Support for special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) in England is in crisis. Adherence to the idea of inclusion is patchy, the role of special schools is ill-defined and the way we assess need is unfit for purpose.

Attempts to fix the situation always seem to get so wrapped up in complexity that nothing meaningful changes for the better. Perhaps we need to think more radically and work our way back from that extreme.

So what would happen in the mainstream system if we removed special schools altogether? What would it tell us about our education system and the role of mainstream schools when it comes to SEND?

Specialist SEND provision

Mainstream schools would have to fundamentally change their operating models in terms of curriculum, leadership, space and teacher expertise.

Why couldn’t we reimagine the current stale curriculum into a more flexible offer, personalised to pupils dependent on their need? Why not have mixed-age teaching in spaces that are not confined to a year group or subjects?

If every teacher was an expert in the teaching of pupils with SEND, as well as a subject specialist, we could think creatively about class sizes and tutoring approaches.

Schools could offer a core curriculum of a basic entitlement that encompasses key skills such as literacy and numeracy, and make use of the greater flexibility to introduce wider academic and vocational options to pupils at different ages and stages.

Timetabling changes

Those stages would not be our current “key stages”. We would need to radically overhaul the current key stage model because it limits both the least able and most able pupils by squeezing them through a 19th-century factory model and, bluntly, a 19th-century curriculum.

Timetabling would have to become much more sophisticated. We could consider multi-age timetables and rethink the holidays to move to a more open and flexible academic year in which certain groups of pupils attend school less frequently during the week but have a more regular exposure to schooling throughout the year.

Leadership could look completely different with opportunities for shared roles, longer opening times and multiple layers beyond the current traditional hierarchy.

Flexible working

Why not introduce shared leadership models that break the current paradigm; for example, team leaders for small groups of pupils rather than subject leads? Or specialist leaders for groups of pupils with particular learning characteristics?

These leaders would be expected to have professional qualifications in their field of expertise, behaving not just as lead teachers but as research practitioners pushing the boundaries of best practice.

School buildings

Of course, the physical buildings would need to change, too.

School environments would need to support wider access and different approaches that are more inclusive and provide greater flexibility for pupils.

The current school building model, based on 19th-century prisons, would need a major overhaul, with potential for modular spaces, lecture theatres, break-out rooms and traditional classrooms.

When this has been tried before, it has not worked because schools have not changed their operating models to match the ambition of the architecture. They have been content to simply cram the traditional curriculum into open spaces, with inevitable results.

In addition to the staffing proposals above, schools would need to review the support staff and teaching staff divide, and develop more effective approaches to professional development for all staff to become experts in SEND.

Imagine if every teacher had a degree in a subject and a master’s in teaching pupils with SEND, and all leaders were required to develop research skills to effectively evaluate the work of their teams.

Inclusive education

All of the above would not just help schools to become more inclusive, but could also help with creating more opportunities for flexible working and enable a digital transformation of our operating system.

There is room, too, for more flexibility for pupils. New approaches to digital education should provide support for those who find the challenge of traditional schools too difficult. So some pupils may not have to be in school all the time to learn.

If we did all of this, the benefits would not just be for those children with SEND. All children would gain a better understanding of the different barriers that their peers face and be exposed to a rich variety of people who live in their community.

Children would be more likely to develop more inclusive attitudes toward those who have additional barriers to learning, so we could develop more empathy, and therefore more inclusive communities would emerge.

Parents and education

Even if we took away the specialist sector, we would still risk some schools stubbornly refusing to be inclusive. There would need to be intelligent accountability to ensure that we don’t just get those schools that commit to radical change becoming the magnet schools of the future.

As a country, we currently reward social segregation - and without pressure in our market-driven school sector, it is likely that traditionalists will stick to what they know.

Of course, this is not to say that all schools would need to do everything. In this new vision of the system, medical, social care or mental health services would need to be more integrated and much more effective.

Finally, a change this significant would require parental support. It would have to explicitly set out the benefits of local solutions - and be proofed against those with the sharpest elbows and largest wallets cherry-picking the best provision.

Small steps

Is any of this likely? While everyone acknowledges that our current system is no longer fit for purpose, few people are willing to risk a radical shift in how we see schools. The majority want to build more, spend more and intervene more in our very 19th-century system.

I cannot see any political appetite to introduce radical change in this space. But I think this exercise gives us a steer, regardless.

By reimagining the potential of including more pupils in mainstream schools, I have suggested a few waypoints for current school leaders to reflect on as they include more pupils with SEND within their schools.

Curriculum flexibility, personalised learning and teacher expertise will create more inclusive schools of the future and enable more pupils with SEND to succeed.

Seamus Murphy is CEO of Turner Schools