognised qualifications in special education which they hold. We therefore recommend that, from a date to be announced well in advance, the extra allowance payable to teachers in special schools and special classes in England and Wales should be abolished. The salaries of teachers already in post in special schools and special classes should, of course, be safeguarded for a specified period, to be determined by negotiation. We are not in this proposing any change in the weighting given for posts of responsibility in special schools.

12.30 In Scotland all teachers in special schools or classes are paid on the salary scale for secondary teachers with incremental credits, irrespective of whether their qualification is for primary or secondary teaching or of the age of the pupils they teach. Further, teachers of maladjusted children receive an additional allowance. Teachers who hold a special qualification to teach handicapped children receive a qualification payment while they are teaching in a special school or class. We recommend that the present arrangements for enhanced salaries for teachers in special schools and special classes in Scotland should be discontinued from a date to be announced well in advance and that an increased qualification payment should be made to a teacher who holds a recognised qualification in special education, whether he is teaching in an ordinary or a special school.

12.31 While a significant financial incentive will, we hope, prove a strong encouragement to teachers with responsibility for children with special educational needs to obtain a recognised qualification, a statutory requirement which is strictly enforced will be the only way of ensuring that ALL teachers with such responsibility have an additional qualification. The immediate introduction of such a requirement, however, would create a demand for courses which the present training facilities in England and Wales would be unable to meet. (The present facilities in Scotland, however, would be able to meet the demand in that country.) Moreover, the introduction of the requirement would lead to a very considerable increase in the demand by teachers for secondment with pay in order to obtain the qualification. We therefore recommend that training facilities and local education authority support for teachers to take in-service courses should be so increased that possession of an additional recognised qualification can be made a requirement on all teachers with a defined responsibility for children with special educational needs as soon as possible. It should be borne in mind that setting a date for the introduction of this requirement will in itself stimulate the development of courses and encourage teachers to undertake them. We consider the content and the organisation of the courses in paragraphs 12.37-50.

12.32 We envisage that teachers taking up a post involving specific responsibility for the teaching of children with special educational needs would be required to obtain an additional recognised qualification within a period of three years. We suggest that teachers already in post when the requirement is introduced, however, should be given a longer period of time in which to obtain the qualification. Moreover, a period of satisfactory experience in a teaching post with responsibility for children with special educational needs might be allowed to count towards fulfilment of the requirement so long as the teacher concerned completed some part of the additional training required for other teachers. This would be for negotiation between the Department of Education and Science, the Scottish Education Department, local education authorities and teachers' unions.

12.33 We believe that in the immediate future the present statutory requirement on teachers of children with certain kinds of disability to obtain an additional recognised qualification should be extended in three ways. First, the exception of teachers of craft, domestic or trade subjects from the requirement on other teachers of blind, deaf or partially hearing pupils in special schools in England and Wales to obtain an additional qualification seems to reflect an outdated view of the place of those subjects in education. Moreover, growing numbers of teachers of these subjects are acquiring an additional qualification. We therefore recommend that the exception of teachers of craft, domestic or trade subjects from the present requirement on other teachers of blind, deaf or partially hearing pupils in England and Wales to have an additional recognised qualification should be removed as soon as possible. Secondly, given the increasing move towards educating children with disabilities in ordinary schools, we consider that teachers of blind or deaf pupils in ordinary schools should be no less well qualified than those in special schools. The numbers of such pupils in ordinary schools are at present few but may be expected to increase in future. We therefore recommend that the present requirement on teachers of blind or deaf pupils in special schools to have an additional recognised qualification should be extended to teachers of blind or deaf pupils in special classes or units.

12.34 Thirdly, we fully support the recommendation of the Report on the Education of the Visually Handicapped (the Vernon Report), (5) which was accepted by the then Secretary of State for Education and Science in June 1974, that teachers (other than existing teachers of the partially sighted) who wish to specialise in teaching the partially sighted should be required to obtain further teaching qualifications through a full or part-time course. We hope that this will be implemented forthwith and we therefore recommend that a requirement should be imposed on teachers of the partially sighted in special schools and special classes and units, like teachers of the partially hearing, to obtain an additional recognised qualification. We consider below in paragraphs 12.42-45 the particular training needs of teachers of children with visual or hearing disabilities.

III IN-SERVICE TRAINING

12.35 Our proposals envisage three types of in-service course: first, short courses on special educational needs to be taken by the great majority of serving teachers within the next four years; secondly, one-year full-time courses or their part-time equivalent leading to a recognised qualification in special education; and thirdly, other, mainly short, courses on the teaching of children with special educational needs. We have already stressed in paragraphs 12.12-14 the urgency of the need for the first type of course and the desirability of its being organised wherever possible on a full-time basis. In the rest of this section we consider the content and organisation of the second and third types of course. It is important that these should be developed as part of a coherent pattern if their range is to be as comprehensive as possible and, at the same time, duplication is to be avoided. We indicate below what this pattern should be.

