Memorandum submitted by Disability Rights
Commission (WDfES 01)
INTRODUCTION
The DRC was set up by Act of Parliament in 1999
to ensure all disabled people are able to participate fully in
society as equal citizens.
THE EXPERIENCE
OF DISABLED
CHILDREN AND
YOUNG PEOPLE
IN EDUCATION
— In 2003 24% of disabled people aged
16-24 had no qualifications whatsoever, compared to 13% of non-disabled
people of the same age—a gap of 11% which leaves a legacy
of poverty and social exclusion through life.
— Disabled people aged 18 were only
40% as likely to go to university as their non-disabled peers.
— Disabled people are still regularly
excluded from their choice of school or college and from activities
like school trips.
SCHOOL INCLUSION:
THE CURRENT
PICTURE
The recent Prime Ministers Strategy Unit report
concerning the Life Chances of Disabled People pointed out that:
"The rhetoric of mainstreaming needs to
be followed up by specific action to include disabled children"
"In a schools context there is greater awareness
of the benefits of inclusion, but variable quality of teaching
of pupils with SEN. The inclusion agenda has had little impact
on the proportion of children with SEN in mainstream schools or
on the range of SEN needs catered for. Few schools systematically
evaluate their provision for children with SEN."
The recent Ofsted report Special Educational
Needs and Disability: Towards Inclusive Schools showed that over
half the schools were unaware of the reasonable adjustments duty
from Part 4 of The Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) and that
the accessibility plans produced in line with their duty under
Part 4 of the DDA were predominately "paper exercises to
fulfil a statutory responsibility".
The report demonstrated that the existing legislative
framework was having little effect on changing the culture and
effectiveness of schools with regard to inclusion, pointing to
a 10% increase in the number of pupils placed at independent special
schools by LEAs since 2001.
TACKLING THE
ISSUE: THE
ROLE OF
THE DISABILITY
EQUALITY DUTY
A duty to promote equality for disabled people
will be introduced in the Disability Discrimination Bill. It has
the potential of addressing the failings of the current situation.
Schools will be covered by the General part of the Duty, but it
appears there is doubt over whether schools will be covered by
the Specific Duty. This will mean that schools will not have to
produce a Disability Equality Scheme and the DRC will not be able
to issue compliance notices in relation to schools.
The Disability Equality will allow schools to
cohere into a single framework their efforts in meeting special
educational needs and the requirements of existing disability
legislation. It gives school staff a step-by-step guide that contributes
to the school development plan and supports target setting and
monitoring of achievement—the key issues noted as missing
by the Ofsted report and the Strategy Unit report.
Schools will also be vulnerable to judicial
review, which is the legal mechanism for enforcement of the General
Duty. The Specific Duty is enforced in County Court and the Disability
Equality Scheme will give schools transparent evidence in any
legal dispute to indicate their efforts in promoting equality
for disabled children and young people.
THE DRC VIEW
DRC believe that the system is failing disabled
children and young people and that schools are flouting their
existing duties with relative impunity. In any other area of public
policy, such lack of progress would be deemed intolerable. DRC
would question whether DfES can address current inequalities and
deliver its strategy without the Specific Duties covering schools.
The DfES's 5 Year Strategy and the reforms heralded
by "Every Child Matters", will co-locate a whole range
of children's services in schools. It would seem nonsensical that
the provision of education in schools is exempt from the Specific
Duty when the other activities are covered.
The National Association of Schoolmasters/Union
of Women Teachers and the National Union of Teachers amongst the
32 organisations that have given their support to the coverage
of schools. They view the Specific Duty not as a burden, but as
a solution.
March 2005
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