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Warnock (1978) Notes on the text
Appendices Appendix 1 List of contributors
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The Warnock Report (1978)
Special educational needs Report of the Committee of Enquiry into the education of handicapped children and young people London: Her Majesty's Stationery Office 1978
ISBN 0 10 172120 X
Chapter 17: Voluntary organisations
INTRODUCTION 17.1 Special education has been greatly stimulated and enriched by the work of voluntary organisations, and their contribution to the lives of the children with whom we are concerned continues to be very substantial. As we indicated in Chapter 2 the early history of special education is largely a record of voluntary effort. In many of the fields of work discussed in this report voluntary organisations have taken the lead and marked out paths which public services have followed and broadened. The last thirty years have seen an increase in the number of organisations and in the range of their activities. Although in many cases the nature of the work undertaken has changed, voluntary bodies still often reveal new and unmet special educational needs. We are in no doubt that such organisations will continue to make a vital contribution to the lives of children with disabilities and to those of their families. 17.2 The future of voluntary organisations in the United Kingdom has recently been the subject of an inquiry by the Wolfenden Committee. (1) Although education was excluded from the Committee's terms of reference, many of the organisations studied were concerned with children with special needs. In the view of the Committee 'What is generally known as "the voluntary movement" is a living thing. New organisations are formed to meet newly-discerned needs. Others die. Yet others change their emphasis or venture into fresh fields. Relations with statutory authorities constantly change with new legislation or changes in administration. There is nothing static about the scene'. The valuable and detailed evidence which we have received from a large number of organisations confirms this view of the voluntary sector's changing response to needs. At the same time the multiplicity of voluntary organisations concerned with disability makes it difficult to generalise about the part they play. In this chapter we consider the development of voluntary organisations in our field, their present work and how it is likely to be influenced by the proposals in our report. 17.3 The organisations referred to in this chapter are those which include among their activities help for children and young people with disabilities, work with their families and the provision of special education. These organisations vary widely in the scale of their resources and in the nature and scope of their activities. Some are old established charities offering a comprehensive range of services and provision for handicapped or disadvantaged individuals while others are small local groups providing a single service such as a playgroup for handicapped children. Many older organisations have become national institutions working for those in need, while more recently formed groups of parents or disabled people are often involved in self-help activities and in influencing local and national policies and practices. Among the many hundreds of existing organisations those concerned with sensory and physical disabilities are more numerous and often more assured of public sympathy and support than those for other kinds of disabilities. In particular children with moderate learning difficulties and those with emotional and behavioural problems, who together form the largest group of children with special educational needs, are not supported by as many voluntary organisations, nor in general do they so readily arouse sympathy as children with other sorts of disability, though the existing organisations for them play an important part in promoting their interests. 17.4 Many national organisations work through local groups and branches. Their coverage in any area depends on the existence and effectiveness of local groups, the best of which are very active and influential. Voluntary effort for and by those with disabilities and significant difficulties has special significance in a number of ways. It may be a refreshing challenge to the ethos and standards of maintained services and of existing arrangements. It may also be the means of enhancing the quality of life and of promoting the well-being of those with special needs, when it complements and supplements maintained provision. It is particularly important when it facilitates the participation of handicapped young people in the community in which they live and their contribution to it.
I VOLUNTARY ORGANISATIONS UP TO THE PRESENT 17.5 Three trends may be discerned in the development of voluntary organisations concerned with disability up to the present time. One trend which started in the 1930s and which has become more evident in recent years is the increasing specialisation of voluntary organisations in line with advances in diagnosis, assessment and treatment. Where once they were concerned with a general area of handicap, many voluntary organisations have tended to focus their attention on a single handicapping condition, and new bodies have been set up to promote services for a particular condition. For example Societies for Cripples have been followed by organisations such as the Spastics Society, the Brittle Bone Society and the Association for Spina Bifida and Hydrocephalus. Some organisations concentrate on specialised aspects of help for a particular disability such as the production of talking books for the blind. Yet others concentrate on research or on social work. The move towards specialisation is very clear. 17.6 A second trend is the pioneering of provision and services, including schools, to meet new needs. In many cases the needs identified by voluntary bodies have in due course received public recognition, and responsibility for making provision for meeting them on a widespread basis has been assumed by local authorities. The voluntary organisations concerned have then turned their attention to securing the organisation of adequate arrangements by all local authorities. Thereafter they have often proceeded to identify new needs and to pioneer other services. Thus the Education Acts of 1918 and 1944, which increased the responsibilities of local education authorities for handicapped pupils, were followed by a decrease in the provision of special schools by voluntary organisations. Similarly, the setting up of the national health service in 1948 and of local authority social services departments in 1971, which increased the range of provision and services made by national and local authorities for children with disabilities, led some voluntary organisations to change their objectives to meet new needs which in their view were covered inadequately by statutory services. 17.7 A third trend in the development of voluntary organisations is their increasing tendency to act as pressure groups. Most of the specialised voluntary bodies aim to secure a better public understanding by advertising the problems and needs associated with a particular disability. In many cases they exert pressure on central and local government for better public provision. For example, the needs of mentally handicapped children and young people are now better understood because of the activities of organisations which work on their behalf, while public awareness of dyslexia and autism is due largely to voluntary effort.