12.36 There are certain areas of special education which, as some of the contributors to our evidence pointed out, deserve much more attention in in-service training than they currently receive, namely working with parents and non-teaching assistants, peripatetic teaching and work with children below school age who require special help, as well as the principles of guidance and counselling. We believe that they merit consideration in all courses of the second and third types described above. We therefore recommend that all in-service courses designed for teachers specialising in the teaching of children with special educational needs should include consideration of these areas. The extent to which they can be covered will depend on the length and level of the individual course, but it should be possible at least to touch on some aspects of all of them. In addition, there should be separate courses or options in courses devoted to these topics. These should include courses for teachers with responsibility for children with special needs in nursery schools and classes and in diagnostic and assessment units. There is scope for the development of courses at different levels in guiding and helping parents or young people, ranging from a short course in the basic principles and skills to a one-year full-time course or its equivalent which would offer opportunity to specialise in different areas, for example the giving of advice to parents of very young children with disabilities or significant difficulties or the counselling of adolescents with special needs. Such courses, which might lead to a further qualification, might well be organised on an inter-professional basis, and we make proposals for the development of these and other inter-professional courses in Chapter 16.

One-year full-time courses or their equivalent leading to the proposed qualification in special education

12.37 If, as we have proposed, all teachers with responsibility for teaching children with special educational needs are to be encouraged and, as soon as it is practicable, required to have an additional recognised qualification, a wide range of courses leading to the qualification will need to be available. These will be one-year full-time courses or their part-time equivalent. In principle, we believe that full-time training is preferable to training carried out on a part-time basis because of the opportunity it offers for more sustained study. In practice, however, part-time training is often likely to be more practicable. This would not preclude the inclusion of a full-time element or an element of day release in some courses. We regard it as essential, however, that part-time courses should be monitored to ensure that so far as possible they are equivalent to full-time courses. We recognise that an expansion of in-service training on this scale implies additional expenditure and we consider this in Chapter 19.

12.38 We foresee that some teachers will wish to undertake a course leading to the additional recognised qualification in special education immediately after their initial teacher training course. Most teachers have a great deal to gain by doing some teaching after their initial training, and before undertaking further training in special education. Indeed, we note that in Scotland, where teachers have to complete a two-year probationary period before entering a course leading to a special qualification in the teaching of handicapped children, at least one of their probationary years must be spent in an ordinary school. However, we would not wish to rule out entirely the option of taking a course leading to the recognised qualification in special education immediately after completion of initial teacher training and we hope that local education authorities will be willing to make grants to teachers who wish to obtain the recognised qualification through this route.

Content of the courses

12.39 We consider that some of the courses leading to the proposed qualification in special education should cover a range of different types of disability in a fairly general way and that others should afford opportunity to specialise in the teaching of children with particular disabilities. Given, however, the overlap of many handicapping conditions and the frequency of multiple handicap, it is important that there should be a general component common to all courses. We recommend that all courses leading to the recognised qualification should include a general component, which would aim to give teachers knowledge of the characteristics and signs of different types of disability and to equip them with a basic core of teaching skills appropriate to the teaching of children with a range of special educational needs.

12.40 There is at present a number of one-year in-service courses for teachers of children variously described as backward children, slow learners and children in need of remedial education. The scope of these courses varies, some being predominantly general, others offering the opportunity for specialisation; and some confusion exists as to their aims and the groups of teachers for whom they are designed. We believe that there is a need for courses leading to the recognised qualification which are clearly defined as predominantly general and which aim to provide a broader, not a specialised, knowledge of different types of special educational need and the teaching methods appropriate to them. They will be likely to cater particularly for teachers with posts in ordinary schools which carry responsibility for children with special needs and for those teachers interested in joining the proposed special education advisory and support service. We envisage that most of the one-year courses mentioned above could serve, with some modification, as general courses leading to the recognised qualification. They will, however, need to be submitted for approval to validating bodies in England and Wales and to the Secretary of State in Scotland, to whom it will fall to judge their acceptability. We think that those teachers who already hold certificates for completing such courses should be regarded for salary purposes as having already obtained a recognised qualification.

12.41 If the academic level and quality of work with children with particular disabilities or disorders is to be improved, it is essential that some courses leading to the recognised qualification should offer teachers the opportunity to concentrate on those areas of disability. In particular, the courses should help teachers to develop the teaching skills and techniques needed in each case, including the means of adapting the curriculum to suit the abilities and disabilities of individual pupils. The different disabilities to be covered by such courses should include visual and hearing disability, physical disability, learning difficulties, emotional and behavioural disorders and speech and language disorders. We regard it as important that the needs of children with moderate learning difficulties, currently designated as ESN(M), should be covered by separate courses rather than be treated as an element of predominantly general courses. The same is obviously true of the needs of children with severe learning difficulties; and even though there are some initial teacher training courses directed to work with such children, one-year full-time courses or their equivalent which focus on their needs are specifically required.

