Let’s level the playing field!
We need to create more real-world opportunities for young people with SEN, writes Robert Ashton
The more our country becomes politically correct, the further people with special needs can find themselves pushed from opportunity. Of course it’s important to use appropriate language, but too often these polite euphemisms become labels used to pop folk into convenient pigeon holes from which they find it hard to escape.
In my day, the 11+ was a moment of segregation. Young people were categorised before puberty as bright or thick. Those who “failed” the exam, found themselves excluded from opportunity for the remainder of their school career. But also in those days, a learning disability meant you didn’t go to school at all. Before special schools were created in 1974, these young people were considered unworthy of any schooling and destined to a life of often patronising “care”.
Yet, just as some 11+ failures escaped from the pigeonhole into which they’d been conveniently placed by the system, today we see young people with often complex needs achieve extraordinary things at special schools. There is ample evidence to show that with the right support, those who would once have been written off can develop new interests, acquire new skills and enjoy more fulfilling lives.
You don’t have to spend much time around special schools to see for yourself how easy it is for assumptions to be made that can inhibit youngsters chances; protective parents, risk averse teachers and the constant pressure of managing the everyday in an often unpredictable environment all play their part.
Risk-averse
In fact one of the biggest challenges facing us all today is the way attitudes to risk are changing. You just have to watch people standing at the kerbside waiting to cross the road who don’t even notice that there is no passing traffic. They’ve somehow been conditioned to stand and obediently wait until the green man lights up. Then, of course, they step off the kerb without so much as a glance to either side.
This paradox of public safety extends to every aspect of our lives. The more we insulate people from risk, the more vulnerable they become. When you take an already vulnerable group, focussing too hard on protecting them increases their vulnerability further. That’s why in my view, work experience, or at least exposure to the wider world, is so important.
Of course, one thing at which special schools excel is in equipping young people with those everyday skills they need if they are ever to gain a degree of independence. Cooking and basic household and social skills often need to be sensitively taught and carefully practiced.
But what about work? It is said that fewer than one in 30 students leaving complex needs schools ever secure employment. For many, especially those with life-limiting conditions, getting a job is simply out of the question. But for many more, there are opportunities.
Employment today is far broader than it once was. Some young people make good livings as YouTube vloggers, others find creative ways to turn their interests and abilities into income. You don’t necessarily have to commute these days; even our Prime Minister works from home.
There is growing scope for social enterprises to be created that can create real opportunity for youngsters with a wide range of additional needs to experience the boost to self-esteem that economic activity can deliver. And if you just work a few hours each week, your hard won benefits are not affected.
Just as political correctness can unwittingly exclude from opportunity, so too can society’s growing desire to “do the right thing” be turned to the advantage of those leaving special school. Let’s create more opportunities for our young people to engage with the world when they leave school.
Author: Robert Ashton
Point of View 1 parent
Robert Ashton
Robert Ashton is a social entrepreneur, business author, campaigner and Board member of a complex needs schools cooperative trust:
www.robertashton.co.uk
