We are delighted to share the reflections of Dr Anita Devi, Founder of #TeamADL. Anita draws on extensive experience in SEND leadership, critiques the perception of SENCOs as mere administrators and argues that the education system suffers from “mission drift,” where financial concerns overshadow vision and purpose. Advocating for a shift from forecasting to backcasting, they call for a redefined leadership model that empowers SENCOs, fosters intergenerational collaboration, and ensures a future-focused, values-driven approach to SEND and education.
SEND Leadership – Is it time to lead differently?
“In reality, I’m a glorified administrator”
– Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator (SENCO)
This is a quote from a SENCO in my PhD research (Devi, 2022, 2024). When I first heard this, I was taken aback. In more than two decades of working in the field of special educational needs, disability (SEND) and inclusion, I had never thought of the SENCO role as a ‘glorified administrator’. But that’s how this SENCO saw herself and sadly she wasn’t the only one!
I’ve been a full-time SENCO and Senior Leader; I’ve trained 1000s of SENCOs and currently I am a part-time SENCO in a secondary school, as well as retaining my long-standing change management consultant role. I’ve led local authority / MAT change projects, contributed to national research/initiatives and I’ve worked as a SEND Advisor and Advisory Teacher … they are two different mindsets! So, you could argue, I have had a near 360° perspective of the ‘system’. In this article, I aim to put forward three main questions for consideration to provoke discussion, debate and most of all a desire to envision what could be if we were to look at SEND Leadership differently.
How far is the ‘Mission Drift’?
I’m continually amazed by how many education commentators continuously say that the solution to the SEND Crisis is “more funding’. I use the word ‘commentator’ because this includes learners, parents, teachers, leaders, politicians and journalists. Herd mentality is easy, and it often results in sustaining negative echo chambers. Putting your head above the parapet takes courage.
But let’s step back, SEND is an intrinsic part of educational provision. So much of the echo chamber rhetoric serves to emphasis a bolt-on approach, as opposed to a ‘built-in’ one. So, we need to be mindful of language and varying interpretations. However, looking at the wider structures, education sits within the broader dimensions of society and community life. All of these variables are dynamic forces continuously in flux and interdependent on each other. Technology and the increase of available information has without a doubt accelerated the pace and unpredictability of change. A timely social media post can completely take over the day’s agenda. In the last decade we have seen politicians, performers, influencers and educators use this to their advantage. When everything around us is continuously changing, we need a rock foundation to stand on and keep our bearings. Historically, education has provided that societal rock. That rock was defined by purpose, sound pedagogical practice and an understanding of child development in relation to the curriculum. But in recent years, for multiple reasons, this has shifted, and education systems are being built on sand (funding, gradation and political will) … you know the story! Where do we choose to build our house of education? Therefore, I would like to suggest, education in the broader sense has and is experiencing ‘mission drift’. As a result, SEND Provision is impacted. When we focus on ‘finance’ we are building an instable house. When visions and dreams define the house, we choose to build, somehow resilience and resources manifest to make this a reality. There is a strong foundation, that stands the sands of time.
Should we move forwards or backwards?
As a leader-practitioner, I’m often challenged that I speak in absolutes as if there is only one way of doing things. I don’t think there is. But I do believe discernment and seeking wisdom is an essential part of leadership. This is where having intergenerational staff in an educational setting can prove invaluable, if led well. We need the dreams of the younger generations, but we also need the vision of the experienced.
Currently in SEND, much of the policy and strategic development is rooted in ‘forecasting’. Looking ahead at possibilities and choosing a course of action and then adapting this, as the winds blow. It is like a leadership dance that has many nuances (Greany & Bernardes, 2025). However, the problem with forecasting is, it can change into chasing a mirage. Even a strategic thinker can soon find themselves adrift.
I’ve come to appreciate that I do not forecast in terms of my leadership vision. I backcast! Having surveyed and weighed up various options, I define the end goal and work backwards from it happening to where I am now. I now have a defined route for moving forward and even if things shift, the autopilot route of the backcast process keeps me and my team on track.
What’s your preferred modus operandi – forecasting or backcasting? More importantly, what do we need to reestablish and redefine (note, I did not use the word ‘fix’) the SEND system and more broadly education, for such a time as this?
What needs to change?
Leaders set the culture in any organisation. The research on this is significant and vast. So, when we look at solutions to existing problems, should we consider micro behaviours or macro decisions? My answer, “Yes”. It is about both. We need to nurture leaders who seamlessly connect macro and micro aspects of the system. This may not be their natural default, but that is where ‘building teams’ becomes the rock for any progressive and impactful leader. It also helps to avoid polarised divides in an organisation and wider system.
I’ve spent years researching the leadership of SEND in schools in England. I took a longsighted view, not a strategic one. I defined the gap and then backcast. SENCOs in schools do not have a defined leadership model nor do they have a professional development pathway beyond the induction qualification (previously NASENCO, now NPQSENCO). This is both a recruitment and retention problem. It is also a leadership delivery issue. By empowering SENCOs to define their own leadership model (Devi, 2022) I was able to create a structured approach to their own growth (Devi, 2025). If a leader in an organisation is stagnant (or perceived as a glorified administrator), what happens to the soul of the organisation and its mission – it drifts, like deadwood.
My hope in writing this article is that I have stirred the stagnant waters of SEND Leadership by asking probing questions. You may not agree with my perspective, I’m comfortable with that and I would say, “Let’s chat over a cup of something”. What matters is that water flows, directed by the banks of wisdom and integrity. Though we choose to move forward, we do so by intentionally looking back from the future, because ultimately it is about investing in the future of our children and young people.
References
Devi, A. (2002) SENCOs in England: career trajectory and a leadership model through identity and agency (PhD Thesis, Lancaster University, UK)
Devi, A. (2024) 7 Dimensions of Highly Effective SENCOs (Routledge, London)
Greany T. and Bernardes E. (2025) A constant dance: a study of values-based leadership in Multi-Academy Trusts (University of Nottingham and Whole Education, UK)
About the author.
Dr Anita Devi is currently a part-time SENCO, former Senior Leader SENCO, School Improvement Advisor, and local authority SEND Advisory Teacher and Healthwatch Trustee, Dr Anita Devi carries a wealth of experience in developing Leaders of Learning. Her own contribution to education spans more than four decades with teaching experience in early years through to post grad in the UK and overseas. Anita lives her why through her belief in the joy of learning. Awarded the Excellence in Education Award in 2011, Anita went on in 2017 to receive the prestigious international Influential Educational Leaders Award for her work on the SEND Leadership Pipeline strategy. This is about developing professionals to have a deep working appreciation of special educational needs and disability in the classroom from initial teacher training through to advanced and experienced leaders. In 2023, Anita’s team won the National MAT Give Back Award. Anita is author of the first SEND book for Early Career Teachers (2021) and has contributed to several other publications, including Take Time for SENCOs (2016) and Journey to the Heart of SENCO Wellbeing (2022). Anita submitted her PhD thesis on the career trajectory of a SENCO (beyond the induction qualification) in December 2021, passing her qualifying PhD viva in early 2022. Her thesis has now been published in 2024, as a practical book for the sector to grow from. Also published this year in 2025 is the book ‘Neuroplasticity and Neurodiversity in the Classroom’; another first in terms of pedagogical dialogue for practitioners. Currently a Changemaker Education Consultant & Founding CEO of #TeamADL as well as project lead for #365Send, Anita stretches the boundaries of what is possible in the field of special educational needs, disability, and inclusion. She remains faithful to pursuing the ‘joy of learning’ for all.