II THE DEVELOPMENT OF VOLUNTARY ORGANISATIONS IN THE FUTURE 17.8 It is difficult to predict the direction of the future development of voluntary organisations, since many of them, as we have shown, evolve by identifying and reacting to new needs. In broad terms, however, we envisage that the three trends in their general development identified above will continue. In addition, we foresee that voluntary organisations will seek increasingly to facilitate the communication of information to parents about their children's special needs and to improve arrangements for self-help and community support for parents. In the following section we consider in more detail the likely pattern of development of voluntary organisations in the light of our proposals for future arrangements for special educational provision. Increasing specialisation 17.9 First, we believe that the move towards specialisation will continue and increase. It is impossible to foresee in detail in what directions voluntary organisations will become more specialised in the future. We believe, however, that increasingly they will be engaged in identifying and concentrating on quite narrowly specialised areas of need which become apparent with the progressive increase in know ledge of and concern for different disabilities. The pioneering of services 17.10 Secondly, the pioneering of services by voluntary organisations has been and is likely to continue to be important for parents and for children and young people of all ages. In Chapter 5 we discussed provision for children under five and acknowledged the work of voluntary organisations in providing help for parents in the early years. At this stage in particular parents can benefit greatly from sharing their experiences with others with similar problems. The work of some voluntary groups has been directed towards meeting the needs of parents of young children, for example through the organisation of opportunity groups, which bring children with and without disabilities together and enable their mothers to meet each other. We regard such groups as an important element in the range of special educational provision which we consider should be available in all areas. 17.11 The provision by voluntary organisations of non-maintained special schools, many of them residential schools, has a long history, as we indicated in Chapters 2 and 8. Such schools still provide a high proportion of all the available places for children of school age with certain disabilities. Although their running costs are met almost entirely (or in Scotland substantially) from the fees paid by local education authorities, the schools are often cut off from the rest of the special and other educational services provided by local authorities, and we made proposals in Chapter 8 for developing and strengthening their links with local education authorities. The provision of a wide range of special educational arrangements, particularly in ordinary schools, which we advocated in Chapter 6, holds a challenge for those voluntary organisations whose efforts have been centred on special schools and should lead to a reappraisal of the work of such organisations in the field of education. As we indicated in Chapter 8, some non-maintained special schools may wish to explore the possibility of making provision for children with kinds of disability different from those of the children for whom they currently cater. It will be important that, wherever possible, they should retain their freedom to innovate and experiment. The future of individual schools should be discussed against a long-term plan for special educational provision drawn up by local education authorities in conjunction with the voluntary bodies which provide non-maintained special schools. The regional conferences for special education should provide a useful forum for discussion of such plans. We therefore recommend that the future of individual non-maintained special schools should be determined through consultation between local education authorities in the region and those voluntary organisations which provide the schools. Further, the schools themselves should be kept informed of any local authority plans which may affect their continued existence. 17.12 Some of the newer, more specialised voluntary organisations have chosen to set up independent schools for handicapped children. Many of these cater for children with emotional and behavioural disorders but some have also pioneered special education for particular groups of children, for example autistic children. We recommended in Chapter 8 that where special school provision in the maintained sector is inadequate it should be increased to the point of sufficiency. Nevertheless, we recognise that there will always be a place for well devised arrangements made by voluntary organisations for groups of children whose special educational needs may not yet be widely recognised or met or which may become apparent in future. 17.13 We referred in Chapter 10 to the provision of opportunities for assessment of a specifically vocational kind and for continuing and further education, and training in specialist centres run by voluntary organisations. In the course of our enquiries we have become aware of the valuable work being developed by voluntary organisations in villages for the mentally handicapped, in centres for young people with sensory and physical disabilities and in hostels and other forms of accommodation which encourage handicapped young people to live on a semi-independent basis and which facilitate their attendance at colleges and training centres of all kinds. We see a need for an increase in provision for young people with disabilities or significant difficulties within the maintained sector of further education. Nevertheless, we recognise that those voluntary organisations which have pioneered services in this field will have gained much valuable experience which could be of great help to those charged with the task of increasing statutory provision. We recommend that collaboration between voluntary organisations and further education establishments should be developed and improved with a view to an increase in the opportunities available to young people with special needs after they have left school. 