Why have Northumberland introduced Provision Management?
Within the Statutory
Framework, schools and local authorities have the
responsibility to monitor, evaluate and plan the development of
educational provision for diverse needs. They must aim to
increase access for disadvantaged groups, secure the entitlement of
all pupils and raise achievement and standards. In addition,
a school’s
capacity to self-evaluate (in relation to pupil outcomes
and the factors that contribute to these outcomes) is set out
in the The
Framework for School Inspections 2012.
Provision Management offers a strategic tool
for this to happen.
What is Provision Management?
Provision management is a system for recording
all the provision that a school makes which is ‘additional to’ and
‘different from’ the school’s differentiated curriculum
offer. Individuals / Groups receiving this provision may
include:
- pupils with special educational needs and
disabilities;
- pupils for whom English is an additional
language;
- looked after children;
- traveller pupils;
- refugee and asylum seeker pupils;
- minority ethnic and faith groups;
- pupils with medical needs;
- young carers;
- pupils from families under stress;
- pupils who are at risk of disaffection and
exclusion;
- pupils from different gender groups.
The system can be used to create
‘Provision Maps’ detailing all the provision a school makes which
is ‘additional to’ and ‘diffferent from’ the school’s usual
differentiated curriculum.
By applying a filter, Northumberland Provision
Maps can detail the additional provision in a variety of ways, for
example:
- Provision by year group or key stage.
- Provision according to the Code of Practice
graduated response (School Action / School Action Plus).
- Provision within the four areas of
difficulty identified within the Code of Practice:
Cognition and Learning
Communication and Interaction
Emotional, Behavioural and Social
Sensory and Physical
An example of
creating a provision map and details of using filters can be
found here.
An example of
a provision management map can be found here
How can Provision Management Information be used?
Having created a working record of all the
provision being offered in a setting, this information can be used
for a number of purposes, including:
- Focussing attention on whole-school issues
of teaching and learning rather than on individual child
issues. The focus of provision management is what the school
is offering to meet identified needs it is not about identifying or
labelling ‘deficits’ within children.
- Identifying areas for staff
development. Provision management may highlight areas of
pupil need where interventions are not currently available.
This may have implications for staff development in developing
staff skills to deliver interventions in those areas.
- Supporting the delivery of an inclusive
curriculum for all pupils. If a large number of
children are receiving interventions in the same are of
need this may highlight a need to add to the school’s usual
differentiated curriculum in that area. This also may have
staff development implications.
- Ensuring careful monitoring of ‘additional
to’ and ‘different from’ interventions put in place, evaluating
their effectiveness in terms of pupils’ outcomes.
- Enabling the selection of appropriate
interventions, based on evaluation, and so the
efficient targeting of resources.
- Providing detailed information about the
‘additional to’ and ‘different from’ interventions that specific
individuals are receiving. Providing detailed intervention
sheets and pupil
profiles will replace the use of IEPs. A sample
completed intervention sheet can be found here and a blank one
here
- Informing parents, the L A, external
agencies and OFSTED inspectors of how resources are being used to
meet needs;
- Enhancing co-ordination between schools
around the ‘additional to’ and ‘different from’ interventions that
a child has received. This includes recording changes in
provision and transferring information easily from class to class
and school to school.
- Highlighting repetitive or ineffective use
of resources. By focussing on the evaluation of interventions
schools are able to decide if they are an effective use of
resources.
