Identifying pupils' needs

All staff, including therapists and educational psychologists, use a variety of assessment tools to identify the learning and support needs of pupils with learning difficulties. These may range from standardised tests to the use of equipment such as video which can be used, for example, to pinpoint subtle and specific events, or to find regular communicative behaviour or ways in which pupils control their environment.  (note 8) Other devices, such as developmental checklists, suggest an order of skills that pupils might follow to make progress toward further stages of development. Although such checklists cannot accommodate each pupil's specific learning route for all curriculum areas, they can be a useful reference when used with detailed observation and assessment opportunities in the classroom. A variety of published frameworks for assessing pupils with more profound and complex learning difficulties is available. These indicate the current performance of an individual pupil and how progress may be made.  (note 9)

Ways of identifying the starting points for learning from which progress can be measured are an essential feature of any assessment system. Conducted effectively, they involve and inform parents, carers and families, a range of professionals and the pupils themselves. Through such assessment, staff can gather information which helps to clarify pupils':

• existing levels of development, knowledge, skills and understanding, as well as their achievements, strengths and needs, in order to determine future priorities and targets
• priorities for learning which may be dealt with through IEP targets
• responses to teaching methods and plans, and how they prefer to learn
• use of resources including staff, situations, rooms and materials
• individual responses, including those that may indicate progress is taking place, whether planned and targeted or unexpected
• personal interests and motivation
• support needs to access and/or complete tasks
• therapeutic needs.

For pupils with a statement of special educational need, assessment is part of a continuous cycle, driving the annual review process and providing information to support the development and ongoing review of IEP targets.

Recognising progress

For all pupils, including those with learning difficulties, progress is about change and development. For most pupils with learning difficulties, achievements can be predicted and planned for and progress can be demonstrated in terms of increased knowledge, skills and understanding. Some may follow the same developmental pattern as their fellow pupils, but not necessarily at the same age or rate. Progress may be made in some areas of the curriculum but not in others. For some pupils, progress may be difficult to predict or idiosyncratic and may only be demonstrated in a certain environment with a specific person or materials.

Progress may be recognised when pupils with learning difficulties:

• develop ways to communicate from the use of concrete ways (body language and objects of reference) toward the abstract (pictures, symbols, print, signs, ICT and the spoken word)
• develop a range of responses to social interactions from defensiveness through resistance (for some pupils, a positive response) to tolerance; and from passive cooperation toward active participation with individuals, in groups and in wider social circumstances
• develop a range of responses to actions, events or experiences even if there is no clear progress in acquiring knowledge and skills
• demonstrate the same achievement on more than one occasion and under changing circumstances
• demonstrate an increase in knowledge and understanding about a subject
• demonstrate an ability to maintain, refine, generalise or combine skills over time and in a range of circumstances, situations and settings
• move from a dependence on secure and predictable routines toward a greater degree of autonomy shown by risk-taking and increased confidence
• demonstrate a reduced need for support, for example, from another person, from technology, from individualised equipment, in carrying out particular tasks
• develop a wider regular use of learning positions and learning environments, reducing the need to present activities in consistent and personalised ways
• show a reduction in the frequency or severity of behaviour that inhibits learning through more appropriate behaviour
• demonstrate an increased ability to cope, for example, with frustration and failure, with new or challenging learning opportunities or situations
• decide not to participate or to respond.

Many of these aspects of progress can be identified in the following examples of pupils developing their knowledge, skills and understanding.

Nadia

Nadia is a year 6 pupil whose learning difficulties are profound and compounded by visual impairment and physical disabilities. She is able to see very bright objects and those set against a contrasting background. She likes to explore materials and preferred items, using all her senses. She quickly falls asleep if she is not interested or bored. Nadia is learning to respond in two distinct ways: with laughter and hand-waving when she is enjoying the activity or the experience, with passivity or turning away when she is not.

She is encouraged to extend her range of responses and to develop clear, predictable signals for showing that she wants an activity to continue or to end. In this way it is hoped to further extend her regular use of responses and her ability to communicate.

