Consultation on Every School A Good School: The Way Forward for Special Educational Needs (SEN) and Inclusion

The Department is inviting comments on the policy proposals which have emerged from the Review of Special Educational Needs (SEN) and Inclusion. The policy proposals are contained in the consultation document ‘Every School a Good School: The Way Forward for Special Educational Needs (SEN) and Inclusion’.

The consultation runs from 10 August 2009 to 31 January 2010 (extended from 31 October 2009.)

Public Consultation Meetings

As part of the consultation process the Department held a series of public meetings during September to provide interested parties with an opportunity to hear and understand the Minister’s policy proposals.

These ran from 4pm to 6pm the details of the public meetings were as follows.

The Department had made separate arrangements to allow children to make their views known on the policy proposals.

The consultation document, the consultation response booklet and the children and young people’s consultation document can be viewed using the links below.

Instructions for downloading to print (PDF)

Click the hyperlink to open the document, click on File and Print. Manually complete the form as instructed and send to postal address below.

Instructions for downloading (WORD)

Click the right-hand mouse button on the hyperlink below and choose Save Target As (this option may also be titled Save Link As or Download Linked File). A Save As … window will be displayed from which you can choose a folder (directory) to store the file.

Every School A Good School: The Way Forward for Special Educational Needs (SEN) and Inclusion – Consultation Document (English) PDF 434KB

Every School A Good School: The Way Forward for Special Educational Needs (SEN) and Inclusion – Consultation Document (Irish) PDF 457KB

Consultation Response Booklet (English) PDF 145KB

Consultation Response Booklet (Irish) PDF 146KB

Consultation Response Booklet (English) WORD

Consultation Response Booklet (Irish) WORD

Children and Young People’s Consultation Document (English) PDF 230KB

Children and Young People’s Consultation Document (Irish) PDF 246KB

Children and Young People’s Consultation Document (English) WORD

Children and Young People’s Consultation Document (Irish) WORD

Please note that while the Department will accept written responses, we would encourage recipients to download the consultation response booklet, complete it and return it via e-mail by 31 Jan 2009 (extended from 31 October 2009) to: seninclusion@deni.gov.uk

The children and young people’s consultation document contains space for children and young people to write their comments which can be sent to the Department in the same way.

Circular 2009/12 (English) PDF or Circular 2009/12 (Irish) PDF gives notice of the consultation arrangements for the proposals for ‘Every School a Good School: The Way Forward for Special Educational Needs (SEN) and Inclusion’.

2009/12 - Every School a Good School: The way Forward for Special Educational Needs (SEN) and Inclusion – Public Consultation PDF 51KB - English

2009/12 - Every School a Good School: The way Forward for Special Educational Needs (SEN) and Inclusion – Public Consultation PDF 73KB - Irish

Equality Impact Assessment

Under Section 75 of the Northern Ireland Act 1998 the Department is required to have due regard to the need to promote equality of opportunity. In order to determine whether an Equality Impact Assessment (EQIA) is necessary, all policies must be screened.

The results of the Department’s screening process indicated the need for an EQIA to be carried out.The EQIA document, entitled ‘Every School A Good School: The Way Forward for Special Educational Needs (SEN) and Inclusion - Equality Impact Assessment' can be viewed using the links below:

Every School A Good School: The Way Forward for Special Educational Needs (SEN) and Inclusion - Equality Impact Assessment (English) PDF 454KB

Every School A Good School: The Way Forward for Special Educational Needs (SEN) and Inclusion - Equality Impact Assessment (Irish) PDF 480KB

We would also welcome your comments on the Equality Impact Assessment.

There are limited numbers of hard copies of the consultation documents available. If you require hard copies you can contact us in the following ways:

Phone: 028 9127 9762

Fax: 028 9127 9434

Email: seninclusion@deni.gov.uk

Post:

Textphone: 028 9127 9472

Typetalk: RNID Typetalk is a national telephone relay service for deaf, deafened, hard of hearing, deafblind and speech-impaired people. It lets deaf and hard of hearing people use a textphone to access any services that are available on standard telephone systems.

Typetalk provides a link between any textphone user and a hearing person. The link is a highly trained RNID Typetalk operator who provides a discreet and confidential service. If you are deaf, all you need is a textphone, which is a specially adapted telephone with a keyboard

If you are deaf you should dial 18001 followed by the full telephone number from your textphone. If the call is answered by a hearing person, a Typetalk operator is brought into the call. However, if the call is answered by another textphone user, the connection is direct with no need to involve an operator.

The textphone user will then type their part of the conversation. A RNID Typetalk Operator will read exactly what is typed to the hearing person. The hearing person replies and the RNID Typetalk Operator will type exactly what is said so the textphone user can read the response on their textphone display panel.

For further information on Typetalk visit the Typetalk website.