Students with disabilities and other special needs in the process of higher education: inclusion issues

an article by Violeta Vida?ek-Hainš, Valentina Kirini? and Andreja Kova?i? published in International Journal of Knowledge and Learning Volume 7 Number 1/2 (2011)
[with apologies to the authors for the mangling of their names - this was all that I could find online]

Abstract

Nowadays, there is an increasing number of persons with disabilities eager to pursue their education in higher education institutions as well as of students with some specific learning difficulties like dyslexia, dysgraphia, dyscalculia, etc. A lot of institutional resources at different levels enable the inclusion of persons with disabilities and learning difficulties into higher education.

This primarily refers to organisational resources and professional staff resources, including services and student counselling within universities or particular faculties, educational assistants, current legislation (development strategies), financial support, environmental support, ICT support and others.

This paper presents initial experiences in organising a supportive/effective academic environment for students with disabilities by means of contemporary information and communications technology. Although the described experiences have arisen from the early stage of establishing an effective learning environment for students with disabilities, they can be valuable in future implementation of such an environment.

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Achievement for All National Evaluation: Final report

The Achievement for All (AfA) pilot involved ten local authorities (LAs) selected by the Department for Children Families and Schools (now the DfE). Each LA selected schools to participate and in total there were 454 schools.

The main aim of the national evaluation project was to examine the impact of AfA on a variety of outcomes for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). It also aimed to find out what processes and practices in schools were most effective in improving these outcomes.

Research design incorporated quantitative and qualitative components. The quantitative component of the evaluation consisted of teacher surveys, parent surveys, attendance and attainment data and school level surveys/data. The qualitative component included interviews with local and regional AfA lead professionals, longitudinal case studies of 20 AfA school, and ad hoc data.

Includes:

• Executive Summary
• Overview of the Achievement for All national evaluation project
• Professionals, systems and networks supporting AfA schools
• Setting up AfA in schools: barriers and facilitators
• Implementation and impact of AfA Strand 1 (assessment, tracking and intervention)
• Implementation and impact of AfA Strand 2 (structured conversations with parents)
• Strand 3 Wider Outcomes
• Case study profiles of schools and pupils
• Conclusions
• Appendices

Reference: DFE-RR176
Published: November 2011

Full report – “file is damaged” (PDF ??pp)
Hopefully by the time you read this the file will have been repaired but since the response to the email I sent is quoting 15 days please do not hold your breath.

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In Brief: Every child matters?

an article by Sandra McNally in CentrePiece - The Magazine for Economic Performance CP285 (June 2009)

Sandra McNally and colleagues provide the first comprehensive evaluation of 'special educational needs' programmes.

Full article: http://cep.lse.ac.uk/pubs/download/cp285.pdf

This article summarises Every Child Matters? An Evaluation of Special Educational Needs Programmes in England by Francois Keslair, Eric Maurin and Sandra McNally, a forthcoming CEE Discussion Paper.

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