scholarly journals Vulnerable and forgotten: The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on autism special schools in England

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura Crane ◽  
Freddie Adu ◽  
Francesca Arocas ◽  
Rachel Carli ◽  
Simon Eccles ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Young People ◽  
Special Educational Needs ◽  
Special Schools ◽  
Children And Young People ◽  
Educational Rights ◽  
Holistic Approaches ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Home Learning ◽  
The Uk ◽  
The Impact

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused, and continues to cause, unprecedented disruption in the United Kingdom (UK). The impact of the pandemic on the education system has been significant, especially for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). Whilst it was encouraging that the educational rights of children and young people with SEND were prioritised during the COVID-19 pandemic, Government decision-making appeared to be centred around the needs of pupils in mainstream schools. In this article, co-authored by an academic researcher and senior leaders from the Pan London Autism Schools Network (PLASN; a collective of special schools in London and the South East of England, catering for pupils on the autistic spectrum), we reflect on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on special schools in England. We document a range of challenges experienced by PLASN schools, including the educational inequalities that were exposed and perpetuated by the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as the manner in which the needs and realities of special schools were overlooked by the UK Government. We also detail the creative and innovative solutions implemented by PLASN schools to overcome barriers that they encountered. These solutions centred on facilitating holistic approaches to support, ensuring clear and regular communication with families, providing effective support for home learning, and promoting collaborative ways of working. We additionally reflect on how the COVID-19 pandemic could be a catalyst for much-needed change to the SEND system: leading to better educational provision, and therefore better outcomes, for pupils with SEND.

scholarly journals Vulnerable and Forgotten: The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Autism Special Schools in England

2021 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura Crane ◽  
Freddie Adu ◽  
Francesca Arocas ◽  
Rachel Carli ◽  
Simon Eccles ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Young People ◽  
English Education ◽  
Good Practice ◽  
Essential Elements ◽  
Special Educational Needs ◽  
Special Schools ◽  
Children And Young People ◽  
Educational Rights ◽  
The Government ◽  
The Impact

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused, and continues to cause, unprecedented disruption in England. The impact of the pandemic on the English education system has been significant, especially for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). While it was encouraging that the educational rights of children and young people with SEND were highlighted during the COVID-19 pandemic, Government decision-making appeared to be centered around the needs of pupils in mainstream schools. In this article, co-authored by an academic researcher and senior leaders from the Pan London Autism Schools Network (PLASN; a collective of special schools in London and the South East of England, catering for pupils on the autistic spectrum), we reflect on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on special schools in England. We document and discuss a range of challenges experienced by PLASN schools, including the educational inequalities that were exposed and perpetuated by the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as the manner in which the needs and realities of special schools were overlooked by the Government. We also detail the creative and innovative solutions implemented by PLASN schools to overcome barriers that they encountered. These solutions centered on facilitating holistic approaches to support, ensuring clear and regular communication with families, providing effective support for home learning, and promoting collaborative ways of working; all of which align with good practice principles in autism education more generally, and are essential elements of practice to maintain post-pandemic. We additionally reflect on how the COVID-19 pandemic could be a catalyst for much-needed change to the SEND system: leading to better educational provision, and therefore better outcomes, for pupils with SEND.

scholarly journals Impact of lockdown and school closure on children in special schools: a single-centre survey

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. e000981
Author(s):  
Tapomay Banerjee ◽  
Amjad Khan ◽  
Piriyanga Kesavan
Keyword(s):  
Young People ◽  
Significant Role ◽  
Well Being ◽  
School Closure ◽  
Special Educational Needs ◽  
Single Centre ◽  
Special Schools ◽  
Daily Lives ◽  
Children And Young People ◽  
The Impact

Special schools play a significant role in the daily lives of children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities. We explored the impact of the COVID-19-related first lockdown and resulting school closure by surveying parents whose children attended three special schools in Bedford, UK. We asked about anxiety and impact on emotional well-being and education. We received 53 responses from parents: 31 felt their child was more anxious during the lockdown period/school closure compared with beforehand and 42 felt their child’s emotional well-being had been affected. Children and young people attending special schools may have struggled both academically and emotionally during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Introduction

