Special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) must become an ‘intrinsic part’ of mainstream education, according to a new report from parliament’s education committee. However, the MPs also urged that education, health and care plans (EHCPs) should not be scrapped.
The wide-ranging report, Solving the SEND Crisis, includes more than 40 recommendations. These include establishing new statutory national minimum standards, detailing what support should be offered by schools at all levels of special educational need. The MPs also call for more SEND training for staff in mainstream schools, including Headteachers.
However, despite the focus on embedding SEND provision in the mainstream, the committee recommends keeping both EHCPs and SEND tribunals as a ‘backstop of accountability’ for parents and families. The report notes that the number of pupils in England with an EHCP is now around half a million, calling this number ‘unsustainable’. It goes on: ‘However, the solution to this cannot be to remove the statutory entitlements from a system which lacks accountability in many other areas and in which parents already have so little trust and confidence.’
There is also a call for more funding. Schools are expected to fund the first £6000 of the cost of provision for pupils with SEND, but the report says the DfE should do more: ‘The notional £6,000 threshold is insufficient to deliver good SEN support, placing unsustainable pressure on school budgets. The department cannot reasonably expect inclusive education to be realised without a significant increase in investment’. The government is expected to reveal its plans for the SEND system in an education white paper this autumn.
The report also looks beyond education settings, and a number of the recommendations relate to the NHS. The committee heard that SEND isn’t given enough focus by NHS services, and that the sector feels ‘completely separate’ from education. They call for SEND to be identified as a priority across the health system, and for ongoing NHS restructuring to be used as an opportunity to strengthen the role and accountability of health services in supporting children and young people.
Meanwhile, for local authorities, the committee calls on the DfE to work with the Treasury ‘to secure the funding necessary to realise the vision of an inclusive mainstream education system’. This should also include ‘a clear strategy to address the growing SEND-related deficits’ that local authorities have accumulated. The report notes than a partial write-off of these deficits may be ‘a necessary step towards long-term stability’.
Chair of the education committee Helen Hayes MP said: ‘When the Education Committee launched its inquiry, we already knew that the SEND system was broken, long past needing repair, and chronically letting down children, their families and their teachers. Our report presents a vision for how the Government can realise its laudable aim of making mainstream education inclusive to the vast majority of children and young people with SEND, who are present in every classroom.’
Daniel Kebede, general secretary of the National Education Union, commented: ‘MPs have shown an understanding that the SEND crisis needs drastic solutions which are not cheap. The forthcoming education white paper must reflect this and provide radical but essential solutions in its proposals. Families as well as teachers and leaders will welcome the recognition that mainstream schools need additional resources to meet SEND need’.
A DfE spokesperson said: ‘The report rightly highlights the need for actions we’re already taking, to make sure that evidence-based support is available as routine, without a fight, for every child who needs it – from significant investment in places for children with SEND, to improved teacher training, to our Best Start Family Hubs in every local area.’
Full report: https://tinyurl.com/fr8tabx3