Special Needs Education

[jennagooding]

KICK SPECIAL NEEDS STUDENTS OUT OF SCHOOL AT 19?
Essex County Council have gone to court to force 22 year old Maria Williams, who has down’s syndrome, to leave school. Her father wants her to stay until she’s 25, as there’s still more she can learn. Her school’s happy, but the local council say they can’t afford it. And they’re right aren’t they? Education across the board is facing record-breaking cuts - so do we just need to accept that special needs kids can’t go on learning forever?

This is a topic they'll be discussing tomorrow in The Wright Stuff... I'm really torn over this especially as Education is a subject close to my heart:

I do totally accept there is no money in the pot at the moment and the economy is struggling- so you could argue if they want their child to stay on but that is fine if the family have funds to support it and poorer families would miss out.
Another point regarding the money would be the LEA would also be paying for that person to go to a club/group so the family have their rest bite time. So could it be they may as well be in school?
But then the benefits the child/young person possibly would have may lead to them being in a position to give back and help society but benefit the individual too.

Or should there be no set age and totally depend on the individual person and family.

What does everyone else think?

[weezypops]

It is a tricky one and like you I'm rather torn. On one hand I feel like if she's happy and the school's happy maybe she should be able to stay, but on the other hand there does have to be some sort of across the board approach to this, because where would you draw the line? I mean, I liked being at school and once I started working full time would much rather have been there than at work . I would assume the funding for an adult centre would be from a different 'pot' than secondary education but obviously am not sure, it seems that maybe there should be more provision for someone like her post-secondary that is still educational rather than just a daycentre.

[jennagooding]

I think that's it though Louise isn't it- like in all institutions there cannot be one rule for one and not for another.