PLEASE COULD YOU SIGN THIS PETITION--Petition: Require mandatory training on ASD/ADHD and SEND for teachers

I trained as a teacher in 2016 and we had lots of information about SEND.
Probably not enough - but you have to cram an awful lot into a PGCE.
I don't know how PGCE and BEd providers can get away with not doing this!
I'm very surprised that it is an issue

It is the PGCE system that needs looking at; to expect people with no experience in education to become competent teachers during what is nine months training is ridiculous, particularly in view of Mary Warnock's statement that every teacher is a teacher of Special Needs.

I agree eazybee
Prior to the PGCE I was an SEN TA for over ten years and also specialised in teaching EAL.
The drop out rate on the course (outstanding and massively oversubscribed) was horrendous.
The students didn't know what they were in for and were really uninformed as to what teaching involves.

I have signed it- good luck.

I've signed it because it's about time that teachers were trained to spot a child with such an issue and not just single him/her out as being disruptive/ naughty on purpose, or most importantly not a slight on the child's upbringing thus putting the blame on parenting.

I feel very strongly about this as one of my GGC had problems from very young which nobody recognised no matter who'd been told. I remember going to see a psychologist at the hospital with her and heard nothing after the appointment.
Schools were a no-go area for her and she was sent from pillar to post, with her mum, my GD, getting the blame for the child's behaviour. No help was forthcoming.

This is Ruby-Lou who began school at 3 years of age and the rot well and truly set in with a school-teacher at the time who greeted my GD at the school-gates at closing time----with a wet pair of kickers telling my GD that this " doesn't happen in her class !" 3 years of age ! I went ballistic towards this harridan of a woman and that marked the end of that particular school and a long wait for another.

To cut a very long story short, the girl will be 13 this year, has been moved around the country to various " special " schools until latterly when some clever dick recognised that there was a problem and she's been in a private therapy residential home with school costing the local council £25,000 a month for the past year !!
Do the powers that be really know what they're doing ?

I don't think I will sign this, not because I don't think that such training won't be valuable but because I doubt that even if it is made mandatory the training given during a PGCE course will adequately prepare anyone. For one thing child development research is on-going and what is taught this year may not be adequate in 10 years time. I'd far rather see the money invested in in-house training and monitoring for all schools and proper recompense for teachers and teaching assistants who take responsibility for these children.
I knew a bit about dyslexia, but until my DS was assessed by an Educational Psychologist and diagnosed I didn't spot it (he is incredibly bright and had developed strategies to cope and hide it) . After that I was able to identify quie a few dyslexic children, get them assessed and helped, but only because I did heaps of research and learned as much as I could about it. Afew weeks of training won't give anyone enough knowledge.

They have to start somewhere trisher.

A little knowledge is a dangerous thing.
They could start by taking SENCO funding out of a school's budget and funding them directly and by making it mandatory that they are never made full time teachers but always have a limited amount of teaching. Quite often children aren't assessed early enough because the SENCO is overworked and isn't able to observe or monitor individual children but relies on the class teacher. Even with basic training an NQT or young teacher won't have the experience and knowledge to use strategies which help children with problems. A good SENCO could watch, assess and suggest strategies.

I have signed, personal reasons.

I’ve signed.
Not only did we have to pay privately to have my grandson assessed, but we had to educate the SENS lady in the condition.
It was obvious from his teachers face that she thought it was rubbish and that he was just disruptive.
Thankfully things changed when he went up a year where he had a more enlightened teacher.

Signed

Signed

Signed

Anyone who thinks you can teach strategies for dealing with all the problems you will encounter when you are teaching in the few months you spend doing a PGCE is just wishing for the moon. It takes years to learn how to deal with some things and the important thing is that you keep on learning and are properly supported by experienced colleagues who have time to help. The problem is exacerbated by the failure to properly fund special needs education and will get worse because covid requirements are swallowing up schools' budgets neu.org.uk/funding/send-crisis

Nobody would need detailed expert knowledge gained over years trisher just the basic knowledge I had to acquire quickly in order to deal properly with my DGS.Once you can spot the signs you can at least alert the parents and the school of your suspicions in order for all of them to come together and investigate more thoroughly.

Signed

I've signed. Good luck!

Thank you to everyone who is signing.

My daughter and son in law spent many months trying for a diagnosis.
It was only through their determination knowing something was wrong that they got a diagnosis.

The petition was rejected last year from what I can see, have the issues that led to the rejection been addressed?

I've signed because I have one AC with dyslexia and dyspraxia and another with high functioning autism. It took a lot of pushing to get a diagnosis, although once the Educational Psychologist got involved it was a piece of cake! However, the difficulty was with the teachers who seemed unable to comprehend that the children weren't naughty but unbelievably bored and frustrated because the teacher could NOT see any problem/issue. Sorry for the rant!

Galaxy
thank you for your comment.
My daughter passed on the Petition to me, I do not know the history of any original one.
Perhaps you could explain and I will pass on the information to my daughter.

I dont know there is just one on the petition site with pretty much identical wording that has been rejected last October. If you Google you will see it. It basically says rejected because government dont have authority over content of teaching training that is up to individual providers. I would look at the very similar one that was rejected or I imagine the same will happen again.

lemongrove

Nobody would need detailed expert knowledge gained over years trisher just the basic knowledge I had to acquire quickly in order to deal properly with my DGS.Once you can spot the signs you can at least alert the parents and the school of your suspicions in order for all of them to come together and investigate more thoroughly.

And then what?

Getting a diagnosis and developing strategies are two different issues. Even with a diagnosis, it really isn't easy to design strategies in a mainstream school with 29 other children in a class, unless there's additional funding for specialist teachers and time for preparation and ongoing training, etc.