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Campaigns
Children and Families Bill | ALLFIE Manifesto | UN Convention - Article 24 | London Voice for Inclusive Education | We Know Inclusion Works | Education Act 2011 | Academies Act 2010 | Equality Act 2010 | Apprenticeships Act 2009 | Past Campaigns
What Allfie has achieved
Current Campaign Work
What you can do to get involved
Welcome to Allfie’s Campaigns Section
The Alliance for Inclusive Education is campaigning for all disabled learners to have a right to participate in mainstream education. Despite over 30 years of progress in inclusive education, disabled people are still the only group of learners who do not have a right to a well-resourced school, college or university place. Also, disabled children under 16 years of age are the only group of children that can be forced to attend a special school against their own and parents’ wishes.
Current Political Situation
Disabled learners' rights to mainstream education are under attack! This is because the Coalition Government has decided that in their view there is a ‘bias towards inclusion’ which must be reversed. The Coalition Government is also committed to the creation of an education ‘marketplace’ where education providers compete against each other for students, funding and resources under the guise of parental or student choice.
Allfie's Thoughts of the Goverment's Plan to 'reverse the bias towards inclusion'
What Allfie has achieved
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Government Reversing the Bias
The Government commitment to ‘reversing the bias towards inclusion’ is driving many of their education policies and initiatives, for example:
Human and Civil Rights
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Plans to disregard Equality Act 2010 duties when drafting new education policies and laws.
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No plans to implement Article 24 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
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Schools to have greater autonomy and responsibility over admissions, teaching arrangements, curriculum delivery and SEN provision without sufficient entitlement protection for disabled children and children with SEN.
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Creating greater imbalance between mainstream education and segregated provision by introducing special academies and free schools under the guise of choice for parents
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Weakening legal redress in relation to school exclusions.
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Mainstream educational entitlements are increasingly linked to students passing ‘standardised’ qualifications and other assessments before entry and at the end of the course. .
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Higher and further education providers are under increasing pressure to only admit students who will pass their qualifications if they want to enroll onto mainstream courses.
Support and Provision
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The transfer of resources from mainstream to segregated provision under the guise of choice for parents.
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A reduction in the coordination role played by local authorities in relation to education support services.
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Budget cuts impacting on the delivery of central and individual support services for disabled students in mainstream education.
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Stricter eligibility criteria for disabled people to get the support they need to participate in mainstream education.
Curriculum
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Scrapping the national curriculum has limited the range of subjects available to disabled learners.
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Threatening the status of ‘humanities’ and ‘vocational’ subjects by focusing on the English ‘BAC’, which focuses on 5 GCSE Grades A*-C in academic subjects.
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Advocating that the vocational curriculum and ‘learning foundation’ courses should focus particularly on disabled learners.
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Government directives on what learning methods teachers should use without having any regard for the need to differentiate.
Buildings
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New school buildings will not be required to meet ‘accessible schools’ standards, which means learning can take place in inaccessible venues.
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Free schools will not be required to use accessible buildings.
Assessment and Accreditation
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Using international education and exam standards to benchmark the UK’s standards, without referencing the use of reasonable adjustments.
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Returning to a rigid system of timed written examinations to take place in one sitting, which involves the removal of coursework and unit assessment options in GCSE and A levels.
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The narrowing definition of reasonable adjustments permitted in academic qualifications. For example disabled students cannot use their communication aids during the GCSE English speaking and listening unit.
Teacher training
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Emphasis on medical conditions, diagnosis and therapeutic interventions for disabled pupils.
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No requirement for teachers in mainstream education to have instruction in inclusive education practice.
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No requirement for all further and higher education lecturers to have instruction in inclusive education practice.
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No requirement for all non-teaching staff to receive training in inclusive education practice.
ALLFIE is campaigning to make sure that all disabled leaners have a right to participate in mainstream education whilst resisting the Coalition Government’s constant attacks on inclusive schooling and ‘special educational needs’ provision planning. See all our campaign pages for what you can do and what we have achieved.