Inspection reports into the education and support for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) reveal widespread failings across the country.
This year, two-thirds of the inspections carried out have resulted in negative outcomes, with local councils and health bodies being ordered to produce written statements of action setting out how they aim to improve matters.
The reports highlight recurring problems for pupils with SEND including being excluded or absent from mainstream schools, children getting poor quality support plans and schools being unable or unwilling to meet the needs of children.
Growing crisis: Two-thirds of the latest SEND inspections find failings
Background: Council criticised over SEND delays
The SEND area inspection reports are carried out by Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission (CQC). They were introduced in 2016 to check how the government reforms were being implemented.
The inspections look at how areas are identifying children with SEND, whether they are meeting their needs and what the outcomes for young people with SEND are.
Here is a summary of some of the key failings identified in this year’s SEND area inspection reports:
Weak education health and care plans
A central change to the system for supporting children with SEND was the creation of education health and care (EHC) plans to replace statements of special needs
The idea is to bring together all service providers to ensure that children’s needs are met.
But inspection reports show major problems with the way the plans are being written and delivered.
Inspectors highlight consistent weaknesses in the quality of EHC plans, plans being out of date and intended targets and outcomes being too vague or lacking aspiration.
They also discovered arbitrary mistakes. In one instance, a plan suggested that a community paediatrician was responsible for a child accessing the curriculum and achieving their academic potential.
In all 17 areas that have been told to produce a statement of action this year, the quality of EHC plans was criticised by Ofsted and the CQC.
Parents and pupils being made to wait
Another recurring theme in the inspection reports is the delay faced by pupils and their families in getting the support they need
Some areas have failed to convert statements into EHC plans on time.
The inspections have also revealed councils struggling to meet the 20-week target for delivering EHC plans after a request for an assessment and not having the capacity to carry out annual reviews.
One authority was criticised for having an unwieldy paper-based EHC plan system that has caused delays.
In other areas, EHC plans have been delivered on time but inspectors described the process as rushed and said the quality of plans suffered as a result.
Some areas have also been criticised for not putting enough focus on young people with SEND and being too slow to implement the government’s reforms.
SEND pupils being excluded
The high number of pupils with SEND being excluded is mentioned in the majority of negative inspection reports this year.
Inspectors found significant increases in the number of children and young people who are permanently excluded from school. In some cases, this leads to them being out of formal education for a considerable period.
Inspectors also found that when young people have either unmet or undiagnosed needs, it can lead to inappropriate exclusions from school.
In one area, children with SEND accounted for nearly three-quarters of all exclusions from schools.
Concerns about exclusion of pupils with SEND has been highlighted in 13 negative inspection reports. Another three say exclusion of pupils with SEND was high in the past but is now being addressed.
Schools being unable or unwilling to meet pupils needs
The SEND area inspections found examples of parents choosing to educate their child at home because they did not think schools can meet their needs.
The reports also reveal that in some cases “significant numbers of children with ASD and social, emotional and mental health difficulties are not having their needs met during primary school”. Parents told inspectors that primary schools in some areas did not understand their child’s difficulties.
Inspectors were also told schools used reduced timetables and temporary exclusions to manage “children’s difficulties”.
Reports also highlight how pupils with SEND struggling at secondary school is leading to higher than expected EHC plan applications in early secondary education.
Parents and leaders raised concerns about the “overall spirit of inclusion in some settings”. One report said: “Too often, inspectors were given examples of pupils with SEND who were finding it hard to gain admission to a school.”
Poor outcomes and results for pupils
In around half of the negative inspection reports, concerns were raised about the progress, standards or outcomes that children and young people with SEND are achieving in school.
Inspectors found that a knock-on effect of high levels of fixed-term and permanent exclusions is that children with SEND are not achieving as well as they should.
Reports also highlighted how in some areas progress of pupils with EHC plans is poor and that the aspirations for them are not high enough.
Concerns about outcomes for pupils was highlighted in eight out of 17 inspection reports this year where local authorities and health bodies have been told to produce a written statement of action.
Parents have lost faith in the system
An unsurprising result from the widespread shortcoming in the system is that parents have lost faith in the system.
Reports reveal how poor communication is a contribution to parents feeling “frustration and anger”.
Inspectors say that parents who contributed to the inspection can feel frustrated about getting their children’s needs diagnosed and support put in place.
Parents unhappiness at the SEND provision in their area is mentioned in almost all of the 17 reports this year that had negative outcomes.
