More than half of Sencos are already working beyond their normal hours, with the new academic year into just its second month, according to a new report.
And just 6% said they felt able to complete their administrative tasks within their weekly working hours.
According to a survey, commissioned by Tes, almost four out of ten said they pushed tasks that weren’t completed into the following week. Only 1 per cent of respondents to the survey, carried out by Teacher Tapp, said they had no administrative tasks to complete.
Concerns over Sencos workload
With an announcement over SEND reforms from the government expected this term, there are concerns that Sencos are spending a disproportionate amount of time producing and reviewing EHCPs.
The Department for Education has indicated that it wants mainstream schools to become more inclusive and do more to accommodate children with additional needs, which has led to concerns that this will add to workload of specialist staff.
James Bowen, assistant general secretary at the NAHT school leaders’ union, said Sendcos struggled to get their work done during normal working hours “not least because in most primary schools the Sendco will normally combine this role with being a teacher”.
“In an ideal world we would have a system where Sendcos could devote five days a week to this job, but the way the system is resourced does not support this,” he added.
“It is not that schools are under-investing in this area – we simply don’t have the funds to do it. Most schools would want to have a full-time Sendco if they were able to.”
Poor use of time
Margaret Mulholland, SEND and inclusion specialist at the Association of School and College Leaders, said administrative tasks were not the best use of a Senco’s time and expertise.
A similar concern was raised at the Labour Party’s annual conference, when experts questioned whether Sencos were making best use of their knowledge.
Meanwhile, Amelie Thompson, assistant director of education for SEND and special provision at Greenshaw Learning Trust, said: “The tension between the time spent on administrative tasks and how much capacity Sencos have to lead SEND strategically across the school, including working alongside teachers and other leaders to build capacity, confidence and competence within the system, is very real.
“A number of Sencos said that they would like to spend a lot more time in class but are not able to do so as much as they would like due to statutory responsibilities that are often tied up in high levels of administration and bureaucracy.”
Standardised EHCPs?
There has been a longstanding concern that paperwork adds to teacher workload. For Sencos, the added pressure is that administrative work is an essential part of how the current SEND system works and how children are supported.
A standardised system of EHCPs that is used across all local authorities would ease the burden on Sencos, has been mentioned as a possible solution. However, it is not yet clear whether EHCPs will survive the government’s SEND reforms.
