This section of the Ordinarily Available Inclusive Education Framework highlights the priorities and views of parent carers about how schools might best work in partnership with them. The views of parent carers were also used to inform the other sections of the Ordinarily Available Inclusive Education Framework.
2024
During July 2024, 29 parent carers participated in sessions to understand how schools might best work in partnership with them. The parent carers had children from a range of ages, from Reception age to young adults.
Sessions were led by an educational psychologist and a SEND advisory teacher.
One session was held in Barnstaple, North Devon and one in Okehampton, South Devon. Parent carers to children and young people from a range of different schools attended.
The sessions were informed by ‘The Four Cornerstones Approach to Co-production’, developed from a partnership between Rotherham Parent Carers Forum and Rotherham Borough Council. More information about this approach is available Our Journey – Genuine Partnerships.
The Four Cornerstones approach builds trust between organisations and parent carers, through four key areas: ‘Welcome and care’, ‘Value and Include’, ‘Communicate’ and ‘Work in Partnership’.
The Rotherham Charter Simple self-evaluation tool (Schools, Settings and Services – Genuine Partnerships) and the views of Devon parent carers were used to develop the expectations and suggestions in the working in partnership with parent carers strand of Devon’s OAIP.
2025
In summer 2025, the views of parent carers who participated in the Partnership for Inclusion of Neurodiversity in Schools (PINS) project have been incorporated into the ‘Working in partnership with parent carers’ section of the website. PINS is a joint NHS and Department for Education program, aimed at supporting the education and health needs of neurodiverse children through a partnership approach, including teams from education, health and the Parent Carer Forum Devon (PCFD).
PCFD is an independent group of parents and carers of children and young people with SEND in Devon. Their aim is to improve services by sharing the lived experience of SEND families with strategic decision makers and service providers in Devon. 22 workshops were held in primary schools, attended by 148 parent carers, using The Four Cornerstones Approach to Co-production.
Sessions were led by a PCFD PINS Project Officer and a PCFD co-chair. An educational psychologist and the PCFD PINS Project Officer identified how themes could be incorporated into the ‘Working in partnership with parent carers’ section of the website.
Positive relationships, a principle at the foundation of Devon’s key principles for inclusive education and practice, underpin parent carers’ perspectives on how schools can work in partnership with them. Parent carers from all 22 primary schools shared that feeling heard, listened to, and given time by staff had a positive impact on their experience with the school across all four key areas.