12.42 Courses for teachers of children with visual or hearing disabilities leading to an additional recognised qualification will necessarily be of a very specialised nature. It is important, however, that they should not be too narrowly conceived. While their emphasis should be on training in the development of language, audiology and the teaching of speech in the case of the hearing impaired and in the effective use of any residual vision, teaching through braille and the development of mobility skills in the case of the visually impaired, their scope should embrace other skills such as those required for peripatetic work.

12.43 The inclusion of a general component in courses for teachers of children with visual or hearing disabilities is highly desirable in view of the acquaintance it will give them with developments in the teaching of children with other kinds of disability. Its inclusion in a one-year full-time course or its equivalent will make considerable demands on the timetable, but nevertheless we believe that with careful planning it should be possible to devise a satisfactory course which accommodates a general component. We hope that, wherever possible, courses for teachers of children with visual or hearing disabilities will be provided in the same institutions as special courses in other areas of disability so that teachers in the different fields will have opportunity to take the general component together. This will help to reduce the professional isolation which too often occurs among teachers specialising in the teaching of children with visual or hearing impairments. Moreover, it has to be remembered that children with impaired sight or hearing sometimes have other special needs as well.

12.44 We have some doubts about the effectiveness of the training leading to two of the existing recognised qualifications for the teaching of the blind, deaf or partially hearing, namely the School Teachers' Diploma of the College of Teachers of the Blind and the Teachers' Diploma of the British Association of Teachers of the Deaf (formerly of the National College of Teachers of the Deaf), which are obtained through part-time study. Although these diplomas have been a valuable means of qualification for many years, it should be recognised that neither college provides instruction itself, or visits the schools in which teachers studying for the qualification are teaching. As a result, the onus for covering the syllabus rests on the candidates themselves and most teachers preparing for one or other of the diplomas have to depend on the head teacher or other experienced staff of their schools for any training that they receive.

12.45 Some local education authorities have regional arrangements whereby advisory teachers or tutors are available to help and guide teachers studying for one or other of the diplomas, and to supervise their work. This is a welcome advance but there is still room for considerable improvement in the supervision of the work of teachers studying for either of the diplomas. To this end, we suggest that the professional bodies concerned - the College of Teachers of the Blind and the British Association of Teachers of the Deaf - should work in conjunction with an external validating body capable of ascertaining that the facilities, staffing and other resources of the schools which are acting as training centres are adequate. It would be advantageous if the training were based on existing centres with expertise in the fields of visual and hearing disabilities. We welcome the proposal which has been made to the Department of Education and Science by Birmingham University with the support of the College of Teachers of the Blind and the National Association for the Education of the Partially Sighted for a two-year part-time diploma course for the training of teachers of the visually handicapped, which would be open to teachers in special schools and units for the blind and partially sighted and would be validated by the university. We hope that this proposal will be supported and that similar schemes will be developed for the part-time training of teachers of the deaf and partially hearing. Like the scheme proposed by Birmingham University, they should be based on a specialist centre and incorporate the use of materials prepared in advance and practical supervision in the teachers' own schools by visiting tutors. The tutors might be specialist lecturers from an establishment of further or higher education in the vicinity or, as seems more likely with courses for teachers of the blind or partially sighted, regional-based teachers or tutors, some of whom might be advisory teachers in the special education advisory and support service proposed in the next chapter.

12.46 We see scope for the inclusion in courses leading to the proposed recognised qualification of options in aspects of special education for which particular skills and knowledge are required but to which too little attention tends to be paid. These include home teaching, teaching in hospital schools, teaching in community homes with education on the premises, vocational guidance and the organisation of work experience for young people with special needs. A possible option in the teaching of students with special educational needs in further education is considered later in this chapter.

12.47 All courses leading to the recognised qualification should contain a significant practical as well as a theoretical element, the two being closely interrelated. The practical element should involve a number of tasks or projects, for example in various aspects of the curriculum.

Organisation and validation

12.48 We have indicated that part-time training is likely to be more feasible than full-time. There is a variety of ways, however, in which courses leading to the recognised qualification might be organised. An approach to some courses based on distance teaching would be desirable, as affording opportunities for teachers who do not live near a teacher training centre to study for the special qualification. We see scope for the development of courses which include an element of distance teaching, for example through an Open University unit, as well as for courses whose theoretical element is handled almost entirely by this method. It would be important, however, that teachers taking such courses should be supervised in their studies.

