Managing Individual Education Plans: reducing the load of the special educational needs coordinator

In this article Carol Frankl focuses on the implementation of a strategy to reduce the number of pupils with Individual Education Plans (IEPs) and so reduce the workload of special education needs coordinators (SENCOs). This can be achieved through the integration of special educational needs (SEN) planning into whole‐class planning, creating group education plans (GEPs) that are the responsibility of class teachers, so allowing SENCOs time to become coaches and consultants for colleagues. This process is an important piece of change management and, in order to be effective, will need the wholehearted support of senior managers in schools and a carefully thought out strategy for implementation.