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-18
Author(s):  
Elaine Chase ◽  
Jennifer Allsopp
Keyword(s):  
Young People ◽  
Social Care ◽  
Immigration Policies ◽  
Children And Young People ◽  
Unaccompanied Children ◽  
Youth Migration ◽  
The Uk ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Over Time

This introductory chapter provides an overview of youth migration. Youth migration needs to be understood in relation to its negative drivers of persecution, violence, and unsustainable lives in countries of origin, factors that motivated the flights of many young people. But at the same time, there is a need to recognize that such adversity also fuels individual and collective dreams and aspirations for better lives. Without acknowledging this, politicians will struggle to formulate meaningful and workable asylum and immigration policies. The chapter then briefly outlines the differing journeys that young people took in order to arrive in Europe. The chapter explains that the book focuses on how asylum, immigration, and social care procedures are operationalized once unaccompanied children and young people arrive in the UK and Italy, and the impact that these bureaucratic processes have on them over time.

Introduction: the landscapes of poverty and education across the UK

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-10
Author(s):  
Ian Thompson ◽  
Gabrielle Ivinson
Keyword(s):  
Young People ◽  
Educational Inequality ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Children And Young People ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Context Specific ◽  
Social And Cultural Factors ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Different Parts

Poverty blights the lives of children and young people. Research has consistently shown that the most economically disadvantaged pupils across the United Kingdom (UK) have the poorest educational outcomes and that poverty has a pernicious effect on children’s well-being. However, far less is known about the ways that poverty is differentially experienced for children and young people in schools within the four jurisdictions of the UK. Are there historical, social and cultural factors that make poverty a postcode lottery in terms of quality of schooling in the different parts of the UK? Are successful local interventions context specific as the research evidence seems to suggest or can we learn from particular regions or cities? This introduction points out that anxieties about growing educational inequality in the UK have to be contextualised historically, geographically and in terms of the distinct political and socio-economic landscapes in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

41. Youth justice

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lesley McAra
Keyword(s):  
United Kingdom ◽  
Young People ◽  
Policy Discourse ◽  
Youth Justice ◽  
Children And Young People ◽  
The Past ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
The Law ◽  
The Impact

This chapter explores the founding principles, operational functioning and impact of the institutions which have evolved across the four nations in the United Kingdom to deal with children and young people who come into conflict with the law. It takes as its principal empirical focus the shifting patterns of control that have emerged over the past twenty years—a period characterized by a persistent disjuncture between normative claims about youth justice, evolving policy discourse, and the impact of youth justice practices on the lives of young people. The chapter concludes by arguing that, unless there is better alignment between these dimensions, justice for children and young people cannot and will never be delivered.

scholarly journals Questioning Inclusion: The Education of Roma/Traveller Students and Young People in Europe and England — A Critical Examination

2009 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
pp. 262-275 ◽  
Author(s):  
Spyros Themelis
Keyword(s):  
United Kingdom ◽  
Young People ◽  
Social Exclusion ◽  
Formal Education ◽  
Critical Examination ◽  
Children And Young People ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Key Issues ◽  
Political Economic ◽  
The Impact

This article deals with issues pertinent to the ‘inclusion’ of Roma/Traveller children and young people in Europe and, in particular, England. It discusses some key issues that pertain to the inclusion of Roma/Traveller groups in society and it critically presents some key policies that have been advanced to tackle educational and social exclusion of these groups. The aim in this article is to explore the impact these approaches have had thus far and to unravel some of the contradictions, inconsistencies and tensions that permeate them. The critical examination of such approaches is principally located within the context of the United Kingdom, but relevant policies and initiatives that have been introduced by supra-national European organisations are also discussed in order to inform the reader about the wider context in relation to the issues many Roma/Traveller groups face. Inclusion does not operate in a vacuum. It is argued that a set of structural and ideological factors that impact on inclusion need to be identified and linked to a renewed and enriched inclusion approach. In fighting exclusion, holistic and sustained approaches are necessary, which cut across social, political, economic and cultural domains and extend well beyond the formal education of one group (the Roma/Travellers).

