Our vision for Inclusive Education We want to build an inclusive Jersey for all children and young people that embraces diversity and make sure they:
feel valued, respected and supported are safe and treated fairly feel welcomed into education and learning can develop their full learning, emotional, social, and physical capabilities are well prepared to take their place in the community Inclusive early years and education settings recognise and respond equitably to the diverse needs of all learners.
Children and young people from various learning settings in Jersey came together to say that they want a Jersey where everyone belongs.
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Inclusive Education principles To help education and early years settings to be inclusive there are 7 principles for all to commit to and aim for.
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1. Children’s voice Every child and young person has the right to have a voice, to be included in all matters affecting them and to have their views taken seriously and responded to.:
2. Respected and valued Each individual and the diversity of the wider community are recognised, respected, and valued.
3. Safe environment Learning environments enable engagement and participation and ensure all children and young people feel safe and confident to learn.
4. Wellbeing and support The holistic needs and wellbeing of all children and young people are recognised, understood, and responded to.
5. Learning Children and young people are supported to learn in suitably adapted ways that recognise their individual need.
6. Working together Practitioners collaborate with families, carers, agencies, and other professionals, building positive and meaningful relationships to ensure effective communication and support for all children and young people.
7. Leadership and responsibility Leaders are responsible for, role model and champion fully inclusive behaviours and practices.
Find our vision explained in the following leaflets and posters.
Inclusive Education vision launch event We launched the vision and 7 principles for Inclusive Education on 25 April at the Radisson Blu Waterfront Hotel.
The event was attended by children, young people, parents, carers, education practitioners, government leaders and agencies / charities working with children and young people.
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G uidance for nurseries, schools and colleges
All learning settings are encouraged to build a culture where:
difference is embraced barriers to learning are minimised or removed every day lived experience, needs and interests of children and young people are recognised and understood The guidance sets out descriptors for each of the 7 principles. By working towards these descriptors, settings will enable all children and young people to receive an inclusive learning experience.
Engaging children and young people Children’s voice is one of our principles.
An activity toolkit is available to support schools, colleges and nurseries to introduce the vision and principles to children and young people and promote their voice.
This will help children and young people:
explore what the vision and principles mean consider why difference is important understand and explore diversity and inclusion consider their role in supporting inclusion give ideas on improvements that could be made in a school or setting to help everyone feel included and welcome
How to raise a concern All schools, nurseries and settings will have policies and procedures in place to support inclusion and how.
These will outline how children, young people or their parents and carers can raise an issue or concern.
Achieving our vision The independent review of Inclusive Education and Early Years provided a roadmap for change. The government committed investment in the 2022 Government Plan to support this change. We have already started and will continue to implement the recommendations of the review.
We’re building a plan of action which we’ll put in place over the coming years. This includes implementing the Inclusion Review recommendations. We will review all relevant policies and provide support for all settings to build more consistent universal provision for all children and young people.
The below roadmap gives an overview of the areas of activity. We are aiming to complete this work by 2027.
Our roadmap for change Our 5 year plan to realise our vision for inclusive education include:
Organisation Development We will work together with schools, colleges and early years settings to develop inclusive practices and systems for all the organisations.
Governance We will make inclusion a priority in our evaluation, regulation and quality assurance procedures.
Parent and Carers We will improve our engagement and communication with parents and carers and make information easily available and accessible to them.
Workforce We will work with our partners to develop capacity and capability to enable high quality inclusive practice.
Property We will improve government education facilities to make them accessible and enable inclusive practice.
Funding Models We will review the allocation of funding and align it to support inclusive practice and equity of opportunity.
Policy We will review and align government policy and guidance for schools, colleges and early years settings.
Measuring our progress We’ll keep track of progress and make sure we’re achieving our vision in different ways:
Jersey School Review Framework The framework evaluates standards in our schools and colleges and is being updated in line with our vision for Inclusive Education.
A revised framework will be in place from January 2025.
Quality Framework and childcare registration and regulation process The early years Quality Framework and childcare registration and regulation process will continue to review the performance and progress of private nursery and childcare providers which includes considering inclusive practice.
The early years Quality Framework
Jersey Children and Young People’s survey The survey which takes place every 2 years will continue to monitor changes in children’s experiences and provide an indication of the impact of changes made.
We will repeat our baseline survey that we undertook in 2023 to see if the changes we have implemented have made a difference to young people’s experiences.
Jersey Children and young People’s survey
Inclusion Review Board The board oversees the progress made in the implementation of the recommendations of the independent review.
Why we created our vision and principles In 2021, the Government invited the
National Association for Special Educational Needs (nasen) to carry out an independent review of Inclusive Education and Early Years in Jersey.
The nasen team considered how the Early Years and education system includes all children and young people regardless of their differences. They also considered how the education system ensures that children and young people have access to learning and social activities so they can reach their full potential.
The Independent Review of Inclusive Education and Early Years made 50 recommendations, including that the Government should:
agree what Inclusive Education should look like in Jersey define it in a way that everyone can understand in a Charter put in place a plan to create a more Inclusive Education system
The right to an education is protected for all children under
Articles 23, 28 and 29 of the United Nations Convention on the Right of Child on the Children and Young People's Commissioner Scotland .
We created our vision and guiding principles for Inclusive Education to be implemented across the Island, so that everyone who works with children and young people understands:
how to best support all children and young people how to ensure all children and young people feel involved why inclusion is vital for the wellbeing of all children and young people how including all children and young people contributes to the educational, social, cultural, and economic wellbeing of the Island How we created our vision: Education4Everyone We did online surveys and workshops which invited people to share their views on inclusive early years and education.
More than 1,400 people participated including:
children and young people parents and carers school staff, education, early years and childcare practitioners third sector representatives and agencies supporting children and young people A working group came together representing all areas of education, early years and services. They listened to everyone’s views and co-designed a vision, set of principles and guidance for education and learning settings to help them achieve the vision.
The summary of the participants’ responses and feedback was published in the
Inclusive Education and Early Years Baseline Report 2023 .
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Contact us To share your questions or feedback email
education4everyone@gov.je .
gov.je