Over the summer the AET has been making progress in developing the process for delivering the first ever National Autism Education Standards for all schools across England and autism education training to practitioners over the next two years. This follows its appointment in April by the Department for Education, as part of its Improving outcomes for children, young people and families – a national prospectus initiative. Currently there are no nationally recognised standards for teachers in autism education yet all teachers are likely to teach a child or young person on the autism spectrum at some point in their career, which is why this training is so vitally needed.
Ten hub schools or support services across the country will play the crucial role in facilitating this training and the deadline for schools and services wishing to apply to become hubs has been extended to 23 September. The AET is also inviting organisations and professionals to tender for four other key parts of this project.
By recruiting and training ten hubs, the AET aims to deliver a sustainable three-tier training programme to schools across England. It is projected that 5,000 staff will receive Level 1 training, 600 staff will receive Level 2 training and 200 staff will receive Level 3 training by March 2013. Hubs will be appointed this October and will recruit, either internally or externally (with the help of the AET), a part time leader of the training (0.5 FTE). They will then recruit cluster schools and the roll-out of Level 1 training will start from March 2012.
Services and schools interested in becoming a hub are invited to submit a brief tender document detailing how they would address this remit and what particular skills and expertise they bring. For more information, please see here
The AET is also now seeking tenders from organisations and professionals to carry out the following crucial parts of the programme:
• To develop training materials for use in delivering the three levels of training to professionals with specific needs.
• To develop a single national set of standards that describe key factors common to good practice for children and young people with autism, aimed at teachers in particular.
• To develop a Competency Framework and a nationally recognised set of qualifications for people working with children and young people on the autism spectrum
• To evaluate the effectiveness of the training programme implemented by the AET in achieving its aims of increasing confidence among teachers teaching children with autism and allowing children with autism to be supported more effectively.
For a full brief on each tender, please see here
Organisations interested in competing for this work should complete the brief tender proforma, detailing how they would address the remit and what particular skills and expertise they bring. This document will be assessed by a panel delegated by the AET Programme Board, which will then select the successful bidders.
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