School leaders suspect some pupils are being actively discouraged
More than a third of school leaders believe some schools in their area actively discourage applications from pupils with SEND, with a new report suggesting both poorer pupils and those with SEND are underrepresented at many top performing schools.
The report, from the Sutton Trust, builds on previous research from the social mobility charity which showed that the 500 highest performing comprehensive schools had fewer children eligible for free school meals (FSM) than the national average, and often fewer than their local averages. Top schools that are less representative of disadvantage also tended to be less representative of SEND – looking at the Progress 8 performance measure, 71 per cent of the top 500 schools with an ‘FSM gap’ also had a ‘SEND gap’. However this gap largely seemed to apply to pupils with SEND who did not have an education, health and care plan (EHCP) – the intake of pupils with an EHCP was broadly in line with national averages.
Pupils who both have SEN and are eligible for FSM face a ‘double disadvantage’, the Sutton Trust argues. Analysis showed pupils who were both FSM-eligible and receiving SEN support made up 3.6 per cent of the populations of top secondary schools, compared to 4.9 per cent in their catchment areas.
This new report, Selective Inclusion, draws on polling of more than 2,000 primary and secondary school senior leaders, conducted via TeacherTapp earlier this month. In that poll 41 per cent of senior leaders (46 per cent of primary school leaders, 32 per cent of secondary leaders) said they believed some schools in their area actively discouraged applications from pupils with SEND. In schools with the highest levels of pupils with SEND, 50 per cent of leaders took this view. The report suggests some schools may feel concerned SEND pupils ‘may compromise their standings’ in the ‘context of high accountability and league tables’, or that staff are ‘not confident in the quality of their SEN support’.
Those polled felt schools’ reputations for SEND provision played a major role in the proportion of pupils with SEND that they admitted. 63 per cent of school leaders said different reputations for quality of SEND provision, and 55 per cent said reputations for inclusivity, accounted for differing SEND intakes across schools. Meanwhile just under a third of school leaders believe parents’ perceptions of a school’s approach to behaviour help explain different intakes of pupils with SEND. For example, a school that’s perceived as being particularly strict might be seen as an unsuitable destination for their children with SEND, compared to a school with a reputation for being more accommodating to those with additional needs.
Commenting, Nick Harrison, CEO of the Sutton Trust, said:
‘It’s appalling that many of the top performing schools take in a lower proportion of SEND pupils than live in their catchment area. This amounts to further social segregation of the school system, and risks entrenching the double disadvantage faced by low-income families whose children also have SEND needs. In many cases, schools appear to be actively discouraging applications from SEND pupils. But we should recognise the tangled web of assessments and incentives, and long-term underfunding, that prevent school leaders taking bolder action on inclusivity. This must change if the government is to deliver on its ambition to create more inclusive schools.’
Also commenting Daniel Kebede, general secretary of the National Education Union, said; ‘It is clear from this research that the poorest students with greatest need are being deprived of the opportunity to access the top 500 schools. This is unjust.’ He argued that academisation had exacerbated the issue, and called for the government to give local authorities control of admissions for all schools in their area. He welcomed the government’s recent announcement of an inclusion grant for schools, but said it was ‘far too small to have an impact’.
Responding to the report, a Department for Education spokesperson said: ‘It is completely unacceptable that disadvantaged children or those with SEND are being shut out or discouraged from applying – and this government will put a stop to it. We are backing this with £3.7 billion to create more specialist places, inclusion bases in every secondary school, and stronger accountability – clamping down on off-rolling, tightening oversight of pupil movement, and working with Ofsted to ensure schools are held to account.’