Ailsa

Ailsa is a year 2 pupil in a mixed-ability class in a special school. She is learning in different contexts to show she wants an activity to start again or that she would like more. Staff observe that she is beginning to use these skills in a general way. At drinks time, for example, the pupils have a biscuit, and Ailsa is given a small piece of biscuit, which she eats. Initially, members of staff encouraged and shaped her request for 'more' by physically prompting her to tap the table. In response, she was immediately offered more. Recently, she has shown her understanding of the process by tapping the table (without being prompted) as soon as she has finished the biscuit. In addition, she has used this method in the soft play room to ask for an activity to be repeated. After a particular movement activity, a teaching assistant holds out a hand. With a smile and direct eye contact, Ailsa immediately taps it and the teaching assistant resumes the activity.

Wesley

Wesley is a year 11 pupil who is very sociable and eager to please. As a result, he enjoys the praise he receives when giving the appropriate answers. Wesley has no difficulty with predictable and familiar routines. He anticipates the correct response and receives praise. In less familiar activities, he will not accept that he can make a mistake so does not take part. During an English and communication lesson, the teacher introduced a quiz based on the television programme 'Who wants to be a millionaire?' Although it was a new activity, Wesley selected answers confidently from a selection of three. The staff agreed that using a game helped Wesley to relax and feel more confident in taking the risks that, in the past, he had feared. Following this, the teacher introduced games into a variety of activities, especially during plenary sessions. Wesley began to gain confidence in his own abilities and became more willing to volunteer a reply.

Govinda

Govinda is in a year 2, small, mixed-ability group of pupils with physical disabilities and learning difficulties. As part of the term's music project, the class is exploring and making sounds. Govinda is learning to work lying on his side on a resonance board which reinforces sound and vibrations. He is able to locate objects and to make sounds by pushing and banging percussion instruments and he shows a preference for certain instruments and sounds. For some of his time in school he sits in a specially adapted chair that supports his upper body and enables him to practise holding up his head. He is placed in the chair for part of the music lessons and his favourite sound maker, a switch-activated drum, is placed on a stand on his tray. As a result, he is motivated to keep his head up while playing the drum.

Adam

Adam is in year 9. He has severe difficulties in learning and complex communication problems as a result of an autistic spectrum disorder. He needs the support of clearly defined routines and becomes extremely distressed if they are not in place. To reduce his stress levels and to help him to arrive at school better prepared for learning, he is involved in the preparation of his daily timetable. He is motivated by ICT and at the end of each day, he accesses the computer, where he types in and prints out the following day's timetable. He places one copy in his bag to take home and the other on the wall in his timetable space. He is then aware of and prepared for what is to come and he can also play a computer game before he goes home.

Not all pupils will make progress, however. Staff will recognise that, because of their learning difficulties, some pupils may reach a plateau in their achievements, or regress. This is usually temporary, but sometimes can be lengthy or permanent. In such cases, pupils' recorded attainments, or achievements previously predicted by staff, may decline. A slowing of the rate of regression, shown by skills or capabilities being maintained or reactivated, is then a form of progress.

Assessment for learning and record keeping

Effective assessment and record keeping can be supported by:

• specifying time for observation in a unit of work
• targeting specific pupils for observation and recording in particular lessons, ensuring that all learners are assessed in all subjects over time
• giving responsibility for observation and record keeping to named members of staff in specified lessons
• involving pupils in assessment and recording process (note 10)

Working like this means that assessment, record keeping and acknowledging progress and achievement become an integral part of teaching and learning for all pupils. Some pupils may monitor and analyse their own strengths and weaknesses; others may indicate their preferences within and between activities, some with help from advocates.

As with all pupils, where possible, pupils with learning difficulties should be involved in monitoring their own progress.

Involving pupils in assessment and recording

It is Friday afternoon and pupils with a range of learning difficulties discuss the week's activities in pastoral groups. Each pupil discusses the past week with a member of the staff team. Together they review the pupil's progress toward the week's targets, discuss individual lesson 'likes and dislikes' and record comments in an individual planner, which the pupil takes to subject-focused lessons throughout the week. These comments usually build on previous work and always relate to the targets described in the pupil's 'annual review abstract' at the front of their planner. After these discussions, adjustments to targets are entered into the 'This week I will…' section of the 'My week' recording sheet. The pupil is reminded of these agreed targets during the pastoral time on Monday morning before going to lessons.

Recording the context for learning helps to build up the profiles of individual pupils. Regular monitoring and recording of pupils' responses and progress across the curriculum identifies areas where pupils are making steady progress and where progress is not being maintained. The responses of some pupils may change from lesson to lesson and subject to subject and may be dependent on factors such as:

• preferences for certain members of staff
• proximity to certain pupils
• different environments
• the time of day
• access to favourite items of equipment
• particular sorts of sensory experience
• subject contexts
• preferences for subject-specific experiences
• emerging talents in particular subject areas.

