Individual Education Plans (IEPs) And Provision Management
What is an IEP?
An IEP is required for children with statements of SEN. There is no standard format for the documentation used as the IEP by schools. For pupils receiving other intervention, an IEP may be produced in the form of Provision Management or Provision Mapping. Although different, these intervention tools can be used by schools to outline and detail the intended or provided support. It is considered wise for schools to regard any of these tools used, as the Individual Education Plan.
- An IEP is a planning, teaching and reviewing tool.
- The IEP should underpin the process of planning intervention for individual children with Special Educational Needs.
- IEP’s should be teaching and learning plans that set out
- ‘what’ should be taught
- ‘how’ it should be taught and
- ‘how often’ particular knowledge, understanding and skills through additional or different activities from those provided for all pupils, through differentiated curriculum.
- The IEP is the structured planning documentation of the differentiated steps and teaching requirements needed to help the student achieve identified targets.
- The IEP is a working document for all teaching staff
- The IEP must be accessible and understandable to all concerned.
When Should an IEP be used?
IEPs should be in place for all pupils who have a statement of SEN.
IEPs, Provision Planning or Provision Mapping should be in place where differentiated teaching or intervention is required for individual children who are at the Graduated Response phases of –
- Early Years Action, or Early Years Action Plus
- School Action or School Action Plus.
What should be included in an IEP?
IEP’s focus on up to three or four key individual targets and should include information about:
- Short term targets set for or by the pupil
- Teaching strategies to be used
- The provision to be put into place
- When the plan is to be reviewed
- Success and/or exit criteria
- Outcomes (to be recorded when the IEP is reviewed.
Manageability of IEPs
- Whatever systems are in place in the school or setting, the procedures for devising IEP’s and reviewing them must be manageable.
- All IEP targets must be achievable for both the pupil and the teacher.
What is a Group Education Plan?
- When pupils in the same group, class or subject lesson have common targets and hence, common strategies, a group learning plan can be drawn up rather than producing IEP’s for each child.
Monitoring and Reviewing IEPs.
Ideally IEP’s should be continually kept ‘under review’, and in such circumstances there cannot be a ’fixed term’ or formal meeting for review. However the success of all IEPs should be evaluated at least twice a year.
IEP’s Should :
- Raise achievement for pupils with Special Educational Needs.
- Be seen as working documents
- Use a simple format
- Detail provision additional to or different from those for most pupils.
- Be jargon free
- Be comprehensible to all staff and parents
- Be distributed to all staff as necessary
- Promote effective planning
- Help pupils monitor their own progress
- Result in good planning and intervention by staff
- Result in the achievement of specified learning goals for pupils with Special Educational Needs.
SMART Targets.
Teachers should generally aim to include SMART targets :
- Specific
- Measurable
- Achievable
- Relevant
- Time bound
But, there will be occasions when less measurable but assessable targets that can record progress would be more appropriate.