12.49 If, as we have proposed, successful completion of a one-year full-time course or its equivalent leading to a qualification in special education is to carry with it an extra payment, the course will need to be validated in England and Wales by a university, the Council for National Academic Awards or any other body that would ensure its national recognition. We understand that the Council for National Academic Awards might be interested and willing to consider proposals to set up courses, and we hope that individual colleges of education and establishments with departments of education will submit schemes, on the lines we have proposed, to the Council and other recognised validating bodies. In Scotland proposals for courses will need to be submitted to the Secretary of State. In order to stimulate the development of courses we suggest that the Education Departments should take the initiative in devising prototypes.

12.50 We believe that the Open University could make a very considerable contribution to the development of complete courses leading to the recognised qualification. We suggest that the university should consider developing a course, perhaps including some of the course material already in preparation, for example on the development of language. The practical element could suitably be organised by the university's regional tutorial staff, in close collaboration with existing institutions. In view of the opportunities which an Open University course would give to large numbers of teachers we recommend that the Department of Education and Science should grant-aid the preparation by the Open University of a course leading to the proposed recognised qualification in special education.

Other courses

12.51 Given our estimate of the incidence of special educational need and the likelihood that most teachers in ordinary schools will be dealing with children who require special educational provision, it is important that a high proportion of in-service courses on the curriculum or subject specialisms should include reference to the needs of such children. Those teachers specialising in the teaching of children with special educational needs will require opportunities to pursue the study of special teaching methods and techniques in increasing depth as well as to refresh their special interests, to explore new subjects and develop new skills, to acquire the managerial as well as the professional skills required for senior posts and to obtain further qualifications. It should be possible for some of these opportunities to be provided within courses of a general nature; but special or extended courses will also be needed. The different kinds of courses that we consider should be provided are described below.

Content of the courses

12.52 Teachers specialising in the teaching of children who need special help, like other teachers, require short courses designed to deepen their knowledge of educational theory, refresh their subject specialism or examine the content of what they teach. They should have access to and join other teachers on in-service courses, for example on curriculum evaluation or record keeping, which are as important to them as to teachers who are less closely concerned with children who require special educational help.

12.53 Such teachers also require advanced short courses which are specifically directed to the special needs of the children with whom they are concerned. For example, teachers of the deaf need to know about supplementary methods of communication and subject specialists teaching academically able blind or deaf children may need to review their teaching methods and update their knowledge of the special equipment and other resources required by the pupils. There is also particular call for special courses in the teaching of children who are both blind and deaf. We therefore recommend that a range of advanced short courses specifically directed to the teaching methods and techniques appropriate to children with different kinds of disability or disorder and involving study in depth of their special educational needs should be provided for teachers who have a professional commitment to teaching such children. The different levels at which they are offered should be clearly indicated for the benefit of teachers interested in taking them.

12.54 It is important that the needs of head teachers and senior staff for training should not be overlooked. We recommend that courses should be provided for head teachers and senior staff, whether in special or ordinary schools, in management and administrative skills, including aspects directed to children with special educational needs. Head teachers and senior staff in special schools and senior staff in special classes attached to ordinary schools have particular need of knowledge of methods of working with members of a wide range of other professions, as well as with representatives of voluntary organisations concerned with meeting the needs of children who require special help. It is essential that training for all head teachers and senior staff should emphasise the importance of working with parents and indicate the ways of doing so.

12.55 No future pattern of in-service training for teachers specialising in the teaching of children with special educational needs would be complete without the provision of opportunities for training and research at a high level. We consider that further advanced courses leading to qualifications in aspects of special education should be provided and opportunities for teachers and other professionals to take higher degrees in this field increased. We therefore recommend that courses leading to higher degrees in special education should be established in universities and other establishments of higher education.

Organisation and validation

12.56 The present arrangements for the provision of short courses of in-service training are often confused; some aspects of special education are not covered at all, while courses covering other aspects are duplicated. This confusion stems largely from the diffusion of responsibility for providing in-service courses among a wide range of bodies: local education authorities, establishments of further education, university extra-mural departments and individual bodies have all built up expertise in particular fields. In order that the future development and extension of short course provision should be as coherent as possible we recommend that local education authorities should review the provision of short courses in their own areas and ensure that a comprehensive range of courses in special education, provided under their own auspices or through other agencies, is available. It is desirable that these courses should be provided in a variety of institutions, including schools, teachers' centres, colleges of education and establishments of further and higher education, so that they are readily accessible to teachers. The special education advisory and support service proposed in the next chapter will have a central part to play in the organisation of these courses. It will need to work in conjunction with other agencies, in particular voluntary organisations and professional associations in this field, which have made an important contribution to in-service training in special education in the past and may be expected to continue to do so. Some courses may need to be organised on a regional basis, and we consider regional coordination of provision below.

