There has been a lack of policy attention to SEND over the past decade, with little improvement in delivery despite significant increases in funding.
Almost 40% of young people will now be labeled with SEND at some point during their school career. These numbers are too high to be addressed through professional or individual interventions. Meanwhile, there is evidence that these classifications are inconsistent in their application and are not effective in attracting the support needed.
Parental complaints and legal disputes continue to increase due to poor implementation of school policies toward parents.
However, unlike other important policy areas, there are few comprehensive end-state policy solutions for SEND systems. This is urgent work for a new government serious about improving education. Here are four policies that should be included in this reform program:
A new promise of ‘dignity, not deficit’
We need a bold vision of inclusion that normalizes children’s diverse learning needs rather than treating them as ‘special’. This promise challenges our outdated, medical inclusion model based on ‘deficit’, which too quickly reaches for labels and prescribes ‘additional and different’ provisions.
This vision requires action now, but it will take sustained leadership and time to make it happen. After a decade of rebuilding and renewal, it should become the norm for most learning needs to be more accurately understood and met through the provision typically available in mainstream schools.
By 2034, we should aspire to a more specialized and specialized system where special school admissions are separated from mainstream admissions and the use of the ‘SEND’ label ends.
Investing in School Workforce Expertise
Professional training helps everyone, especially those who have the hardest time learning.
Building more classroom expertise requires investing in a national professional development program for all staff working in schools.
Reforming professional development to give early career teachers and school leaders access to fully funded and redesigned professional qualifications has been a recent policy success.
By expanding this qualification, we can ambitiously work to ensure that all teachers and support staff have access to a rigorously designed, nationally accredited continuing qualification of professional development, including SEND content in the core and elective areas of their specialisation.
Early and evidence-based intervention
The most important thing we can do for children who need more support to succeed is to identify their needs and intervene early to prevent the gap from widening before they start school. Reforms to childcare and early years will ensure that more people have their needs identified and receive targeted support, making them ‘school ready’ by the age of five.
For students who need support at different times throughout their school career, the quality of current interventions varies. Invest in research to help schools better understand which intervention programs have impact and under what conditions they can improve quality and consistency.
National Commission on Professional Placement
There are not enough high-quality, affordable vocational school places. The National Commission must work over the next 10 years to fully understand and plan for the places needed and deliver them through a variety of methods.
School trusts must step up to the challenge and work with a range of local partners to ensure that every child has a high-quality, suitable place in their local school.
With fewer students, we can utilize classroom space in mainstream schools. However, ensuring quality requires well-designed development programs to help schools and trusts build a high-quality resource base, specialist units and satellite provision. This is also an opportunity to reset roles and responsibilities and revitalize relationships within local partnerships.
Reforming the SEND system comes at a cost, but the cost of doing nothing is already staggering. Money currently burning a hole in the budget deficit, wasted on legal fees or paying for expensive private services, could make a difference if put to the front lines.
It will take time and leadership, but ensuring a great education for every child and restoring the social contract between schools and parents is an urgent priority for the incoming administration. It can’t be left in the ‘too difficult’ pile.
This article is part of a series on sectoral policies ahead of the next general election. Read everything else here.