The crisis in SEND provision is one of the many problems in the new government’s in-tray. Our plan, published today, sets out actions to begin to resolve it.
Ministers will be under no illusion about the scale of the challenge. So many parents are at their wits’ end, deeply frustrated with the waiting lists and the layers of bureaucracy, scared that their children’s opportunities are being held back by a broken identification and support system.
Over 1.5 million pupils in England have SEND, with 40 per cent of children identified as having SEND at some point between five and 16 years of age. Yet the current system is broken. Councils should produce education, health and care plans (EHCP) within a statutory timeframe of 20 weeks but only 49 per cent of EHCPs were produced within this timeframe in 2022.
The impact on school attendance, classroom behaviour and educational outcomes can be huge. School leaders and staff are often managing fractious relationships between families and schools which arise following late identification, the postcode lottery of EHCP provision, and pressures on funding.
It is in everyone’s interests that solutions are found, and quickly.
Today, the Centre for Young Lives and Child of the North have published an evidence-based plan which puts forward new evidence and analysis to tackle poor SEND identification, the postcode lottery, and to reduce the huge numbers of children not receiving the support they need to reach their full potential.
Early identification and support
We highlight new evidence showing how assessments of academic and non-academic abilities can identify those children at increased likelihood of needing SEND support. We propose roll ingout tools that assess non-academic skills beyond the early years, improving early identification.
The Electronic Development and Support Tool is one innovative example of an assessment that has already been developed to suit this purpose. It is now being trialled in 42 schools within Bradford for year one pupils.
Teachers are asked to indicate whether a child is meeting the expected skill level in communication and interaction, cognition and learning, sensory and physical, and social, emotional and mental health.
For skills which a child is not at the expected level, the EDST produces more detailed questions and encourages schools to complete the final stage of the EDST alongside families.
The EDST then generates a report summarising a child’s support needs and recommends ways in which schools and families can support these students while they wait for specialist support. It has the potential to be adapted for each key stage to support children through school transition and secondary education.
Better-integrated services
To improve early identification and the provision of more appropriate support, it is also crucial that we connect systems more effectively. Education, health and social care are still often working in silos, so information like health conditions or birth factors that may facilitate earlier identification of SEND are rarely communicated directly with schools.
Better connected public services would enable free sharing of information, speeding up identification of SEND and reducing structural inequalities.
Every teacher a teacher of SEND
We also need to improve and extend training on SEND for professionals and families. Most educational professionals will interact with and support children with SEND every day but training on SEND is limited.
Many teachers and teaching staff don’t feel confident to support children with SEND and want to receive more training. That’s why we argue for continuing professional development courses on SEND to be mandatory for educational professionals.
Sharing great practice
There is already plenty of innovation happening in schools and trusts. For example, Hilltop and Forest View Schools in South Yorkshire provide specialised education and support for children with additional needs from diverse backgrounds.
They are integrating academic, therapeutic and life skills education together for children with SEND. Their curriculum is tailored to achieve EHCP outcomes alongside personal, social, and health education (PSHE) objectives. Their bespoke curriculums recognise diverse learning needs from the outset.
We also highlight the Tees Valley Education trust. It has that core belief that “every teacher is a teacher of special educational needs”. Their ethos of highly inclusive practice and strong culture of support and challenge ensures no single person or academy is working in a silo.
We can’t begin to tackle the increasingly ingrained problems of persistent absence, behavioural problems, and exclusion without improving SEND identification and provision.
It is encouraging that the new government has been quick to recognise the system needs urgent reform. We need to use the evidence we have and the good practice already happening to start transforming the system now.
Read ‘An evidence-based plan for addressing the special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) assessment and support crisis’ in full here
