Ministers are pushing ahead with creating new national standards for special educational needs and disability (SEND) provision and will also create thousands more specialist school places, the Department for Education has said today.
Later this morning it will be publishing its long-awaited improvement plan - almost a year since it published a Green Paper with proposals, and three and half years after it first launched the SEND review.
In a statement ahead of the plan’s release, the DfE confirmed today that it will include the creation of a set of new national SEND and alternative provision (AP) standards but did not set out a timescale for when they will be created.
The department said there will be “new guides for professionals to help them provide the right support in line with the national standards but suited to each child’s unique experience, setting out for example how to make adjustments to classrooms to help a child remain in mainstream education”.
The standards will set out what support will be provided to families and who will provide and pay for it.
Ministers are also pushing ahead with plans to simplify and digitise the education, health and care plan (EHCP) process, another key proposal announced in last year’s Green Paper.
The DfE said a £70 million change programme will work over the next two to three years with selected local authorities in nine regions, “working alongside families to implement, test and refine longer-term plans - including new digital requirements for local authority EHCP processes and options for strengthening mediation”.
It has also announced today that 33 local authorities have been selected to get new special schools built.
And it said £30 million will go towards developing “innovative approaches for short breaks for children, young people and their families, providing respite for families of children with complex needs”.
The programme funds local areas to test new services including play, sports, arts and independent living activities, allowing parents time to themselves.
It comes after parents of disabled pupils have reportedly given up their jobs because of a lack of support.
Alternative provision plans
On AP, the department has said a new approach will focus on preparing students to return to mainstream or prepare for adulthood.
It said AP will act as an intervention within mainstream education, as well as high-quality standalone provision.
The DfE also said there will be an extension of AP specialist taskforces, which work directly with young people in AP to offer intensive support from experts, including mental health professionals, family workers and speech and language therapists, backed by £4.8 million funding.
In March last year, the DfE published proposals for reforming SEND and AP in England as part of a Green Paper consultation.
The consultation received around 6,000 responses - including from parents and carers of pupils with SEND.
In response to the consultation, the DfE has said it will expand training for thousands of staff, including early years Sendcos and educational psychologists, so children can get the help that they need earlier.
The DfE statement also confirmed the creation of a new leadership level special educational needs co-ordinator national professional qualification (SENCo NPQ).
And an apprenticeship for teachers of sensory impairments will also be developed by the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education.
The full details of the DfE plan will be published at 10am this morning.
Plans ‘fall short of being transformational’
Commenting on the DfE announcement, Jo Hutchinson, director for SEND and additional needs at the Education Policy Institute, said: “These plans include some important incremental improvements but they fall short of being transformational. The government must set out a detailed assessment of how many additional special school places are required, of what kinds and where, and how its pipeline of new special schools will meet that need.
“The focus on early help and mainstream inclusion in the national standards is welcome, but we await sight of the draft standards in order to assess these. A transformational training plan would include details of when, where and how school teachers will receive training in the specific needs of children with different types of SEND.”
Margaret Mulholland, SEND and inclusion specialist at the Association of School and College Leaders, raised concern about the length of time plans will take to turn into reality.
She said: “Efforts to fix this crisis are very welcome. Expanded training for staff and the standardisation of education, health and care plans (EHCPs) are important steps but we are concerned about the length of time it is going to take to implement some of these policies.
“More special schools are desperately needed, but will take years to build. The promise of additional places in the future will be of no comfort to those missing out right now who have a special school named on their EHCP but who can’t get a place as the relevant school is oversubscribed.”
Claire Coutinho, minister for children, families and wellbeing, said: “Parents know that their children only get one shot at education and this can have an enormous impact on their child’s ability to get on with life.
“Yet for some parents of children with special educational deeds and Disabilities, getting their child that superb education that everyone deserves can feel like a full-time job.
“The Improvement Plan that we are publishing today sets out systemic reforms to standards, teacher training and access to specialists as well as thousands of new places at specialist schools so that every child gets the help they need.”
