Gwent Reviews Its Needs
Gwent Education Authority systematically evaluates its policies, procedures, administration and the financial arrangements for young people with special educational needs. Julien Kramer, director of education, London Borough of Greenwich, until recently divisional director of education, School Support and Finance, Gwent, who has been working with service partners, the voluntary bodies and the district auditor, highlights strengths and weaknesses in service arrangements in Gwent and sets an agenda for change in anticipation of the requirements of the 1993 Education Act.
Special educational needs and the voluntary groups. A report on the consultative process
Abstract Derbyshire an English county authority, recently held a series of consultative meetings with the voluntary bodies and support organisations to review its educational arrangements for children and young people with special educational needs and to plan future provision. The consultative process is described and discussed. Issues emerging from the consultations are assessed against a background of current special educational needs developments in the education service and with regard to the changing nature of those English voluntary organisations representing the interests of young people with serious learning difficulties or serious disability.
Historias de mi barrio: contemporary art in a community at high risk of social exclusion
Abstract Historias de mi barrio is a piece of pedagogic research aimed at highlighting the way art can articulate the relationship between the educational context and a neighbourhood at high risk of social exclusion. The starting point for this study was to ask whether this type of research, centred around the arts, was suitable in complex contexts and whether it might eventually lead to pedagogic improvement. The results gathered, and indeed the work carried out by the artists and university lecturers involved, together with pupils 6–12 years old and their instructors in a state school, provide evidence of a positive answer – and notably of the necessity of knowing about the socio-economic reality of the student cohort when planning learning projects and of the importance of the arts as a crucial element in education.