Released: 25.05.10

On Tuesday 18thMay fourteen students from the B.Ed. secondary and primary programmes attended what was the first regional conference on the development of Special Educational Needs and Disabilities in Initial Teacher Education.

The conference was held at the University of West of England. Other universities represented were Exeter, Gloucestershire and Plymouth. This conference builds upon the excellent work being undertaken at UCP Marjon in the area of SEN and Disability following the piloting of a Teacher Development Agency (TDA) initiative in the academic year 2006.

Dr. Sean MacBlain, Reader in Child Development and Disability at Marjon who accompanied the students commented: “This was a    great opportunity for our undergraduate students to meet with students from other universities and to explore issues relevant to their practice in schools. Our students played a very active part during the day and we are very grateful to them for this.” 

Also attending the conference were two teachers from Mill Ford school in Plymouth who are members of Marjon’s SEN and Disability, Schools Partnership Group. It is anticipated that the conference will be an annual event.