The Case Presenter will have 5-10 uninterrupted minutes to talk about the Case. The job of the Moderator is to make sure no one interrupts and overseas the Timekeeper. The Note Taker takes notes. Everyone else listens. If the Case Presenter stops talking before the 10 minutes elapse, everyone else stays silent until the time pass.
Reception/KS1 Group Consultation
During the 23-24 Academic year, the EPS piloted a Group Consultation for Reception and Key Stage 1 aged children following the success of our Early Years model.
What to expect when buying into the consultation group
- Participating schools will be placed into groups.
- There will be six virtual group consultations undertaken across the year (one per half term)
- Each setting can bring a maximum of 3 cases for consultation each year (one per term).
- Each case discussed will receive a brief written action plan.
- All settings attending will receive an anonymised strategy sheet with all the strategies discussed, even if you have not presented.
Costs
- Each school will buy and pool a block of EP time, costing £375 to attend all six consultation sessions.
- The costs cover 3-hour sessions to discuss individual cases plus 1.5 hours of action plan write-up time.
What does a session look like?
Solution Circles are an efficient and effective tool to help people get ‘unstuck’ from a problem. It is a quick process that takes approximately 50 minutes. It is a structured approach, and the process is recorded. We follow the solution circle process three times in each consultation group session.
Roles
A structured seven-stage process is followed, with each stage having a time allocation in order for the whole process to be completed.
- Case Presenter
- Moderator – the Educational Psychologist
- Timekeeper
- Note Taker or Graphic Recorder
- Creative ‘brainstorm’ Team/ Consultations
Step One – Overview of the Issue (5-10 minutes)
Step Two – Key Question (2 minutes)
The Moderator asks for a specific question from the Case. What question would they like to be answered through the process? This becomes the aim of the session. There are some things that we are unable to change. Therefore, it is important to focus on something that is within our control.
Step Three – Questioning Phase (10 minutes)
Using a round robin approach the consultants are invited to ask clarification questions of the current situation, Who? What? Where? When? How Often?
Step Four – Brainstorming stage (10 minutes)
Consultants are invited to generate and pose a range of ideas/theories that they think could be causing the issue (‘hypothesising’).
Step Five – Generating solutions (10 minutes)
Based on the information and potential theories, creative solutions are offered (again in a round robin format). The Case Presenter listens – without interrupting. He/she must not talk or respond. The rest of the consultants share ideas about creative solutions to the problem that was just presented. It is not a time to clarify the problem or to ask questions. It is not a time to give speeches, lectures, or advice. The Moderator must make sure this is about solutions. Everyone gets a chance to give his or her brilliant ideas. No one can dominate. It might be helpful to think about what’s worked from their own experiences.
Step Six – Next Steps (10 minutes)
Now the group can have a dialogue about the creative solutions led by the Moderator. Consider the Key Question and focus on positive and possible solutions (not what can’t be done). The Case Presenter leads off by identifying ideas that seem interesting, or different, or worth a try, or worth refining into possibilities for action.
The Case Presenter decides on first steps that are possible within the next 3 days (and preferably within 24 hours). This is critical. Research shows that unless a first step is taken almost immediately, people are unlikely to act. The Case Presenter chooses a Coach from the group who volunteers to phone or see the person at a specific time (1 to 3 days) and check if he/she took their first step. This creates a positive supportive pressure that helps people get into action.
Step Seven – Reflection of the Process (2-5 minutes)
Finally, the team does a round of words to describe the process starting with the Case Presenter (e.g. each person could use a few words to describe the experience... ‘One thing I have found useful….’). The Recorder will forward the completed record to the Case Presenter, all the participating consultants will get a copy of the strategies discussed.
The feedback so far:
“I think it has been beneficial and a great way to find strategies used by other schools”
“As a setting, we find the consultation most useful when the class teacher is released from class to join me as SENDCo.
We feel it would be a useful system for KS2 as well as EYFS and KS1.”
“Presenting and joining in has been a really useful experience. I feel like you come in with one child in mind and leave with strategies for 12 other children in your setting”