An Evaluation of “Special Educational Needs” Programmes in England

The need for education to help every child rather than focus on average attainment has become a more central part of the policy agenda in the US and the UK. Remedial programmes are often difficult to evaluate because participation is usually based on pupil characteristics that are largely unobservable to the analyst. In this paper we evaluate programmes for children with moderate levels of 'special educational needs' in England. We show that the decentralized design of the policy generates significant variations in access to remediation resources across children with similar prior levels of difficulty. However, this differential is not reflected in subsequent educational attainment - suggesting that the programme is ineffective for 'treated' children. In the second part of our analysis, we use demographic variation within schools to consider the effect of the programme on whole year groups. Our analysis is consistent with no overall effect on account of the combined direct and indirect (spillover) effects. Thus, the analysis suggests that a key way that English education purports to help children with learning difficulties is not working.education, special needs, evaluation,

Every Child Matters? An Evaluation of "Special Educational Needs" Programmes in England

The need for education to help every child rather than focus on average attainment has become a more central part of the policy agenda in the US and the UK. Remedial programmes are often difficult to evaluate because participation is usually based on pupil characteristics that are largely unobservable to the analyst. In this paper we evaluate programmes for children with moderate levels of 'special educational needs' in England. We show that the decentralized design of the policy generates significant variations in access to remediation resources across children with similar prior levels of difficulty. However, this differential is not reflected in subsequent educational attainment – suggesting that the programme is ineffective for 'treated' children. In the second part of our analysis, we use demographic variation within schools to consider the effect of the programme on whole year groups. Our analysis is consistent with no overall effect on account of the combined direct and indirect (spillover) effects. Thus, the analysis suggests that a key way that English education purports to help children with learning difficulties is not working.education, special needs, evaluation

Disability, special educational needs, class, capitals and segregation in schooling: a population geography perspective

This paper investigates the spatially variable schooling of young people with Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND), and interconnections with class and capitals, using analysis of the School Census, and interviews with 64 educational professionals and parents in three areas in Southeast England. Three key original findings emerge. First, high proportions of young people with SEND come from poor backgrounds; however, most young people with SEND labels are not poor. Second, social class, capitals, and SEND intersect in ways which relatively advantage young people from more affluent and educated families, who gain access to specific labels and what is locally considered the ‘best’ education. Third, we conceptualise school spaces as differently ‘bounded’ or ‘connected’, providing different opportunities to develop meaningful relationships and qualifications, or social and cultural capital, rather than focus on the type of school (‘special’, separate schools for students with SEND; or ‘mainstream’ local schools). What are locally considered to be ‘the best’ school spaces are connected and porous, providing opportunities to develop social and cultural capital. Other school spaces are containers of both SEND and poverty, with limited opportunities to acquire social and cultural capitals. Overall, we suggest that the intersecting experience of SEND, class and capitals can (re)produce socio-economic inequalities through school spaces

Rab4b Is a Small GTPase Involved in the Control of the Glucose Transporter GLUT4 Localization in Adipocyte

Endosomal small GTPases of the Rab family, among them Rab4a, play an essential role in the control of the glucose transporter GLUT4 trafficking, which is essential for insulin-mediated glucose uptake. We found that adipocytes also expressed Rab4b and we observed a consistent decrease in the expression of Rab4b mRNA in human and mice adipose tissue in obese diabetic states. These results led us to study this poorly characterized Rab member and its potential role in glucose transport.We used 3T3-L1 adipocytes to study by imaging approaches the localization of Rab4b and to determine the consequence of its down regulation on glucose uptake and endogenous GLUT4 location. We found that Rab4b was localized in endosomal structures in preadipocytes whereas in adipocytes it was localized in GLUT4 and in VAMP2-positive compartments, and also in endosomal compartments containing the transferrin receptor (TfR). When Rab4b expression was decreased with specific siRNAs by two fold, an extent similar to its decrease in obese diabetic subjects, we observed a small increase (25%) in basal deoxyglucose uptake and a more sustained increase (40%) in presence of submaximal and maximal insulin concentrations. This increase occurred without any change in GLUT4 and GLUT1 expression levels and in the insulin signaling pathways. Concomitantly, GLUT4 but not TfR amounts were increased at the plasma membrane of basal and insulin-stimulated adipocytes. GLUT4 seemed to be targeted towards its non-endosomal sequestration compartment.Taken our results together, we conclude that Rab4b is a new important player in the control of GLUT4 trafficking in adipocytes and speculate that difference in its expression in obese diabetic states could act as a compensatory effect to minimize the glucose transport defect in their adipocytes

Every child matters? An evaluation of "Special Educational Needs" programmes in England

International audienceThe need for education to help every child has become more important for policy in the US and the UK. Remedial programmes are often difficult to evaluate because participation is usually based on pupil characteristics that are largely unobservable to the analyst. We evaluate programmes for children with 'Special Educational Needs' in England. We show that the decentralized design of the policy generates much stronger differences across schools in access to remediation resources for children with moderate learning difficulties than for children with either no difficulties or severe difficulties. However, these differences are not reflected in subsequent educational attainment - suggesting that the programme is ineffective for children with moderate learning difficulties. Also, we use demographic variation within schools to consider the effect of the programme on whole year groups. Our analysis is consistent with no overall effect on account of the combined direct and indirect (spillover) effects