17.14 Several organisations have pioneered arrangements for children and young people with disabilities to enjoy recreational activities. Other organisations, which embrace all children and young people whether or not they have disabilities, make special arrangements for particular groups. Some youth organisations specialise in providing clubs where physically handicapped young people can join with others in a wide range of activities or where mentally handicapped young people can continue to develop social and recreational skills and interests. All these efforts are in our view in need of support and further development, as we suggested in Chapter 10. Organisations such as the Scouts and Guides and the Duke of Edinburgh's Award Scheme, which have sought to accommodate special groups, inevitably face difficulties in making allowances for disabilities without accepting low standards of achievement in the interests of a superficial appearance of equality. In these areas of activity we hope it will be possible for the children with whom we are concerned to join with their contemporaries as often as possible in shared arrangements. Careful adaptation of schemes where necessary should enable many children with disabilities to achieve the same goals as their contemporaries without the need for any lowering in the standards of performance expected of them. As we indicated in Chapter 10, leisure and recreational activities assume particular importance for those young people with very severe and complex disabilities who need to achieve significant living without work. 17.15 In addition to pioneering new approaches to educational and recreational provision, voluntary organisations complement and supplement existing services, particularly those for families of children with disabilities. For example, they provide specialised social work for such families, as well as day care, holiday schemes and short-term residential facilities for the children. In all these fields, educational, recreational and social, voluntary organisations are already making a very valuable contribution. There is still considerable scope, however, for pioneering new and improved arrangements. 17.16 The need for new forms of provision or services has emerged in some cases from the research and enquiry sponsored by many voluntary organisations, especially the more recently formed highly specialised societies. Some can marshal more expertise in their field than is readily available elsewhere. We hope that the voluntary organisations will supply information about their research interests and activities to the Special Education Research Group proposed in the next chapter. In its turn the Research Group should consult appropriate voluntary organisations when considering research priorities in their fields of interest. Pressure groups 17.17 Thirdly, it has long been a function of voluntary organisations to bring pressure to bear on national and local government in two ways: first by seeking to ensure that authorities are fulfilling their existing responsibilities for those with disabilities and secondly by identifying the need for new forms of provision and mobilising public opinion to demand them. Both these activities will continue in the future. For example, as more children with disabilities and significant difficulties are educated in ordinary schools voluntary organisations may need to be increasingly vigilant to see that adequate special arrangements are made for them. 17.18 We would expect voluntary organisations to exert pressure on behalf of individuals who cannot easily undertake the task of seeing that statutory duties are carried out and on behalf of groups of parents and children who are seeking to ensure that authorities provide efficiently for the children's special educational needs. It is inevitable that tension between voluntary and statutory bodies will occur on some occasions when the special pleading of voluntary organisations is set against what statutory bodies see as more general considerations. This tension, however, need not be harmful and, indeed, may result in fruitful collaboration. 17.19 We recognise that, given the large number of voluntary bodies concerned with promoting the interests of those with disabilities, the recommendations made by such bodies may be diverse and sometimes incompatible. Independent views are vital but it is also desirable that the voluntary organisations in this field should be kept informed of each other's activities. The Voluntary Council for Handicapped Children provides a forum for shared opinions about common issues, and local councils for voluntary service may also play a part in coordinating activities. In addition, as we recommended in the last chapter, the membership of the regional conferences for special education should include representatives of voluntary organisations which operate in the region. It would hardly be feasible for any one body to be responsible for the communication of information between the different organisations concerned; rather it should be for all the coordinating bodies mentioned to give a high priority to this aspect of their work. Only in this way can future policies be properly determined and available resources used effectively. 17.20 National voluntary organisations have played a significant part in shaping government policies for disabled persons. The Wolfenden Report recognised the need for coordinated action between statutory and voluntary bodies and this is no less necessary in the field of special education. For this reason we see one of the future tasks of the National Advisory Committee on Children with Special Educational Needs proposed in the last chapter as being to receive and coordinate the views of national voluntary organisations concerned with handicapped children and to take account of their opinions in making any recommendations to the Secretaries of State for Education and Science and for Wales. The facilitating of communication 17.21 Fourthly, we envisage that voluntary organisations will play an increasingly important part in future in informing parents, professionals and other members of the public about children's or young people's special needs. Almost all voluntary organisations aim to create a better public understanding of and a more favourable attitude towards handicapped people. Our proposals for special education, in particular those concerned with effective provision in ordinary schools, with recreational facilities and with increased opportunities for employment for young people with disabilities will depend on the informed opinions of parents, teachers and other professionals and we hope that voluntary organisations will be instrumental in creating the better understanding necessary for the effective implementation of the changes recommended in this report. 17.22 Among the many activities of national organisations, work with professionals in the health, education and social services is an increasingly important function. Representatives of voluntary bodies contribute a great deal to national and local courses of training for members of different professions. We are aware of one college established by a major organisation whose work is in our view outstanding in providing well organised opportunities for the consideration of specific problems and developments on an inter-professional basis. Many other organisations provide courses and workshops for workers in the field and for administrators. We see an increasing and important function for national voluntary organisations in contributing specialised knowledge and experience about particular disabilities and difficulties to initial and in-service training for a range of different professions. 