Earlier this week the Government published a National Disability Strategy,(please link to https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-disability-strategy) intending to create a ‘concrete plan’ to improve the everyday lives of disabled people. 

Part 3(please link to https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-disability-strategy/part-3-a-cross-government-effort-to-transform-disabled-peoples-everyday-lives) includes the summary of actions each government department has pledged to take.  The Department for Education (DfE) has pledged a review of actions to improve outcomes for pupils with labels of special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), a number of financial investments, and improvements to supported internships and apprenticeships.

While welcoming these pledges, CSIE remains concerned that the proposed actions are inconsistent with the development of a more inclusive education system, which the government has committed to.  When ratifying the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, the Government had committed(with link to https://treaties.un.org/Pages/ViewDetails.aspx?src=TREATY&mtdsg_no=IV-15&chapter=4) to developing “an inclusive system where parents of disabled children have increasing access to mainstream schools and staff, which have the capacity to meet the needs of disabled children”.  The Code of Practice also clearly states, in paragraph 1.26, the government’s commitment to inclusive education and that there is an expectation (“the general presumption in law”) of mainstream education.

Earlier this month, the DfE announced(please link to https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-53419912) that many new special schools will be built by September 2022, taking thousands more children away from the mainstream education system where they have a right to be.  Such actions are bound to increase segregation in education and build on misconceptions that disabled and non-disabled children cannot be educated together, to the benefit of all.

The government insists that parents of children with labels of SEND have a choice of the type of school their child will go to.  If this is to be a real choice, however, one would expect the DfE to announce concrete plans to strengthen the capacity of ordinary schools to include disabled children.  We have heard of no such plans yet.

At the end of June Ofsted published “SEND: old issues, new issues, next steps”,(please link to https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/send-old-issues-new-issues-next-steps) a seminal report concluding that there are long-standing issues in the SEND system, which have been highlighted and intensified by the Covid-19 pandemic.  The new Strategy does not seem to contain any proposals to deal with the root causes of such inequality, instead responding to its symptoms by preserving and strengthening institutional prejudice. 

Last but not least, CSIE is also aware of reports(please link to https://www.disabilitynewsservice.com/national-disability-strategy-outrage-over-rehashed-strategy-that-is-not-fit-for-purpose/) that the consultation process for the strategy development was tokenistic. These suggest that it lacks the due diligence needed for developing a strategy relevant to such a diverse group.  It seems that the fundamental principle of ‘nothing about us without us’ may not have been meaningfully observed on this occasion, leaving the government to create a National Disability Strategy which disabled people find “not fit for purpose”.

 CSIE would have preferred to see a National Inclusion Strategy, which considers the varied and important perspectives of disabled people and sets out a clear path to greater inclusion in society, beginning with educational settings.