Spotlight on the Special Education Needs Coordinator (SENCO): Why Are SENCOs Indispensable in Today\u2019s Schools and How to Support Their Middle Level Leadership International

Middle level leaders play a key role within school and educational networks. Their function can be more effective if they are enabled to act in a distributed leadership perspective. This is particularly evident with the role of the Special Education Needs Coordinator (SENCO). The rise and prominence of SENCOs in coordinating whole school approaches to support students with special needs has resulted in their visibility as leaders. The evolution of the SENCO role has seen the need to recognize their unique position as middle level leaders in developing and overseeing special needs care. A proposition which remains largely foreign in many countries. What remains undeniable is that a SENCO\u2019s positioning within a school can significantly impact on their legitimacy and effectiveness. This paper examines the results of a qualitative research project, aimed at reconstructing an interpretative framework of the SENCO\u2019s middle level leadership functions. The study highlights on the one hand their management and leadership functions, and on the other, the elements that facilitate or hinder their role. The study also highlights the emergence of widespread leadership through the creation of a third space where SENCOs join together through the creation of networks which function as communities of practice

COVID-19: What Have We Learned From Italy’s Education System Lockdown?

In what can only be described as one of the most unanticipated catastrophes to sweep through the world, the COVID-19 pandemic has brought nations to a standstill; none quite the same way as Italy, the world’s first nation to succumb to the deadly virus outside China. Amidst the unfolding crisis, Italy’s Ministry of Education immediately set up a taskforce to determine how it’s 12 million students could continue to have access to education as the nation was forced into lockdown. Informed by the preliminary findings of two research projects across all levels of education, this paper documents the educational response that transformed Italy’s education system as the nation quickly shifted to emergency remote teaching. The findings highlight the adjustments made at the time, the inequity experienced, and the complex contextual considerations that must be considered as the nation launches into a new scholastic year faced with the reality of coexisting with the virus