12.57 We envisage that some short courses of in-service training might be organised through distance teaching, for example through a course on the lines of that run by the Open University on 'The handicapped person in the community'. Indeed, we see considerable scope for the involvement of the Open University in the provision of short in-service courses and suggest that the university should consider whether parts of existing initial degree courses might be used for this purpose and the extent to which new short courses will be needed. There might also be scope for an approach similar to that which some of us observed in Holland, where additional training for special education is organised part-time at local centres on the basis of a model course devised centrally. Some of the training might be school-based and carried out under the supervision of teachers with additional training and experience in special education, either members of the school's staff or teachers in nearby special schools designated under our proposals as resource centres. In some cases training might be organised full-time during the school holidays.

12.58 Some short courses might be presented as modules, the accumulation of which could lead to a further qualification. Such courses would need to be validated by a university, the Council for National Academic Awards or other national body in England and Wales or in Scotland approved by the Secretary of State if the qualification were to be nationally recognised.

12.59 Some senior appointments in special education will need to be made in establishments of higher education if courses leading to higher degrees in this field are to be established. We return to this in Chapter 18. We do not think that research in special education draws sufficiently upon the experience of teachers working in schools, and we see considerable scope for more positive collaboration between establishments of higher education and other bodies which conduct research and the schools so that increasing numbers of teachers participate in projects.

Regional coordination of course provision

12.60 In order to ensure that there is an adequate range of courses, that the services of experienced staff are used efficiently, and that there is no wasteful duplication of provision, in-service training must be coordinated regionally or, in Scotland, where the regions are the equivalent of local authorities in England and Wales, on an inter-regional basis. In England and Wales the regional coordination of arrangements for in-service training has recently been considered by the Working Group on the Management of Higher Education in the Maintained Sector under the chairmanship of the Minister of State for Education and Science, Mr Gordon Oakes. (6) It will be important that any new regional bodies set up as a result of the proposals by the Working Group should collaborate with the regional conferences for special education to secure the coordination of arrangements for in-service training in special education. We argue in Chapter 16 that the regional conferences should be strengthened in the interests of more effective deployment of the various services in the region concerned with children and young people with special needs; and to enable them, as part of their functions, to coordinate arrangements for in-service training on an inter-professional basis. In Scotland coordination at this level is carried out by area coordinating committees.

12.61 The need for cooperation between authorities within a region will be particularly important so far as the staffing of courses in special education is concerned. The inclusion in all initial teacher training courses of a special education element and the introduction of options in special education, as well as the development of a pattern of in-service training on the lines proposed including the provision of short courses for all serving teachers on special educational needs, will be possible only if teaching staff with suitable training and practical experience are available in colleges and departments of education. Every college and department of education must ensure that some members of its academic staff have the necessary training and practical experience in the field of special education. They may need to offer posts which carry a sufficiently high grading and status to encourage present staff to undertake additional training and obtain advanced qualifications in special education; or they may need to attract new staff with training and experience in this field. We recognise, however, that not all institutions which offer teacher training courses will be able to cover all aspects of the in-service courses which we have proposed in the teaching of children with special educational needs. We therefore recommend that the deployment of college staff with training and experience in particular fields of special education should be considered on a regional (or in Scotland an inter-regional) basis. In addition, it may well be necessary for specialist resources such as audio-visual material and packaged course materials to be shared between different establishments in a region. The development of the joint use of staff and teaching materials by a number of establishments will be facilitated if courses of in-service training in special education are seen as part of a regional network.

12.62 Within any one region of the country there will, under our proposals, be a number of special schools designated as resource centres, including at least one designated as a specialist resource centre for relatively rare or particularly complex disabilities. These schools will have a very important contribution to make to in-service training in the region, and this in two ways. First, they will be expected to act as training bases for some teachers. Secondly, members of their staff, some of whom will also be members of the special education advisory and support service proposed in the next chapter, will be invited to contribute, as visiting lecturers, to courses in colleges and departments of education, both in-service courses and the proposed special education element and options in special education within initial training. We would encourage colleges to draw on members of a range of professions in the education, health and social services, who are concerned with children with special needs, to serve as visiting lecturers. We would also note the opportunities which exist for many colleges and departments of education, following the amalgamation in England and Wales of some colleges of education with other institutions, to draw upon a wide range of expertise among teaching staff in different disciplines in devising options in special education in initial teacher training.

National coordination of course provision

12.63 In Scotland in-service training is coordinated nationally by the National Committee for the In-Service Training of Teachers, a representative body set up by the Secretary of State for Scotland. We hope that this body will give particular attention to the coordination of in-service training in special education. We see scope in England, Scotland and Wales for the organisation on a national basis of some short residential courses, particularly courses for senior staff in special education and for teachers of children with relatively rare and complex disabilities. These could be organised by the Special Education Staff College proposed in Chapter 18.

IV INDUCTION

12.64 Any teacher taking up for the first time a post with defined responsibility for the teaching of children with special educational needs, whatever the stage of his career, will have particular need of an induction programme which acquaints him with the range of different forms of special educational provision and specialist and advisory services available in the area. Accordingly, we recommend that local education authorities should organise an induction programme for all teachers taking up for the first time a post with responsibility for children with special educational needs.

