More than nine in 10 school staff have reported that access to learning support assistants for pupils with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) in classrooms was either non-existent or not sufficient.
More than 8,000 members of the NEU teaching union were asked what provision they had access to at school or local authority level to support pupils with an education, health and care plan (EHCP) or who may need to be referred for one.
The vast majority of respondents (91 per cent) said they could not get enough access to learning support assistants, while even more (95 per cent) said they had non-existent or not enough access to child and adolescent mental health services (Camhs) support for pupils with SEND.
One in three respondents said there was no access to a specialist behaviour support team at their school, while just over a quarter (28 per cent) said there was no speech and language therapist and a quarter (25 per cent) said there was no educational psychologist.
And 41 per cent said they had no access to counsellors or occupational health specialists to support students.
Teachers need more SEND support
The NEU published its poll findings as the Nuffield Trust health think tank today called for a “radical rethink” of how autism and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder are assessed and treated in England.
NHS Digital figures published last month reveal that the number of patients waiting for an autism assessment in England was at its highest level since current data started in April 2019, the think tank said.
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence recommends that people referred for an autism assessment should be diagnosed within three months of referral.
The Nuffield Trust found that 79 per cent of people who had been waiting 13 weeks or longer for a diagnosis had not had their first appointment with a specialist.
The results of the NEU poll were released on the second day of the union’s annual conference in Bournemouth.
A motion, due to be debated at the conference today, calls on the union to lobby the government for increased funding for SEND provision.
It warns that the situation is becoming “critical” and young people and their families are being “let down” by the current system.
Daniel Kebede, general secretary of the NEU, said: “It is shameful that the government has done so little to help schools and local authorities in meeting the challenge of increased SEND need.
“The crisis in SEND funding has gone on for too long. It weighs heavily on schools that want to help but are stretched to the limit. We are seeing children spending too much of their journey through the school system without the support they need.”
For the latest education news and analysis delivered directly to your inbox every weekday morning, sign up to the Tes Daily newsletter