Recording such information and keeping up-to-date records can help staff build on what they know pupils can do, and make decisions about the need to adjust teaching methods, provide additional support or look into factors that may affect performance, such as a deterioration in health or a change in home circumstances.

For pupils with learning difficulties, records of experiences, progress and achievements in relation to targets in their IEPs and curriculum plans should focus on significant responses or ways of learning. A system should be flexible enough to include unexpected or unusual responses, however these occur. The needs of individual pupils may determine the type of record, and it may be necessary to draw up individual standards. For pupils with more profound and complex difficulties, comments on the quality of learning are important, to describe, interpret and explain the complexities and subtle differences of individual responses.

It is up to staff to decide the kinds of records they keep. Their decision will be based on how useful they and other staff find the records. Records may include:

• extracts from curriculum plans (as records of experience)
• comments about pupil responses
• annotated samples of work
• photographs, or tape or video sequences
• pupil self-assessment and peer recordings
• a pupil's record of achievement or progress file
• assessments related to external accreditation.

Self-assessment

As part of a key stage 2 curriculum unit on personal and social development, pupils must do tasks for other classes and members of staff. They have to remember where they need to go, the equipment they need and the nature of their task. The stages of the tasks are shown by symbols on a self-assessment chart. Having completed the task, the pupils fill in their charts (helped by a member of staff) and show, by using a smiley face and a stamp, if they have completed each stage satisfactorily. Lexine, a year 6 pupil, is helping to tidy the staffroom and, as part of the sequence of tasks, she must remember to go to the caretaker's cupboard and ask for polish and a duster. At first she forgot and went straight to the staffroom. When filling in the self-assessment chart, she recorded that she had not fully completed the task. In later weeks she remembered and recorded her success.

Recognising attainment

The framework below can help teachers recognise attainment below level 1 of the National Curriculum.(note 11) It describes possible changes in individual pupils' responses and behaviour as their early perceptions of experiences and their increasing involvement in the learning process develop into areas of knowledge, skills and understanding. The development of internal learning processes, for example, thinking skills, is shown by degrees of attention, discrimination and participation in experiences and activities.

A framework for recognising attainment

Encounter

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Pupils are present during an experience or activity without any obvious learning outcome, although for some pupils, for example, those who withhold their attention or their presence from many situations, their willingness to tolerate a shared activity may, in itself, be significant.

Awareness

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Pupils appear to show awareness that something has happened and notice, fleetingly focus on or attend to an object, event or person, for example, by briefly interrupting a pattern of self-absorbed movement or vocalisation.

Attention and response

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Pupils attend and begin to respond, often not consistently, to what is happening, for example, by showing signs of surprise, enjoyment, frustration or dissatisfaction, demonstrating the beginning of an ability to distinguish between different people, objects, events and places.

Engagement

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Pupils show more consistent attention to, and can tell the difference between, specific events in their surroundings, for example, by focused looking or listening; turning to locate objects, events or people; following moving objects and events through movements of their eyes, head or other body parts.

Participation

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Pupils engage in sharing, taking turns and the anticipation of familiar sequences of events, for example, by smiling, vocalising or showing other signs of excitement, although these responses may be supported by staff or other pupils.

Involvement

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Pupils actively strive to reach out, join in or comment in some way on the activity itself or on the actions or responses of the other pupils, for example, by making exploratory hand and arm movements, seeking eye contact with staff or other pupils, or by speaking, signing or gesturing.

Gaining skills

This framework should not be used as a tool to measure hierarchical and linear progress mechanistically from encounter to attainment. It is possible, for example, that pupils' responses may change from day to day and from experience to experience. The pupil who used to be an active participant may, for a range of complex and (hopefully) temporary reasons, show little response in a new setting. Later, the same pupil may give responses showing that new skills, understanding or areas of knowledge have been strengthened. The framework may give staff a greater understanding of how pupils move through a learning process. Schools may wish to use this framework to develop their own assessment tools so they take into account the differing needs of their pupils across the curriculum.

Using performance descriptions to recognise attainment

Performance descriptions are set out in the accompanying subject materials. These have been developed using the framework set out above. They also build on and refine, in response to requests and involvement of teachers, the P scales for English and mathematics set out in the DfES/QCA booklet, Supporting the target setting process.

