MP backs calls for teachers to have more training to support children
with communication difficulties
10/01/2008
A new YouGov poll shows that while three children in every classroom have communication problems, three-quarters (73%) of teachers have not had training to help those children with speech, language and communication special needs.
Following this news, Portsmouth MP, Mike Hancock (Lib Dem – Portsmouth South) has backed a parliamentary motion calling for more training and support for teachers and other workers looking after children.
The results of a recent YouGov poll carried out for the Communication Trust (TCT) found that 73% of staff have not had Special Educational Needs (SEN) training which covers speech, language and communication (SLC) and on average just 31% of teaching staff who have children with SEN have had specific training for SLC.
This prompted local Member of Parliament, Mike Hancock MP, to back a Commons motion (Early Day Motion 295) which seeks to support the work of the Communication Trust in helping practitioners who work with children to develop new skills and a greater understanding of children’s speech, language and communication difficulties.
Anita Kerwin-Nye, Programme Director for the Communication Trust, said: “It is vital that the children’s workforce are equipped to support the speech and language development of all children. We would like to thank Mr Hancock for supporting the work of the Communication Trust, and helping to raise the profile of communication as the key life skill for all children.”
Mike Hancock said: “It’s important that children who have difficulties with communication skills get the help they need. This can only happen if teachers and others whose work involves children have had the training that they need to help children develop their communication skills. With 1.2 million children with a communication disability, every classroom is likely to have children who need extra support. I am therefore please to support this parliamentary motion and the work of the Communications Trust. I will also be doing all I can to see that the Government supports this work adequately.”
The motion encourages the Government and its delivery partners, including the Training and Development Agency, the Children's Workforce Development Council and the Children's Workforce Network, to support the work of the Trust to ensure the children’s workforce are able to fulfil their vital role in supporting children’s speech and language development.
TCT’s three main roles include:
• Raising the profile of communication as the key life skill for all children, with a particular focus on the challenges faced by children with a communication disability and those who need additional help to develop their communication skills.
• Promoting and supporting the delivery of effective programmes that can be shown to develop the capacity of the children’s workforce to include and support children with communication disability and to support those who need additional help to develop their communication skills.
• Improving efficiencies in delivery by encouraging collaboration across voluntary and community sector organisations and developing relationships with commercial and public sector bodies.
Notes:
The Communication Trust seeks to improve provision for children who struggle with communication by devising, promoting and delivering training resources, programmes and services that will help teachers, early years workers and the wider children’s workforce develop new skills and a greater understanding of communication difficulties.
The Communication Trust is a newly created body supported by I CAN, the children’s communication charity, Afasic, CDC (Council for Disabled Children), the BT Better World Campaign and the Department for Children, Schools and Families.
The Communication Trust will play a key role in ensuring that professionals access the training and advice they need to support the children they serve and will act as a much-needed conduit between professionals and providers. This will ultimately lead to greater efficiencies in the sector.
One in ten children has a communication disability – an estimated 1.2 million children across the UK. On average, there will be three children with some form of communication disability in every primary school classroom in the UK. In some parts of the UK upwards of 50% of children enter primary school without the language skills that they need to learn.
EDM 295 - Children With Communication Problems and The Communication Trust states: “That this House welcomes the creation of the Communication Trust, supported by Afasic, the Council for Disabled Children, I CAN and the BT Better World Campaign; notes that one in 10 children in the UK has communication problems that require specialist help, representing approximately three children in every classroom, with many more having inadequate speech and language skills; recognises that all children will benefit from a skilled workforce who can support speech and language, as communication skills are linked to attainment; further notes that many teachers and other members of the children's workforce feel ill equipped to support children's speech and language development; congratulates the Trust on its work in improving provision for children who struggle with communication by devising, promoting and delivering training resources, programmes and services to augment and support the work of local speech and language therapy services that will help the children's workforce to develop appropriate skills; and urges the Government and its delivery partners, including the Training and Development Agency, the Children's Workforce Development Council and the Children's Workforce Network, to give all possible support to the Communication Trust to help enable the children's workforce to ensure that the current generation of children is able to communicate effectively.”
