Online Petition details
All staff working in Wirral schools should be disability trained
We the undersigned petition the council to Ensure that all staff that come into contact with children in an education setting should be given training on disabilities. In the interest of inclusion children are being put into environments that are unsuitable for their needs
This online petition was rejected on 05/03/2012 because it contains information within the statement and justification for the petition which is inaccurate and misleading
Council response
This petition has been rejected on the grounds that it is inaccurate and the justification is misleading because:
(i) There is no evidence from OFSTED reports, issues raised by
parents generally with school and governing bodies, or matters
raised with elected Members/MPs to suggest that “children are
being put into environments that are unsuitable for their
needs” or that “Children and young people are being
placed in environments where a teacher or TA has been given
twilight training which is not sufficient for the needs of the
students in the class”.
(ii) There is already a training programme in place for teachers
around various aspects of children with Special Educational Needs
and there is already both specialist and more generic support from
the teams in Special Education Support Service. There is a
comprehensive ongoing training programme provided by the
Educational Psychology Service and schools are welcome, through
their planning meeting processes to request individual training
regarding specific disabilities or individual children on
request.
(iii) The Children and Young People’s Department is currently
consulting on next year’s training offer to schools so if
schools feel that their teachers need further training on teaching
children with disabilities then this can be put in place as part of
that process
(iv) The Department is not aware of (general) issues regarding
children being put into environments that are unsuitable for their
needs. As can be the case, there may be issues around a specific
child which requires specific action.
(v)The Council is not in a position to ensure that all staff that
come into contact with children in an education setting should be
given training on disabilities. We cannot dictate to schools
regarding their curriculum, deployment of staff or their training.
This is especially the case now that an increasing number of
secondary schools have become Academies and are independent of the
Local Authority.