Consultation on a new Special Educational Needs Framework

About:

Northern Ireland is introducing a new Special Educational Needs (SEN) Framework to help ensure children receive the help they need as quickly as possible. This process involved an online public consultation. It also involved targeted consultation work with children and young people and parents/carers.

The consultation with children and young people involved an online survey. Prior to the survey, learners received a 30-minute preparatory session along with child-friendly materials. Youth workers, teachers, classroom assistants or Special Educational Needs Co-ordinators were available to help learners complete the survey. The consultation with parents/carers involved a focus group approach and one-to-one surveys.

Outcomes:

For the consultation with children and young people, 21 schools participated, and 249 learners completed the survey. For the parent/carer consultation, 41 parents participated. These voices were included in the analysis of the responses received, outlined in two final reports that have contributed to the development of the new SEN Framework. Overall, these targeted consultations allowed the people that will be most affected by the new Framework to influence it.

Key element(s) of the VIA Framework:

This example from UK (Northern Ireland) embodies VOICE in particular. Participants were equipped with accessible information before engaging in the consultations. This is an important part of responsibly listening to the voices of learners and families.

Access the consultation summary reports and easy-to-read child-friendly documents.