Merlin John Online

From Sean O'Sullivan, This is a very worrying scenario, given that it is supposedly happening in a new world where SEN considerations are right up there with sexual equality and work-life balance (don't get me started!). I would hope that the expectation is that any successful tender could approach whichever SEN supplier they wished after being told that they had been successful; but of course the problem with this (or the more restrictive model which appears to be the case) is that the winner may be tempted to fudge the SEN angle despite that being the absolute essence of the bid, and just proffer a one-size-fits-all approach. Some of the bidders have indeed been perceived to take this approach to other educational initiatives. Martin is perhaps right that the companies he lists, Texthelp, Claro, Crick and Inclusive, are a pretty exhaustive bunch, but I would certainly want to add AsstiveWare to the list (http://www.assistiveware.com/index.php) and I'm sure there are many more that others would note. In a way, the point is that rather than Becta setting out a restricted model of perhaps 4 or 5 named suppliers who encompass maybe as much as 90% of the SEN requirements, what we should be looking for is a model of delivery which enables every single individual special need to be met, by going to whichever specialist supplier the person needs. Rather than the hurdles being placed before the assessment, why not make them part of the final conclusion?