The education secretary today announced a raft of measures aimed at making mainstream schools more inclusive for pupils with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).
In a speech to the Confederation of School Trusts’ conference this morning, Bridget Phillipson announced the appointment of two major new SEND advisers.
She also announced the creation of an expert group on neurodiversity to improve inclusivity in mainstream schools, and said that the government would encourage more mainstream schools to set up specialist resourced provision and SEN units.
A Tes investigation in October revealed concerns that schools needed more guidance on setting up resourced provision and SEN units to meet the needs of pupils in mainstream.
Dame Christine Lenehan, director at the Council for Disabled Children at the National Children’s Bureau, has been appointed as a government adviser on SEND.
Tom Rees, CEO of Ormiston Academies Trust, has also been selected as an adviser. He will lead an inclusion group for mainstream schools.
At the Labour Party Conference in September, Ms Phillipson said the conversation that the government wanted to have with schools involved how mainstream settings can be inclusive and offer more specialist provision.
SEND system ‘neglected to the point of crisis’
Her comments today come after the National Audit Office (NAO) released a damning report on the SEND system, saying that schools have limited incentives to be inclusive and ministers need to develop a long-term vision for mainstream schools.
Ms Phillipson said the NAO’s report showed a system “neglected to the point of crisis”.
The government aims to strengthen the SEND support system by “improving inclusivity and expertise in mainstream education settings”.
“I know the current system incentivised some to adopt a competitive rather than a collaborative model, and others to avoid more challenging communities,” Ms Phillipson said.
She added that she wants to end the “chase for a narrow shadow of excellence, the kind that only succeeds by pushing problems on to others”.
Government focus on belonging
In her speech this morning, the education secretary also said she wanted the school system to replace a “tunnel vision” on pupils achieving academic success with a focus on wellbeing.
She warned that the “absence epidemic is the canary in the coal mine for belonging in our country”.
Her comments come after data showed that unauthorised absence remained high this term, despite the introduction of bigger fines for parents.
Ms Phillipson said that schools can respond to declining attendance and having an increasing number of pupils with special educational needs by improving the sense of belonging.
The education secretary also reiterated the government’s aim to recruit 6,500 specialist teachers over the course of this parliamentary term.
“The best recruitment strategy is a strong retention strategy,” Ms Phillipson said, adding that staff retention is “key” to children having a sense of belonging.
CST’s annual conference is taking place in Birmingham today and tomorrow.
Multi-academy trust leaders are also set to hear keynote speeches from Ofsted chief inspector Sir Martyn Oliver; the CST’s chief executive, Leora Cruddas; and Becky Francis, the chair of the review of curriculum and assessment.
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