BESA Special Needs Working Group

Our market

SEN is certainly a niche market, and even in mainstream schools it is often quite low down in the pecking order, with SEN departments tucked away, SEN staff who are often part-time and/or peripatetic, and SEN budgets which are often the first to get hit by cuts within a school’s overall budget. Part of the reason for this is that quite often the needs of each child with learning difficulties may be different, requiring Individual Education Plans (IEP) to be created, and a high level of specialist care and teaching to be provided, in turn leading to low staff to pupil ratios. In recent years there has been a push from central government towards a more inclusive policy for education meaning that increasingly SEN students are being integrated into mainstream schools. In some cases, this form of inclusion has lead to the unintended creation of a ‘special school’ within a mainstream school. Frequently an important factor for our members is that, when considering a new product or service, development costs can be high and production quantities small, leading to higher than expected selling costs where economies of scale are hard to achieve, and the inevitable effect on a school’s budget. BESA Special Needs Working Group members have a real role to play in producing resources to support government agencies and their policies, as well as professional associations, within SEN, even if the production of these resources may sometimes not be strictly commercially viable from the outset. As a result, where government funding can made available to assist in development and/or production, this may turn out to be not only a key deciding factor for the supplier making commercial decisions, but also a life-changing opportunity for learners who will be able to receive and use that product or service.

Professional Development

With the demise of many quangos and other support agencies, as well as the reduction in numbers of Local Authority advisers, the group feels that there is a perceived danger that professional development needs for teaching and support staff in education, and SEN in particular, may suffer further through a reduction in spending and focus from central government, given the current economic climate. For SEN, there is a real opportunity for this impending vacuum to be filled by BESA Special Needs Working Group members, who in many cases already provide a level of professional development through advice on the optimum use of their products, and could provide a far more comprehensive service with appropriate funding.

Export

Although the target market for these products and services is mainly in the UK, BESA Special Needs Working Group members are increasingly found to be servicing and supporting international demand, as in many parts of the world the UK is seen as being a leader in this area

The increasing use of our products and services across the globe often demonstrates in many developing countries that children with special needs really can be helped to be happy, receive a basic education, and lead fulfilled lives. The advances made by BESA Special Needs Working Group members have clearly had a positive effect on influencing SEN policies across the world.

Types of learning difficulties covered by members’ products and services

• Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD)
• Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)
• Autistic Spectrum Disorders (ASD)
• Gifted and Talented (G&T)
• Hearing Impaired (HI)
• Moderate Learning Difficulties (MLD)
• Profound & Multiple Learning Difficulties (PMLD)
• Severe Learning Difficulties (SLD)
• Social, Emotional & Behavioural Difficulties (SEBD)
• Specific Learning Difficulties (SpLD) includes dyslexia, dyspraxia etc
• Speech & Language Therapy (SaLT)
• Visually Impaired (VI)

Generic product areas covered by BESA Special Needs Working Group members

• Publishing
• ICT
• Multi-sensory environments
• Classroom resources
• Teaching aids (often subject-specific)
• Assistive technology (AT)
• Symbol sets

How do I join BESA Special Needs Working Group?

Joining the BSNG is free and open to BESA members only.  

• Click ‘Apply to join’ and send us your application letter, stating that you want to join the group and confirming that the company has a substantial activity involved in Special Needs and with a particular expertise. 

• Also that you are happy to share ideas with the rest of the BSNG Group and are committed to developing and taking the Group forward and finally that you are committed to a level playing field in the market. In addition you need to meet the Group’s Terms of Reference which are available on the website. 

• Your application will then be presented to the group for approval. 
• Meetings take place three times a year online, and you are expected to attend each meeting. 

Example application letter

Dear Sir or Madam,

I am writing to formally apply to join the BSNG Group.

Paragraph confirming that

i) Your company has a substantial activity involved in Special Needs and with a particular expertise.

Paragraph confirming that

ii) You are happy to share ideas with the rest of the BSNG Group
iii) Committed to developing and taking the Group forward
iv) Committed to a level playing field in the market
v) Additionally you need to meet the Group’s Terms of Reference which are available on the website.

Yours sincerely,

Suppliers of Special Needs materials working together to recognise and support every learner, whatever their need.

1. Members of the Group must be full or associate members of BESA involved in Special Needs and with a particular expertise.
2. The Group is known as the ‘BESA Special Needs Group’ (BSNG).
3. The Group should have two or three meetings a year, unless the Group wants more.
4. As agreed by the founding members of BSNG, any member of BESA may make a written application to the BESA secretariat to join the Group and such applications will be presented to the Group via e-mail. Applicants that can demonstrate to the Group, by justifying their area of expertise within SN, that they fit the description defined in paragraph a), shall be admitted to membership of the Group. Members will have two weeks to comment on submissions and no comment means an application is approved. If the Secretariat receives any objections the application will be referred to the next meeting.
5. Member companies need to attend a minimum of two meeting per year. If the minimum requirement is not met, the company will be asked to leave the Group and will have to reapply for membership
6. When attending a meeting, members need to be ready to contribute to all areas of meeting unless not relevant.
7. When attending a meeting, members need to be ready to interact to the polls, Q&A’s and have their camera turned on.
8. When attending a meeting, members need to ensure that they are in a suitable location without distractions.
9. The Group is entitled to call meetings which will be serviced by the BESA secretariat. Any abnormal costs may have to be charged.
10. In the event of the Group deciding to undertake a course of action leading to or becoming liable to any costs or expenditure over and above the provision expressed in paragraph 6) then such expenditure shall be borne by members
    of the Group.
11. In the event of the Group wishing BESA to undertake a course of action on its behalf such proposed action shall first be approved by the Executive Council.
12. The Chairman of the Group (or a representative nominated by the Group from amongst its members) will be co-opted to membership of the Executive Council of BESA. The Chairman of BESA is, ex officio, a member of the Group and is entitled to attend its meetings.
13. The Chairman of the Group has the responsibility of organising a guest for each meeting, this responsibility is not for members of the group.
14. The Chair and Vice-Chair shall be serve for three years, subject to re-election for a fourth year, four years being the maximum period of continuous service in one office. The Chair and Vice-Chair shall be from separate member companies.
15. Members of the group consent to data sharing between BESA and the Chair/Vice-Chair of the group in line with BESA’s Privacy Policy.
16. Based on one vote per member company, decisions taken at a Group meeting will be a simple majority with the Chair having a casting vote.