Urgent Need for Radical Shake-up of SEN.

Many of the 1.5 million children with Special Educational Needs (SEN) are being failed by a system ‘not fit for purpose’ say MPs. A report by the Education & Skills Committee has identified serious flaws in the SEN system with regards to consistency of provision, the statementing process and teacher training.

Their report calls for a statutory requirement for local authorities to provide a broad range of support for youngsters with SEN – including the provision of Special Schools. MPs want to see an end to the current ‘post-code lottery’ of SEN provision – enforcing a set of minimum standards so that parents no longer have to ‘fight’ to achieve a better outcome for their child.

The Committee argue that the Government is presenting a confused message as to whether pupils with SEN should be taught within special or mainstream schools. Ministers need to clarify their position on inclusion and accept responsibility for any local authorities that are closing special schools under the presumption that the Government wishes them to do so.

The report concludes that for many children with SEN, special schools are invaluable. The issue should not be their closure but ‘how to progress to a system based on a high quality, well resourced, flexible provision to meet the needs of all children’.

The punitive approach of expelling children with SEN from schools also comes under criticism. MPs instead argue for an improvement in teacher training and resources, and a change in the premise on which SEN is provided to one in which ‘literally every child matters’.

Inclusion.

In the 2004 SEN Strategy, guidance to Local Authorities unmistakably says that ‘the proportion of children educated in special schools should fall over time’ and that there should be a ‘reduced reliance on statements’.

Yet, when appearing before the Committee, Lord Adonis claimed that the Government ‘have no policy whatever, I should stress, of encouraging local authorities to close special schools’.

Members of the Committee believe this not to be sufficient. Ministers should be up-front about their change in direction on SEN policy. The Committee calls for a clear over-arching strategy for SEN in order to provide ‘a vision for the future that everyone can purposefully work towards’.

Statementing.

The 2004 Ofsted report identified serious flaws in the SEN system with regards to standards the statementing process and fair access to schools.

MPs on the Committee find it both ‘surprising and highly concerning that these issues have still not been addressed’.

Currently, there is no national guidance on when a Statement of Need should be issued and practise varies considerably across authorities. The SEN strategy accepted that ‘too often parents face a ‘postcode lottery’ in support from their schools, local authority, social services and health services’. This cannot continue.

MPs conclude that there is an inbuilt conflict of interest in that it is the duty of the local authority both to assess the needs of the child and to arrange provision to meet those needs, all within a limited resource.

The Government instead needs to introduce a child-centred approach with regard to the statementing process: assessment of needs, efficient allocation of resources, and the appropriate placement of pupils based on their needs and taking account of parental preference.

Future Strategy. The Committee concludes that:

• Local Authorities must continue to plan provision at the local level but this should be within guidance of a clear National Framework linked to minimum standards of SEN provision.

 
• The Government should implement a statutory requirement for Local Authorities to maintain a broad ranging and flexible continuum of provision.

 
• If schools are operating within an environment of tables, targets and inspection regimes, certain students are inevitably ‘less welcome’ if it is thought that they might reduce the performance of the school. ‘The evidence clearly demonstrates that SEN and the raising attainment agenda sit very uncomfortably together at present’.

 
• To guard against the possibility that Academies could discriminate against children with SEN the Government should take the ‘relatively simple step of changing the funding agreement so as to put Academies on the same legal footing as all other schools’.

 
• SEN provision should be tied in with the Every Child Matters agenda to ensure a seamless service is in place with multi-agency involvement across key transition phases and through adulthood.

 
• To achieve real progress in terms of early intervention the Government ‘needs to change the premise on which SEN is provided to one in which literally ‘every child matters’. This would mean a radical new approach where children with SEN are incorporated into a universal system based on personalised learning plans.

 
• It is unrealistic to expect teachers and other members of the workforce to be able to meet the needs of children with SEN if they have not received appropriate training. SEN training should become a core, compulsory part of initial teacher training.

Commenting, Barry Sheerman said:

“Many of the problems identified in our report stem from the fact that is SEN provision has not been given sufficient priority by successive Governments. Every Child Matters offers an excellent opportunity to redress the balance and ensure that the needs of children with SEN are at the heart of our education system.

“Meeting the needs of children with SEN must be given the highest priority. This should be the hallmark of a successful education system and a civilised society.”

The full report can be found on the Parliament UK website.

6 July 2006.