These descriptions outline early learning and attainment for each subject in the National Curriculum, including citizenship, RE and PSHE. They chart progress up to level 1 through eight steps - P1 to P3, which show general attainment, and P4 to P8, which show subject-specific attainment.

The performance descriptions for P1 to P3 are common across all subjects. They outline the types and range of general performance that some pupils with learning difficulties might characteristically demonstrate. Subject-focused examples are included to illustrate some of the ways in which staff might identify attainment in different subject contexts.

From level P4, many believe it is possible to describe performance in a way that indicates the emergence of subject-focused skills, knowledge and understanding. The descriptions provide an example of how this can be done.

The descriptions in the subject materials can be used by staff in the same way as the National Curriculum level descriptions to:

• develop or support more focused day-to-day approaches to ongoing teacher assessment by using the descriptions to refine and develop long-, medium- and short-term planning
• track linear progress towards subject-specific attainment at National Curriculum level 1
• identify lateral progress by looking for related skills at similar levels across subjects
• record pupils' overall development and achievement, for example, at the end of a year or a key stage
• decide which description best fits a pupil's performance over a period of time and in different contexts, using their professional judgement.

A number of schools have also found the English and mathematics P scales useful as one of several mechanisms for setting school improvement targets.

The following examples show how both the general descriptions of attainment at levels P1 to P3 and the subject-focused descriptions at P4 to P8 can be used in curriculum plans to structure learning. Using plans like these, staff and pupils can anticipate pupil responses, note and record them, and then build on them to promote learning.

Planning to teach electricity

The science coordinator in a school for pupils with severe and profound and multiple learning difficulties works with her colleagues to establish likely attainment, from the earliest responses drawn from the P scales to level 2 of the National Curriculum, in a medium-term plan for a module of work on electricity in key stage 1. The staff decide that the following behaviour will show that pupils are making progress in this unit of work by showing meaningful achievements.

Pupils may:

• react to sensory experiences, for example, light from bulbs, sounds from buzzers, movement
• attend to experiences of the senses in a focused way, for example, looking, listening, tracking
• join in to control events, for example, operating switches (with and without support)
• anticipate results, for example, responding before, during and after experiences of the senses
• actively join in with circuit making, for example, joining components (with and without support)
• communicate a response to changes in circuits, for example, indicating an awareness of bulbs, lights, batteries, buzzers (toward level 1)
• compare parts in a working circuit with those in an incomplete circuit (toward level 2).

Planning to teach weather and changes in climate

In geography sessions in key stage 3, pupils with profound and multiple learning difficulties are included with mainstream pupils of their own age in activities around a unit of work on the weather and changes in climate. The geography teacher prepares the following set of notes to help assess the importance of the responses that these pupils might make.

Pupils may:

• experience changes in environments, for example, hot/cold, still/windy, wet/dry
• show some awareness of environmental changes, for example, being startled at the change from indoor to outdoor
• react to simulated weather conditions, for example, fans, water sprays, by facial expressions showing pleasure or dissatisfaction
• begin to show consistent reactions to different conditions, for example, offering different vocalisations or gestures in response to simulated weather, and to cooperate with supported explorations of contrasts
• actively take part in explorations using their senses, for example, exploring a box containing different objects associated with different weather conditions, and begin to demonstrate consistent likes and dislikes, for example, smiling or looking at swimwear
• communicate that they prefer different environmental conditions and anticipate environmental changes they have experienced previously, for example, by showing excitement by vocalising and moving limbs on the way to the 'winter' room in a series of simulated seasons.

Recognising attainment at key stage 4

By key stage 4, and possibly earlier, it will be suitable for some pupils to be working towards national qualifications. Qualifications approved for use with pre-16 pupils are listed in DfES guidance and include entry-level qualifications in general and vocational areas, designed for those who are not yet ready for GCSE and GNVQ. Entry-level qualifications are available at levels 1, 2 and 3 and are broadly equivalent to the same National Curriculum levels. Many more pupils will work towards certificated schemes, internal to the school or partner institutions.

Pupils' achievements can be recognised and publicly acknowledged through qualifications and certificates and every pupil should have appropriate opportunities to celebrate. Qualifications and certificates, and assessments matched to the specified requirements may help pupils value their own achievements and measure their progress toward specific targets. Such qualifications also recognise pupils' achievements in the context of the national framework and in many cases may confirm a progression route.