17.23 In Chapters 4, 5 and 9 we pointed to the role of parents as partners in the education of their children and suggested that they should be informed of voluntary organisations which may be helpful to them. Many organisations provide information for parents about their child's condition, about the services which exist to help them and about the experiences of other parents of children with similar disabilities. Some also arrange lectures, discussions and workshops not only to inform parents but also to help them to make the best use of the information at their disposal and to apply it to their own circumstances. It is very important that parents should know where they can obtain information, even if they choose not to obtain it or to make use of it. The leaflet published by the Voluntary Council for Handicapped Children (2) is a useful example of a way in which parents may be provided with starting points for their enquiries. 17.24 It emerged very clearly from the research carried out by the York University Social Policy Research Unit for the Family Fund (3) that many parents of handicapped children have very little contact with either statutory or voluntary organisations. While we would urge local authority services to take increasing responsibility for working with parents, voluntary organisations will, in our view, continue to have a vital contribution to make. Indeed, voluntary organisations may be better placed than statutory services to establish contact with parents, many of whom are initially very suspicious of approaches from official representatives of public authorities and may reject offers of help. Support from voluntary bodies may be welcomed more readily than that from statutory bodies, even where the voluntary organisation receives financial assistance from a public authority. Self-help and community support for parents 17.25 A developing trend in recent years has been the formation of groups of parents or disabled people to provide self-help. This trend seems likely to continue and increase in the future. As we indicated in Chapters 5 and 9, voluntary bodies, particularly those local groups which are effective, can be of great help to parents when handicapping conditions are first discovered in their children. We attach very great importance to the work of parents' groups in providing support and in making shared arrangements for their children's case and education. We welcomed in the last chapter (paragraph 16.34) the development by a number of authorities of local machinery to coordinate the provision of services for children under five. We recommend that voluntary bodies and local authorities should collaborate to see that advisory and support services are available to groups of parents of young children with special needs and that no parents of such children are unaware of them. 17.26 Some of the evidence we received on the support provided by voluntary organisations for parents sounded a note of caution, suggesting that not all voluntary organisations can rely on having advisers with training and experience, including a knowledge of the range of services available. It is essential that all organisations should ensure, so far as possible, that the advice and counselling offered to parents are of a high quality. Moreover, if the best interests of the children and families concerned are to be promoted, close cooperation is necessary between voluntary and statutory bodies in their support for parents. It is important that parents should not be presented unnecessarily with conflicting advice. 17.27 We are aware that local voluntary organisations are capable of inspiring and harnessing local interest and effort in a way that no statutory body can emulate. They can provide an effective point of contact and understanding between local communities and those of their members with disabilities or the families of those with special needs. They can help, too, to promote voluntary effort on an individual basis, for example through the 'Good Neighbour Scheme', in which people are encouraged to offer practical help to those of their neighbours with special needs.
CONCLUSION 17.28 The recommendations of this chapter are directed towards an increase in collaboration at national, regional and local level between voluntary organisations and statutory services in the interests of children with special educational needs and their families. Such collaboration does not always occur at present and our evidence suggests that by no means all local authorities appreciate the contribution which voluntary organisations can make. At the same time, it is equally important that the independence of voluntary organisations should be preserved. We have pointed to several functions, particularly facilitating communication with parents and stimulating community support, which voluntary organisations are often better placed than statutory bodies to perform. There is scope for local authorities to assist voluntary organisations to carry out their work, for example by making premises available or offering financial support, without however detracting from their independence. Increasing collaboration between statutory and voluntary bodies should go hand in hand with continuing respect for the independence of the voluntary sector. 17.29 We envisage no decrease in the importance of voluntary groups and organisations in the future; rather we see an increased need for effort particularly on behalf of children with moderate learning difficulties and emotional and behavioural difficulties who, though numerically the largest groups of children with disabilities or disorders, are supported by relatively few voluntary organisations. It is inevitable that from time to time some groups will lose influence or change direction, while other new groups will emerge. This changing pattern brings new life to special education. In our opinion the very considerable contribution of voluntary organisations will continue to be needed as far ahead as anyone can see.
References (1) The future of voluntary organisations Report of the Wolfenden Committee (Croom Helm London 1978). (2) Help starts here (National Children's Bureau for the Voluntary Council for Handicapped Children, 1976). (3) Hitch D, 'What help can parents get? A family fund analysis', Concern (Journal of the National Children's Bureau) No 23 (Spring 1977), 6-12. 
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