Episode 21: Family Centred Practice - Talking to families... Listening to families... Working with families

In this episode hosted by Professor Barry Carpenter, we bring together a panel of school leaders and parents to discuss and explore how schools can work with families of children and young people with SEND to create a genuine bridge for family centred practice.

The panel includes:

• Vijita Patel (Principal, Swiss Cottage School Development & Research Centre)
• Jo Williams (Deputy Headteacher, Dee Banks School)
• Maria Schultz (Parent; Co-opted Governor at Swiss Cottage School DRC; co-chair of Camden Special Parents Forum & Parent advocate with KIDS Charity)
• Sadia Mahmud-Marshall (Parent; Co-opted Governor at Swiss Cottage School DRC & Project Lead on policy for NGOs on child protection and reduction in child slavery)

This episode exalts schools to shift the focus from partnership with parents to partnership with families; to embrace a more holistic and inclusive approach which values the contributions of all family members involved in a child's life.

At its loftiest this is a paradigm shift to more Family centred practice; in its practical reality it is about adjusting your school newsletter to read 'Dear families… ', instead of 'Dear parents…'.

In 21st-century society, when so much childcare is delivered by family members other than parents, do we truly value their contribution? Does it matter if the home - school liaison diary is completed by a grandparent? Where is the "Sib-Shop" workshop event in the school calendar to enable siblings to come together for fun activities whilst bonding with other siblings whose life journey is also as a brother/ sister to a child with special educational needs/ disabilities?

Such approaches will enrich the practice of our schools, and the lives of our families, as the speakers in this podcast powerfully illustrate.

During the episode, Barry refers to a recent meeting that brought together over 100 schools to look at the topic of family centred practice and we've put a link to a video recording of that meeting on the episode webpage:

https://www.evidenceforlearning.net/learningshared/family-centred-practice/

The meeting contains presentations from Barry as well as school leaders and parents.

On the episode page, we've also listed links to various articles and resources that you might useful and interesting for further reading around working with families.

We have created private groups in Facebook and Linkedin where colleagues and peers can discuss and share thoughts, ideas, experiences, resources and learning in relation to supporting the needs of vulnerable learners and learners with SEND.

EfL SEND Community Group

Join us at:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/eflSENDCommunity/

or search for "eflSENDCommunity" in Facebook.

The purpose of this group is to provide a safe, closed space to seek out and share ideas, experience and resources that can help with any and all aspects of SEND provision. It's also a community for practitioners and schools that use Evidence for Learning and Insights for Learning to share ideas, resources and support each other in using these apps. This is a peer-moderated and supported group.

You're also invited to join the Recovery Curriculum group on Facebook which was set up to connect colleagues and help to build a network that can support you and you school or setting on your own important journey back to full effective learning post-pandemic.

Recovery Curriculum

We've set up a private facebook group specifically for The Recovery Curriculum at: https://www.facebook.com/groups/recoverycurriculum

or search for "recoverycurriculum" in Facebook.

Linkedin Group

The Recovery Curriculum The group is called "A Recovery Curriculum for children & schools post-pandemic" and you can find it at: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/12399451/