Secondary kids taught with Janet and John!

I just had to write this having read the article in the Daily Mail saturday 31st March.

Normally I applaud initiatives such as this one but on this occasion I have to tell you that far from this being a eureka moment this has already been done. I do not want to decry Miss Atwood's efforts or the initiative of the Sirius Academy. I was appalled to see them on television, how humiliating to be identified so. Its not their fault.

Over 15 years ago my wife was a special needs teacher in a secondary school. Children in main stream education had various disabilities to learning but with appropriate tuition great strides were made and most of them achieved an appropriate level of achievement to enable them to function in society. Some even gained qualifications.

At the same time there were a number of, so called, "normal" children who also suffered from a lack of achievement but not innate ability. Often they were the more disruptive elements and school refusers who had missed out on education for various reasons.

My main point is, yes they may have reading ages of 5 or so but they are 11 plus. You cannot demean them by giving them "baby" books to learn to read. Imagine how the Hard nuts will react.

So my wife used the various texts/materials that are available to encourage them to read. Yes she even taught Shakespeare to the SEN children. The key is "differentiated work". Most teachers are either not trained how to do this or do not have the time or inclination.

The school did not fund this remedial work as such but by using a small amount of the special needs budget my wife obtained materials and taught these children. I was appalled to see them on television, how humiliating to be identified so. Its not their fault. There was some resistance from the "normal" children - who were reluctant to enter a class of "numpties" as the SEN kids were known. With appropriate encouragement the children attended special lessons (sometimes 1:1) for just half an hour or so. Their reading and arithmetic came on and after say a year of this they were brought up sufficiently to return to normal classes and continue with their peers. Having been given a boost they could continue on their own.

Other aspects of this were, and I do not wish to demean Miss Atwood, but she does not have the experience, the material my wife used was in fact so good that "normal" children often got these books from the library for themselves. Yes they only took minutes to read but they enjoyed the stories and the other children gained a lot in self esteem now they were able to "read" real books. Sometimes the SEN children got better Marks in English than the others in their lessons,for their understanding of Shakespeare as taught by my Wife. This was in fact a testament to the fact of how these children were being taught. Small groups with appropriately differentiated work, excellent resources and attention from staff.

Another aspect was, that given the school refusers/disruptive elements who traditionally were excluded - after being persuaded to attend lessons with my Wife, they became engaged and even enthusiastic about her lessons, (although some would still not attend their normal lessons or behave in them). Given time their attitudes changed, they enjoyed learning and again some were able to gain (appropriate) qualifications (not necessarily GCSE's). Then go on to obtain employment.

This effort really does demand resources and appropriate techniques - NOT giving Janet and John to 12 year olds!

I sincerely believe that it is appalling that almost one fifth of student s are still leaving school officially "illiterate", but with appropriately directed tuition they can be brought up to a useful standard to function in society. Really it is the primary schools that are failing to address this but again lack of resources and appropriate tuition results in this situation. Given we are where we are it needs urgent action like Sirius is taking. Often it is these "dregs" who are the ones that society shuns and they end up being the rioters because they have no hope or aspiration. If you're never going to get anything then why not just take.

Perhaps the Sirius Academy would appreciate some consultancy from my Wife to take this project to the next level?