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'Change and Engage': Building a Professional Learning Community which responds to New Technologies and Research Insights into Learning Disability.
Start date: Jun 30, 2014, End date: Jun 29, 2016 PROJECT  FINISHED 

Our particular project 'Change and Engage' was a response to a widespread rethinking around special education, which has emerged in recent years, and an excitement about our role in addressing related gaps in provision, that were previously unrecognised. The 21st Century has offered special educators new and incredibly helpful insights from neuroscience and biochemistry for example, which now need to feed in to provision and school improvement planning. This century has also brought us new technologies, particularly in relation to assistive and augmentative communication, allowing practitioners to address particular barriers to learning, and unlock potential. In addition, attitudes and values around special education (as well as to education itself) are changing. Newer paradigms in our Post-Fordist global economy emphasise more personalised approaches, rather than a culture of uniformity which emphasises that all individuals must be offered the exact same thing. At Swiss Cottage, when we talk about innovation and change for special education, we are also talking about a shift in understanding around notions of "entitlement", moving towards a belief that all children and young people have the right to have their individual needs met, rather than the "right" to do the same as everybody else, regardless of whether or not this is meaningful. Innovation, to reflect this rethinking represents a big and ambitious piece of work, leading to the development of new frameworks, systems, and processes, which can be supported through training and transnational networking. As a National Teaching School therefore, we consider it our responsibility to nurture 'Change Agents' within the Special Education sector, internally, locally, and globally. This requires us not only to "change", but also to "engage" , with models of best practice from other nations, international research, and comparative education approaches.
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