12.65 The particular needs of individual teachers will vary according to their qualifications and experience, the type of school they are entering and the post to which they are appointed. Induction programmes should therefore be shaped to meet each teacher's individual needs. Their form, content and duration will depend largely on the individual teacher's background; a teacher experienced in special education may need only a very short programme, whereas one who is relatively inexperienced may need support and guidance over a longer period of time. We envisage that the planning and organisation of induction courses will be carried out by members of the special education advisory and support service proposed in the next chapter.

V FURTHER EDUCATION TEACHING

The existing pattern of training

12.66 There is a wide variety in the qualifications and experience of teaching staff in further education, many of whom are recruited from occupations in industry, commerce and the public service. Unlike their counterparts in schools, they are not required to have completed a course of teacher training and prospective entrants to the profession are often understandably reluctant to undertake a full-time course of initial training on a student's grant, with no guarantee that they will thereafter be successful in obtaining a teaching post. There were 76,403 full-time teachers in further education in England and Wales in 1976, of whom 45 per cent had successfully completed full courses of initial teacher training, whether an ordinary teacher training course at a college or department of education or a one-year full-time or four-term sandwich course specifically for teaching in further education. The last two types of course are available at Bolton College of Education (Technical), Garnet College, London, Huddersfield Polytechnic, Wolverhampton Polytechnic and University College, Cardiff; two-year part-time courses are also offered at the extra-mural centres of these institutions. There are, in addition, shorter part-time courses for teachers in further education, of which the most readily available is that for the City and Guilds of London Institute's Further Education Teacher's Certificate. In Scotland all training for further education teachers is organised at the School of Further Education at Jordanhill College of Education. In-service training for further education teachers in England, Scotland and Wales is available in the form of short courses, conferences, seminars and teachers' workshops and long advanced courses leading to the award of degrees and diplomas. At present the teaching of students who have special needs is covered in very few of these courses, conferences or workshops. We welcome the introduction by the City and Guilds of London Institute of a course for further education teachers designed to provide them with a basic knowledge and appreciation of the background of and the services available to handicapped people and to enable them to identify and analyse the special educational needs of such people. This course, which is currently being offered at five colleges, is designed to comprise at least 75 hours' work in classes and about the same length of private studies elsewhere.

Training for work with students with special needs

12.67 The provision of opportunities for young people with special needs to take courses of further education is increasing and in Chapter 10 we recommended that it should be still further increased. It is therefore important that teachers in this sector should have correspondingly greater opportunity to gain knowledge of the special needs which students may have and of the teaching methods appropriate to meet them. This applies to teachers of courses of further education wherever they are provided, whether in colleges of further education, hospitals, prisons or other institutions. Although our remit does not cover educational provision for adults, our suggestions below should have the effect of improving the quality of the education provided for them as well as benefiting young people with special educational needs.

12.68 The length of the training and degree of specialisation required by individual teachers will depend upon their previous experience and the posts to which they are appointed. We believe that all further education teachers, however, must be helped to develop an awareness of special needs and the ability to recognise and respond to them. They must also learn about the different supporting services available in the area for the young people, their parents and themselves. In order to help them to develop this insight we recommend that a special education element should be included in all initial training courses for further education teachers, both full and part-time courses, on the lines of that proposed for inclusion in all initial training courses for school teachers but orientated towards the needs of young people over 16 who require special help. Further, in order to enable teachers already in post and new teachers who do not take a full course of initial training to acquire this knowledge we recommend that short part-time courses should be provided which cover the same ground as the special education element. For new teachers without previous training or experience these courses might form part of the systematic induction arrangements recommended in a report of November 1977 by the Sub-Committee on the Training of Teachers for Further Education of the Advisory Committee on the Supply and Training of Teachers. (7)

12.69 It is likely, and highly desirable, that as provision in further education for students with special needs increases, some teachers already experienced in special education in schools will choose to move to further education. The short courses proposed above will be useful to them, particularly if they have been teaching young children, since these courses will be orientated towards the special needs of students over 16. In addition, however, they will need a period of induction to acquaint them with the further education sector.

12.70 Teachers working wholly or mainly in specialist units for students with disabilities or significant difficulties or holding posts with responsibility for students who require special help need specialist training in this field. We believe that further education teachers responsible for students with special needs should, like their counterparts in school, take a one-year full-time course or its equivalent leading to a recognised qualification in special education. We therefore recommend that a one-year full-time course or its equivalent leading to a recognised qualification should be available to teachers in further education specialising in the teaching of students with special needs and that those who obtain the recognised qualification should receive an additional payment.

