‘You have to find the right words to be honest’: nurturing relationships between teachers and parents of children with Special Educational Needs

Abstract

This article explores the views of a small group of teachers who specialise in supporting children with Special Educational Needs (SEN).Frequently literature exploring the relationship between parents and teachers of children with SEN uses language which is confrontational, even aggressive. This research, based within a specialist school in England, portrays the voices of the teachers themselves, presenting their perspective on creating relationships with, and supporting the parents of, children with SEN. Far from the language of antagonism portrayed in so many articles, the rich descriptions elicited through focus group discussion demonstrate relationships that are established upon sensitivity, understanding, kindness and care. Our data paint a picture of teachers who feel deeply for the emotional turmoil that many of their parents have suffered before reaching their door; and do all that is possible to hold them safely, while they acclimatise to the new 'normality' of their child accessing specialist provision.

Insights into Positive Approaches to Parent Partnership Working in UK Nursery Schools

“…MNS leaders recognised that many parents suffering adversity felt isolated (Solvason et al, 2020a). The data demonstrated that practitioners recognised the potential of friendships to provide emotional support to parents from peers who could understand their experience; for example, those coping with the challenge of supporting children with specific needs (Sedibe & Fourie, 2018;Solvason & Proctor, 2021). A deep knowledge of the families within their communities provided MNS leaders and practitioners with insights into how to respond to immediate needs, but also helped to build a positive reputation within their community, based upon kindness, care and trustworthiness.…”

Keeping the child in mind in multi‐professional working: Valuing the viewpoints of children and their parents

“…Although the intense emotion that can be experienced by parents of children with special educational needs when seeking support has been explored in the literature (Blamires et al, 1997;Orphan, 2004;Solvason & Proctor, 2021), there was very little mention of this aspect of working with children and families in our responses. In fact, apart from the professional who mentioned a lack of effective MPW impacting on the 'mental health of [parents] and their families' (52), only one other respondent really tackled this issue at all.…”

“…Truss (2008) describes ‘an emotional burden [which] verges on the intolerable’ (p. 375) in her own experience as a mother of a child with complex needs, and describes a ‘discourse of fighting’ (p. 372) for support for her child. Specialist teachers in Solvason and Proctor's (2021) research explained how ‘parents … arrive at the setting “incredibly stressed” by the frustration of their child's needs not being met and having to repeatedly “read about all the awful things their child does, or can't do”’. Such parents are in a position of vulnerability and as such it becomes vital that educators and other professionals consider the expectations that they convey, and the emotional dynamics of these contexts, before casting aspersions upon parents' involvement, or lack of it.…”

‘Small successes make it worthwhile’: The rewards and challenges of the SENCo role in a primary school in England

“…Likewise, Truss (2008, p. 372) explains how battling to gain support for your child's needs can result in exhaustion and fractiousness. The specialist teachers interviewed in Solvason and Proctor (2021) recognised these factors and emphasised the need for kindness when interacting with parents who are coping with the often complex and demanding needs of their child. However, whilst encouraging families to feel that staff in school are 'on their side' in their struggles, SENCos may have to work against school systems.…”