The public views greater provision of special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) and mental health services as a top priority for the government when it comes to schools, according to a survey.
Polling organisation Ipsos asked respondents which, if any, of a range of educational areas should be the government’s priorities for schools in Britain.
The most popular response was more provision of SEND and mental health, chosen by 36 per cent of all those polled.
Some 34 per cent called for free school meals for all, while 32 per cent wanted more teaching assistants.
When asked how schools were performing in supporting pupils with special educational needs, 34 per cent said they are doing a very good or fairly good job, while a quarter said performance was neither good nor bad, and 24 per cent said they were doing a very bad or fairly bad job.
In March, ministers set out long-awaited plans for SEND reform - but many of the key proposals will not be rolled out until at least 2025.
The government’s SEND and Alternative Provision Improvement Plan was published almost a year after the department produced a Green Paper setting out its vision for reforming a system that is widely seen as being in crisis.
The plan includes creating new national standards in SEND and moving to a digitised system for education, health and care plans.
Public support for free school meals flies in the face of the policies of either main political party, with neither the Conservatives nor Labour supporting universal access.
Geoff Barton, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said: “The government should pay heed to the findings of this poll.
“Greater provision of SEND, mental health services, free school meals and teaching assistants are all key to supporting the most vulnerable children.
“Schools and colleges strive to do their best for these young people but their efforts are hampered by inadequate government funding and the erosion of local support services due to budgetary pressures.”
Asked in the Ipsos poll to what extent the government was doing a good job in promoting school staff wellbeing, 27 per cent said it was doing a “very or fairly bad job”, 24 per cent said it was doing a very or fairly good job, while 30 per cent were neutral.
The poll also found that nearly half (45 per cent) of parents of school pupils worry about their children’s mental health on a regular basis, and one in three said they worry about their children’s social life and friendships.
Some 25 per cent were concerned about academic performance and 23 per cent cited behaviour as a worry.
When it comes to the way in which Ofsted assesses schools, parents of school-aged children are more satisfied than dissatisfied, with 42 per cent expressing satisfaction, compared with 27 per cent who were dissatisfied and 24 per cent who were neutral. Meanwhile, 7 per cent had never heard of Ofsted.
However, satisfaction among the general public was far lower at just 28 per cent, with 30 per cent satisfied, 26 per cent neutral and 15 per cent saying they had never heard of Ofsted.
Paul Whiteman, general secretary at the NAHT school leaders’ union, said: “Given the challenging circumstances that schools are currently working in, it is testament to the incredible hard work and dedication of all school staff that most parents are positive about their children’s education.
“Schools have continued to deliver against the odds despite facing a decade of real-terms funding cuts, and it is certainly something schools can be proud of.”
Ipsos carried out an online survey of 1,919 adults, including 521 parents of school-age children in England, in the last week of May.