12.71 Teachers of young people with special educational needs will also need access to a range of short courses designed to extend and refresh their knowledge of particular subjects and skills. We envisage that some of the short courses in special education techniques which we have proposed for teachers of school children will be equally useful to teachers in further education. In addition, we recommend that short courses should be provided in particular aspects of the teaching of young people and adults with special educational needs.

Organisation of the provision of courses

12.72 We strongly urge those establishments which offer courses of initial training for teachers in further education and the validating bodies to ensure that a special education element is included in initial teacher training for such teachers as soon as possible. Training establishments will need to develop the capacity to do so; for example by ensuring that some members of their staff have training and experience in work with young people who have special educational needs. We envisage that one or more of these establishments would offer the proposed one-year full-time course or its part-time equivalent leading to a recognised specialist qualification in the teaching of students with special needs. In addition, there would be advantages if such a course were to be offered by one or more of the colleges and departments of education which provide courses leading to the proposed recognised qualification for teachers of school children; in particular, further education teachers might then be able to join school teachers for a large part of the general component of the course.

12.73 The provision of induction programmes and short courses for further education teachers with responsibility for young people with special needs is likely to call for regional planning. Members of the proposed special education advisory and support services in the region may be expected to have an important contribution to make to their organisation.

12.74 Teachers of further education courses in establishments such as hospitals or prisons, as well as teachers in adult training and day centres, have the same need as teachers in colleges of further education to acquire insight into the special needs which many of their students or trainees may have and, where they wish to specialise in meeting those needs, to undertake further training in this field. Moreover, it is important that they should not work in isolation from their colleagues in further education. We therefore recommend that steps should be taken to ensure that teachers of young people and adults with special educational needs who teach outside establishments of further education have access to the same range of training courses as their colleagues in further education establishments.

VI THE ADMISSION OF PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES TO TEACHER TRAINING COURSES AND THEIR EMPLOYMENT AS TEACHERS

12.75 We recommend that there should be more opportunities for people with disabilities to become teachers and obtain teaching posts in both special and ordinary schools. A teacher with, say, a visual, hearing or physical disability may be able to contribute in a very special way to the development of pupils with the same disability by helping them, for example, to improve their self-confidence. Moreover the appointment of teachers with disabilities to the staff of ordinary schools can be a very effective way of promoting more positive and sympathetic attitudes towards handicapped people among children and young people in the schools. It is important that teachers with disabilities should take on full-time duties, as indeed they will almost certainly wish to do. Although they may be unable to carry out certain duties, for example playground supervision, or teach certain parts of the curriculum, there is likely, particularly in large schools, to be sufficient flexibility in the deployment of the teaching staff for teachers with disabilities to be able to work effectively as full members of the staff, particularly if the concept of team-work among the teaching staff has been developed.

12.76 However desirable it may be, in the last analysis the increased employment of people with disabilities as teachers in schools will be possible only if colleges and departments of education are prepared to accept them for initial teacher training courses. We recognise that there will be some people, for example those who are profoundly deaf, who will be unable to satisfy the requirements of an ordinary teacher training course. We would not wish to advocate the introduction of a teaching certificate with only limited validity, say for teaching children with certain kinds of disability. Instead we hope that the flexibility already inherent in many teacher training courses will be increased to take account of the problems of some students with disabilities.

12.77 The initial responsibility for considering the fitness of a person for teaching in England and Wales falls on the college or department of education which has to take the decision whether or not to accept him for training. Since, however, the responsibility for deciding whether the person, after training, is medically fit for employment as a teacher in schools rests with the Secretary of State for Education and Science there must be close consultation about individual cases between the employing and college authorities on the one hand and the Department on the other. Candidates with a handicapping condition are sometimes rejected as unfit for teacher training without adequate reference to the notes of guidance on medical fitness issued by the Department of Education and Science. (8) We understand that when the Department's medical adviser is consulted at an early stage fewer candidates with disabilities are automatically regarded as unfit for training or for employment as teachers.

12.78 The guidance issued by the Department of Education and Science to examining medical officers indicates that in their medical reports they should classify candidates for admission to a college or department of education or for employment as teachers 'A', 'B' or 'C'. In category 'C' are those whose medical condition is such as in the opinion of the medical officer to make them unfit for the teaching profession. Similar arrangements operate in Scotland where it is the General Teaching Council which has to be satisfied that candidates are fit to enter teaching, and this Council will not grant registration unless the college medical officer has confirmed that the candidate meets the Council's standard of medical fitness. Students in Scotland are categorised as 'fit' or 'unfit'. The medical assessment is, however, only one factor to be taken into account by the college or department of education in deciding whether or not to admit a candidate, and a candidate who is classified in category 'C' or, in Scotland, as 'unfit' should not be refused admission on that account alone.

