On 29th March, the Government published the Green Paper: SEND Review: Right support, right place, right time. The SEND Review sets out the Government’s proposed changes to the SEND system, addressing the challenges faced by disabled children, those identified as having special educational needs and their families, in securing appropriate education provision. The public consultation will be open for responses until 22nd July.
The government originally announced in 2019 that it would carry out a review of the special educational needs and disability (SEND) system in England. This was in order to find out what had been achieved by the major reforms introduced to the SEND system in 2014. When the Children and Families Act had been introduced in 2014, it was intended to overhaul a system which was no longer seen as fit for purpose, and to re-ignite parental confidence in the system. By 2019 the proportion of children attending separate special schools had already started to rise, as shown by CSIE’s Trends reports among other reports.
The Review found that:
Children, young people and families’ experiences of the SEND and alternative provision system are negative;
Both SEND and the alternative provision system are financially unsustainable;
There is inconsistency across the SEND system regarding how and where needs are assessed; and
That a vicious cycle is driving these challenges through late intervention, low confidence across the system, and inefficient resource allocation.
Parents have been highly critical of the postcode lottery facing their disabled children. One of the primary proposals set out in the Review is the establishment of a single, national SEND and alternative provision system, to account for the variation in outcomes for children and young people with SEND across schools, local areas, and regions. Although there is supposedly an existing system for SEND across England, the Department for Education acknowledges that this is ineffective, and that many disabled children and young people have been failed by their schools or local authorities.
The new review sets out national standards for SEND, which decide which needs of disabled children and young people should, and can, be effectively accommodated within mainstream educational settings, and which would be better addressed in special and alternative provision schools. It should be noted, however, that the national SEND standards do not set out the obligations of public bodies in education, or their role in supporting the inclusion of all disabled children and young people within mainstream education settings. The presumption of segregated education settings for disabled children and young people violates their human rights to inclusive education.
Among the proposals is also a simplified EHCP system, with a new legal requirement for councils to introduce ‘local inclusion plans’ that will combine early years education, schools and further education with health and care services. The Government has also set out a new process for naming a school or college place in a child or young person’s EHCP, meaning parents will only be able to express a preference for a ‘tailored list’ offered by local authorities, rather than being able to request any school. It is worrying that families’ choices are being restricted in this way, with focus being drawn to which provisions are available in the local area, rather than to individual children’s needs.
The Government has set out its plans to offer ‘excellent provision’ for disabled children and young people, to allow schools to be more inclusive to more students, with the aim of increasing the numbers of disabled children in mainstream schools. The main focus of this section of the Review is workforce development. This includes the introduction of mandatory teaching training with SEND children and young people, and new guidance for teaching assistants. The Government also plans to increase funding for traineeship places.
Concerningly, the government is also planning to expand alternative provision, despite this having drawn heavy criticism. Alternative provision, which covers education settings outside of mainstream and special schools, is a form of segregated education, meaning the government is once again acting in opposition to its obligation to promote inclusive education for all. The IntegratED partnership, which aims to reduce preventable school exclusions and improve the education received by excluded children, identifies ‘vast inconsistencies in quality across the sector and some AP pupils do not receive the high-quality education and support they require and deserve.’
The Review has been heavily criticised for its lack of substance. Simone Apsis, of the The Alliance for Inclusive Education denounced the review, saying ‘we do not need any more reviews. We need action now’, and criticising the Government’s ‘total disregard for the continuing systematic attack on disabled pupils’ and students’ human rights to inclusive education.’
Crucially, the SEND Review does not draw upon the UNCRPD Monitoring Committee’s recommendations to focus on the development of a national inclusive education system. Instead, the new proposals will further embed some of the existing issues with the SEND system, resulting in the further regression of disabled children and young people’s rights to inclusive education. The Government also stresses that this Review should be read in conjunction with the Schools White Paper, published a day earlier, but CSIE sees no reason why these were not released as part of the same document. The Green Paper seems to uphold practices of separation, suggesting that some disabled children and young people must be placed in segregated education settings.
