Session Information
04 SES 09 A, Policy Frameworks and Community Participation
Paper Session
Time:
2009-09-30
10:30-12:00
Room:
NIG, HS A
Chair:
Brahm Norwich
Contribution
Partnerships with parents, particularly in the field of education, have featured prominently in policy rhetoric for many years, but routes of redress have not had much attention until relatively recently. The development of ADR (Alternative Dispute Resolution) in the UK reflects the situation in several jurisdictions (e.g. Norway, Sweden and the Netherlands) where citizens can choose not to go to court to resolve administrative disputes (Buck 2004).
Under the Education (Additional Support for Learning) (Scotland) Act 2004 local authorities must establish and publicise procedures for identifying and meeting the needs of children requiring additional support for education. The Act and Code of Practice advocate early intervention to prevent, as far as possible, disagreements about the provision for additional support needs from escalating into more serious disputes (HMIE 2007).
In Scotland there are four routes available for redress in the area of Additional Support Needs:
• Informal mediation at school level (meetings between parents, teachers and education council officials).
• Formal mediation (involvement of an independent mediation agency)
• Adjudication (Formal review of an individual case by an Independent third party, external to the Local Authority – this is a paper exercise).
• Tribunal (for disputes relating to the issue and content of Coordinated Support Plans – for those pupils who require significant support from services outwith education as a result of long-lasting support needs, or needs arising from complex or multiple factors).
This paper uses case study information from parents, schools and other professionals in four local authorities in Scotland to explore; how these various forms of redress are being experienced; why all forms of redress are used less than expected; and what factors influence parents taking one approach rather than another.
The paper raises important issues regarding the availability and choice of different dispute resolution mechanisms for parents (particularly in relation to mediation); the tendency for some parents to settle for less than their ‘true’ entitlement; the emotional cost of disputes; and the consequences of long-running and/or acrimonious disputes on the educational experience of the pupil concerned. These issues will have resonance for many European countries.
Method
This paper represents a small part of a larger study (see www.creid.ac.uk for working papers on other aspects of the research) . For this part of the study we interviewed over 20 parents who broadly reflected the numbers in each of 4 Scottish local authorities who had sought redress through adjudication, tribunal, formal mediation, and through informal discussions at school level. With parental consent we were able to approach some professionals and schools to discuss their specific case, with these interviews being supplemented by those providing a general view from the perspective of the authorities, professionals or schools.
This paper is part of an ESRC funded project ‘Dispute Resolution and Avoidance in Education: A Study of Special and Additional Support Needs in England and Scotland’ (RES-062-23-0803) led by Professor Sheila Riddell (University of Edinburgh and Professor Neville Harris (University of Manchester).
Expected Outcomes
This research will provide insight into the policy implication of proportionate dispute resolution in the UK in the field of SEN/ASN for the individual services user, the service provider and the wider education system.
References
Buck, T. (2004) European methods of administrative law redress: Netherlands, Norway and Germany. DCA Research Series 2/04 HMIE ((2007) Report on the implementation of the Education (Additional Support for Learning) (Scotland) Act 2004. HM Inspectorate of Education: Livingston
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