12.79 In Scotland a candidate who has been refused entry to a teacher training course on medical or other grounds has a right of appeal under Regulation 5(2) of the Teachers (Education, Training and Registration) (Scotland) Regulations 1967, as amended, to the governing body of the college of education. We believe that a similar procedure for appeal should be introduced in England and Wales. There is no statutory right of appeal in England, Scotland or Wales against the result of the medical examination at the end of the course, which is carried out, usually by the college medical officer, to determine whether the teacher can satisfy the Secretary of State for Education and Science as to his health and physical capacity for teaching, as required under the Schools Regulations 1959, before first employment in a maintained school. We recommend that, in future, there should be a recognised right of appeal to the appropriate Secretary of State against classification as medically unfit for the teaching profession at the end of a teacher training course and that candidates should be told of this right when notified of their classification.

12.80 A person's suitability for teaching can also be assessed at the stage of teaching practice, which gives institutions an opportunity to assess whether the student is likely to be a competent teacher. Moreover, the local education authority has an opportunity to assess a newly qualified teacher's competence during his probationary period, which is one year in England and Wales and two years in Scotland. In Scotland final registration is granted to teachers by the General Teaching Council on head teachers' assessment of competence. There is thus a number of different stages which a person with a disability, like any other prospective teacher, has to go through before gaining and continuing in employment as a teacher, each of which should provide an opportunity to assess his competence and suitability as a teacher.

12.81 It is also important that young people with disabilities should have more opportunity for self-assessment of their suitability for teaching and other professions before seeking to undertake the appropriate training. Improved vocational guidance and counselling, as we have recommended in Chapter 10, together with opportunities to gain experience of working conditions in particular occupations, should help them to make more informed and realistic choices of training and employment. Information should be available to those young people with disabilities who wish to enter teacher training or other forms of further or higher education about the special facilities available at different institutions, including not only modifications to premises and specialist equipment but support from advisory teachers, so that they can apply to the institutions best placed to meet their special needs. Detailed information about such facilities should be included in college prospectuses.

VII CAREER STRUCTURE

12.82 Training programmes and career structures for teachers specialising in the teaching of children or young people with special needs are closely interrelated. Unless there are good career prospects, teachers are likely to be reluctant to undertake further training; at the same time the development of training is an important element in the establishment of a good career structure. We firmly hold that specialisation in the teaching of children or young people with special educational needs should be as highly regarded as specialisation in other areas of teaching and should be equally recognised as a qualification for advancement.

12.83 We believe that the recommendations contained in this report will substantially improve the career structure for teachers specialising in the teaching of children with special educational needs. In particular, our recommendations for resource centres or other supporting bases in ordinary schools (in Chapter 7), for the development of a special education advisory and support service (in Chapter 13) and for the establishment of senior academic posts in special education in universities and other establishments of higher education (in Chapter 18) should bring them new opportunities. We are confident that the pattern of training recommended in this chapter will enable teachers to equip themselves to take advantage of these opportunities.

12.84 If the development of further education provision for students with special needs is to be effective, staff of the right quality must be attracted to it. Poor career prospects, however, can deter trained and experienced staff from entering further education to work with students with special needs. We believe that the expansion of opportunities in further education for students with special needs which we have recommended will improve the career prospects of their teachers. We hope that, in making their staffing arrangements, establishments of further education will give due weight to the considerable experience and specialist knowledge required to teach such students. Employment in the special education advisory and support service proposed in the next chapter should also be seen as part of the career structure for further education teachers specialising in this field.

CONCLUSION

12.85 The procedures which we have recommended elsewhere in this report for recognising and meeting the needs of children who require special educational help will be of no avail unless all teachers have an insight into the special needs which many children have and unless teachers with defined responsibilities for such children have the specialist expertise required to meet those needs. The necessary skills and expertise must be acquired through training. Our proposals for the future development of teacher training are therefore central to our report and should be acted on as quickly as possible.

References

(1) Nisbet J, Shanks D and Darling J, 'A survey of teachers' opinions on the primary diploma course in Scotland', Scottish Educational Studies 9, 2 (November 1977).

(2) Department of Education and Science statistics.

(3) Scottish Education Department statistics.

(4) Training and supply of teachers of handicapped pupils Fourth Report of the National Advisory Council on the Training and Supply of Teachers (HMSO 1954).

(5) The education of the visually handicapped Report of the Committee of Enquiry appointed by the Secretary of State for Education and Science in October 1968 (HMSO 1972).

(6) Report of the Working Group on the Management of Higher Education in the Maintained Sector. Cmnd 7130 (HMSO 1978).

(7) Advisory Committee on the Supply and Training of Teachers. The Training of Teachers for Further Education: A report by the Sub-Committee on the Training of Teachers for Further Education (attached to DES Circular 11/77, The Training of Teachers for Further Education (17 November 1977)).

(8) DES Circular 4/75, Medical fitness of teachers and of entrants to teacher training (8 April 1975).