ALLFIE has received the funding to create the ‘Our Voice’ project, so that Disabled Young people can have a say on what matters to them. This project addresses the isolation and intersectional exclusion experienced by Disabled Young people during the COVID-19 pandemic.
For my full article see: https://www.allfie.org.uk/news/inclusion-now/inclusion-now-59/our-voice-is-being-heard/
How can co-production and participatory approaches to inclusive education research impact on its richness and quality, and challenge historic marginalisation of Disabled people’s voices and experiences?
For my full article, see: https://www.allfie.org.uk/news/blog/inclusive-education-research-co-production-in-practice/
Disabled students, researchers and academics of Disabled Black People and People of Colour academics are frequently confronted with multi-layered and multifaceted barriers which ignore the intersectionality of their identities in a neoliberal British higher education system.
For my full article, see: https://www.allfie.org.uk/news/blog/include-us-disabled-black-people-and-people-of-colour-academics-and-disablist-academia/
Article summarising the project findings: https://www.allfie.org.uk/news/inclusion-now/inclusion-now-55/what-we-learned-from-our-project-about-accessibility-plans/
My new research project report, produced on behalf of the Alliance for Inclusive Education (ALLFIE) and funded by ‘Disability Research on Independent Living and Learning (DRILL)’, highlights shocking impact on Disabled pupils of schools’ failures around Accessibility Plans and equality of access.
Schools are failing to meet their legal duties around Accessibility Plans that should set out how they will meet the needs of Disabled pupils and their parents.
The report recommends action, including from OFSTED and local authorities, to monitor how schools are developing and implementing plans – which schools have been legally required to produce since 2002.
Read full report here: https://www.allfie.org.uk/inclusion-resources/accessibility-plans-as-effective-tools-for-inclusion-in-schools-are-they-working/
For accessible, easy-read version see: https://www.allfie.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/accessibility-plans-report-easy-read-lo-res-v3a.pdf
Ahead of our launch event on the 23rd January at the Supreme Court in Parliament Square, I discuss some key findings: https://www.allfie.org.uk/news/blog/blog-accessibility-plans-as-effective-tools-for-inclusion-in-schools-are-they-working/
My examination of the House of Commons Education Committee’s first report into SEND for 2019-20 can be found on ALLFIE’s website: https://www.allfie.org.uk/news/briefing/education-committee-send-report/
For the last 18 months or so, I have been working for ALLFIE on a research project funded by Disability Research on Independent Living and Learning (DRILL) into the effectiveness of Accessibility Plans in secondary schools. My findings and reflections on the negative and potentially devastating impact of ineffective Accessibility Plans on Disabled children and their families are due to be published next year.
For full news article, see ALLFIE website: https://www.allfie.org.uk/news/inclusion-now/inclusion-now-54/coming-soon-what-we-have-learned-about-accessibility-plans/
Schools incentivised “to be less inclusive, by making them reluctant to admit or keep pupils with SEND who can be costly to support.”
My briefing on the NAO report can be found on the ALLFIE website: https://www.allfie.org.uk/news/briefing/allfie-response-to-the-national-audit-office-report-on-sen-support-in-mainstream/?fbclid=IwAR3svx8BNafe2FR_eNlO1PXDGTTY5gNLSXkgCj0yM0bkQTZVGqjUQAr1868
“We had one headteacher tell us our child would effectively be too expensive. He said he could be instructed to take our child, but he’d prefer not to.” In this briefing I reported back, one year into the project, on ALLFIE’s research into English secondary schools’ Accessibility Plans.
For full briefing, see: https://www.allfie.org.uk/news/inclusion-now/inclusion-now-53/the-drill-project-one-year-on/