scholarly journals “It all makes us feel together”: Young people’s experiences of virtual group music-making during the Covid-19 pandemic

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maruša Levstek ◽  
Rubie M. Barnby ◽  
Katherine L. Pocock ◽  
Robin Banerjee
Keyword(s):  
Young People ◽  
Music Education ◽  
Psychological Needs ◽  
Basic Psychological Needs ◽  
Special Educational Needs ◽  
Children And Young People ◽  
Music Production ◽  
Music Making ◽  
Virtual Group ◽  
The Uk

We know little about the psychological experiences of children and young people who have participated in virtual group music-making during the Covid-19 pandemic. Adopting a mixed-methods design, we worked across three music education hubs in the UK, with a total 13 virtual music groups. These included a range of mainstream ensembles, inclusive ensembles targeting young people with special educational needs and/or disabilities, and inclusive music production spaces, targeting young people from lower socio-economic backgrounds. Reported progress in intra- and inter-personal psychological outcomes was investigated using quantitative and qualitative staff session reports, which were collected since before the pandemic (n for in-person sessions = 87, n for virtual sessions = 68), and surveys distributed to tutors, young people, and their parents during the first and second UK national lockdowns (n for qualitative responses = 240, n for quantitative responses = 96). Satisfaction of three basic psychological needs of self-determination theory and their relation to joint music-making in virtual spaces was also observed in real time by the researchers performing quantitative checklist observations on 16 separate occasions. Findings indicated that virtual music groups represented a meaningful psychological resource for the participating children and young people, especially considering the lack of opportunities offered by their schools and other extra-curricular activities. Through their participation with virtual group music-making activities, young people used music as a tool for self-expression and emotion management, restored lost musical identities and confidence, and preserved treasured social connections. Virtual alternatives to group music-making appear to indirectly nurture the sense of belongingness, mediated by supportive staff behaviours, but their direct connection, which has been widely reported for in-person group music-making experiences, has not been observed in virtual music groups.

scholarly journals “It All Makes Us Feel Together”: Young People's Experiences of Virtual Group Music-Making During the COVID-19 Pandemic

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maruša Levstek ◽  
Rubie Mai Barnby ◽  
Katherine L. Pocock ◽  
Robin Banerjee
Keyword(s):  
Young People ◽  
Music Education ◽  
Psychological Needs ◽  
Basic Psychological Needs ◽  
Special Educational Needs ◽  
Children And Young People ◽  
Music Production ◽  
Music Making ◽  
Virtual Group ◽  
The Uk

We know little about the psychological experiences of children and young people who have participated in virtual group music-making during the Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic. Adopting a mixed-methods design, we worked across three music education hubs in the UK, with a total 13 virtual music groups. These included a range of mainstream ensembles, inclusive ensembles targeting young people with special educational needs and/or disabilities, and inclusive music production spaces, targeting young people from lower socio-economic backgrounds. Reported progress in intra- and inter-personal psychological outcomes was investigated using quantitative and qualitative staff session reports, which were collected since before the pandemic (n1 for in-person sessions = 87, n2 for virtual sessions = 68), and surveys distributed to tutors, young people, and their parents during the first and second United Kingdom (UK) national lockdowns (n3 for qualitative responses = 240, n4 for quantitative responses = 96). Satisfaction of three basic psychological needs of self-determination theory and their relation to joint music-making in virtual spaces was also observed in real time by the researchers performing quantitative checklist observations on 16 separate occasions. Findings indicated that virtual music groups represented a meaningful psychological resource for the participating children and young people, especially considering the lack of opportunities offered by their schools and other extra-curricular activities. Through their participation with virtual group music-making activities, young people used music as a tool for self-expression and emotion management, restored lost musical identities and confidence, and preserved treasured social connections. Virtual alternatives to group music-making appear to indirectly nurture the sense of belongingness, mediated by supportive staff behaviors, but their direct connection, which has been widely reported for in-person group music-making experiences, has not been observed in virtual music groups.

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