ABSTRACT
It is clear that a SENCO has to be able to work effectively with a range of people from diverse backgrounds who bring varying experiences and expectations to any contact with the SENCO. These include pupils, their parents, teachers who work in the same primary school, learning support assistants, visiting teachers from external support services, other professionals such as speech therapists, educational psychologists and social workers, administrators and SEN Advisers. It is not unusual for a SENCO in a primary school to have contact with 30–40 different professionals, only 6 of whom may be on the school staff. It is important therefore, to be able to work collaboratively, supportively and purposefully. Central to this will be the need for effective communication.
It is worth thinking about the fact that communication always implies a two-way process, whether spoken (and listened to) or written (and read). This fundamental aspect is often overlooked, but there are major implications:
a communicator has to ensure that a receiver (listener or reader) can understand what it is that is being communicated. There are implications here for tone, language used (including jargon) and an appreciation of the pre-existing knowledge, experiences and attitudes of the recipient, because these will all affect how (or even whether) the message is received;
a communicator requires feedback;
participants in communication must adopt both roles; how often have you heard the complaint ‘The communication in this school's awful’ or ‘The (LEA) Offices never let us know’?
How effective is communication in your school? What are your main responsibilities for communication?
