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Pearl Barnes: President: NASEN (National Association of Special Educational Needs)
“I am the elected President of NASEN, which is the only national charity which supports all children with SEN and disability. The charity has a membership of about 4000 and I am often called to represent the charity to speak at national conferences and events.
You may be aware that the world of education is changing – fast! More significantly, special educational needs has formed the focus of a major reform, the likes of which we have not seen for some 30 years – since SEN was first introduced as a phrase within education. This is an opportunity to really influence change and I am privileged enough to be at the forefront of influencing these changes. However, I cannot do it alone.
I am seeking the help of any parents who may have something to say about their educational experiences, in particular what has worked well, and what may have gone wrong. As home educators, I am well aware that you have not taken the choice to educate your children lightly. I would therefore like to seek your views about why you chose to home-educate your children, and if you would have chosen a different path if the state education system had been more supportive.
Below are 5 simple questions. I would be very grateful if you could spare 5 mins to answer them in full confidentiality. I am speaking at the Westminster Briefing on June 16th and would like to present some of the responses to the government and attendees.
1. Please state why you chose to make the decision to home educate your child/children.
2. Would you say that you believed your child/children to experience a special educational need – however mild or specific – such as dyslexia, ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder), learning difficulties or other non-specific difficulties?
3. If you had access to local state provision which met the individual needs of your child/children, would you have chosen to home-educate?
4. If you consider your child/ren to have a special educational need or learning difficulty, was the difficulty identified when/if your child was educated at school?
5. Is there anything else you would like to say regarding your child/s education in relation to special educational needs?”
Please send your responses back to Pearl at pearl.barnes@tiscali.co.uk, by June 16th
All responses will be treated in confidence, no names are required.
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