SEC Evidence for the Select Committee

 

The Special Educational Consortium (SEC) is convened under the auspices of the Council for Disabled Children to protect and promote the interests of children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities. SEC provides a policy forum on issues affecting children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities. SEC is a broad consortium consisting mainly of voluntary organisations but including professional associations and local government organisations as well. SEC defines its policies by identifying areas of consensus that exist among the wide range of groups represented within it.

 

SEC welcomes the opportunity to submit evidence to the Select Committee to inform their inquiry into special educational needs and disability. SEC would welcome the opportunity to clarify any aspect of this submission and to supplement written evidence with oral evidence.

 

SEC presents its evidence in the following sections:

1. Provision for SEN pupils in 'mainstream' schools

2. Raising standards of achievement for SEN pupils

- Training

- Access to specialist support in a delegated system

3. Improving transparency and accountability

- at the LEA level

- at the school level

4. The system of statements of need for SEN pupils

5. The legislative framework for SEN provision and the effects of the Disability Act 2001, which extended the Disability Discrimination Act to education.

6. SEN and disability in every policy

 

 

1. Provision for SEN pupils in 'mainstream' schools

1.1. SEC recognises that the Select Committee is taking evidence in the wake of a series of high profile debates over this summer. These debates have generated more heat than light, more polarisation of views than consensus.

 

1.2. SEC recognises that the majority of parents of disabled children or children with special educational needs want their child to be educated in their local mainstream school with their brothers and sisters and other children who live locally. Until recently there were significant limitations on parents' entitlement to a mainstream place for their child. With the implementation of the SEN and Disability Act in September 2002 parents secured an increased right to a mainstream place. SEC supports the current position that enables parents to express a preference for a mainstream school and to have a reasonable expectation that their preference will be met.

1.3. Inclusion is not about placing disabled children and children with special educational needs in mainstream schools, ignoring difference and 'treating all pupils the same.' It is about making appropriate provision to meet each pupil's needs and reasonable adjustments to enable each pupil to access the whole life of the school. The provision and the adjustments may be different for each pupil. This is the essence of inclusion.

 

1.4. SEC celebrates the fact that many disabled children and children with special educational needs are now educated with their peers in mainstream schools. Schools that are working hard to include all children attest to the benefits for all children of working in the way that they do.

 

1.5. Some parents seek a special school place for their child, some as a matter of principle, but many of these parents do so because of poor experiences of mainstream, including:

· a lack of ready welcome for their child;

· a lack of understanding of their child's impairment and their child's educational needs;

· difficulty in securing the necessary expertise in schools;

· difficulty in securing appropriate provision within the school; or

· difficulty in securing the appropriate support from elsewhere.

 

1.6. Perhaps because of some of these difficulties, progress on inclusion has been slow. Ofsted[1] reports that there has been little change in the overall numbers of pupils included into mainstream schools over the last four to five years. Whilst a number of special schools have closed, there has been no overall reduction in the proportion of the school population placed outside mainstream schools. In this context it is hard to give credence to the voices claiming that inclusion has gone too far.

 

1.7. SEC recognises the genuine challenges in developing appropriate mainstream provision. SEC has welcomed the significant government commitments to improving opportunities for disabled children and children with special educational needs, as set out in the ten-year strategy, Removing barriers to achievement[2]. SEC believes that there will be significant benefits arising from the implementation of the Strategy and that these will be important in developing the capacity of mainstream schools to provide for disabled pupils and pupils with special educational needs. Particularly important to this are:

· the proposals on training for staff, both initial training and continuing professional development;

· the increased emphasis on outcomes for disabled children and children with special educational needs;

· a focus on ensuring a range of appropriate forms of support for pupils and for their teachers.

 

1.8. SEC is concerned about the quality of provision made for disabled children and children with special educational needs, whether it is made in mainstream or special schools. There are some excellent special schools, but they are not all small, well-ordered communities, havens from bullying and better able to engender a sense of belonging than mainstream schools. A recent paper by Baroness Warnock[3] proposes that special schools are the appropriate place for a much greater number of pupils than are currently placed in them. SEC does not support this view.

 

1.9. SEC's position can be summarised as follows:

SEC supports the inclusion of disabled children and children with special educational needs into mainstream schools and settings.

 

1.10 SEC believes that inclusion only happens where:

· adjustments are made to enable disabled children and young people to access the whole life of the school or setting;

· special educational provision is made to meet the needs of children and young people with special educational needs.

 

1.11 SEC recognises that parents will make what they see as the best choice for their child and some will continue to chose special schools, especially when mainstream provision fails to address their child's needs.

 

1.12 Progress on inclusion depends on the development of:

· the capacity of schools and settings to make adjustments; and

· the capacity of schools, settings and LEAs to make the appropriate provision available in mainstream settings.

 

 

2. Raising standards of achievement for pupils with SEN

2.1. SEC has concerns about the continuing evidence of the underachievement and the under-expectation of disabled pupils and pupils with special educational needs in the school system. Ofsted identifies the difficulty in their recent report :

 

'Expectations of achievement are often neither well enough defined, nor pitched high enough. Progress in learning remains slower than it should be for a significant number of pupils.'

Ofsted (2004)

Special educational needs and disability: towards inclusive schools

 

2.2. SEC's concerns are highlighted at a time of improving outcomes and positive international comparisons more generally. The Five Year Strategy for Children and Learners indicates that:

 

'Behind these headlines is a fundamental weakness in equality of opportunity.'

DfES (2004)

Five Year Strategy for Children and Learners

 

2.3. A report from the Prime Minister's Strategy Unit highlights the links between poor educational outcomes and subsequent life chances for disabled young people:

 

There are particular concerns around labour market inactivity amongst disabled young people. Disabled young people are considerably more likely than non-disabled people to be not in education, employment or training (NEET), particularly from age 19 when many will first transfer out of special school...

 

Education is a key driver of opportunity. High levels of education lead to higher employment and income levels and also to better social networks and improved life satisfaction. Low levels of education are associated with the opposite - increasing the probability that disabled people will experience poverty and social exclusion...

 

Disabled people often do not achieve the qualifications that they could at school owing to a range of factors - including negative experiences of schooling, low expectations from teachers, special schools lacking an academic orientation, and a lack of education provision during hospital and other absences.

Prime Minister's Strategy Unit (2005)

Improving the life chances of disabled people

 

2.4. High levels of exclusions are both a cause of and the result of poor outcomes for disabled pupils and pupils with SEN. In their study, Special educational needs: a mainstream issue[4], the Audit Commission found that the vast majority of permanent exclusions in the 22 LEAs surveyed related to pupils with SEN: 87% of exclusions in primary schools and 60% of exclusions in secondary related to pupils with SEN.

 

2.5. In 2004 the Advisory Centre for Education (ACE) found that about three-quarters of their exclusions calls related to pupils with special educational needs. Pupils with ADHD, autistic behaviour and mental health problems made up a significant proportion of these pupils. Between a third and a half of ACE's SEN/exclusions calls blamed lack of support or inadequate support as the reason for the exclusion and in nearly a sixth of these calls it appeared that the school had not made any 'reasonable adjustments' and that this was a factor in the exclusion.

 

2.6. In a recent Office for National Statistics report[5] 27% of children with autism in the sample had been excluded and the vast majority of these on more than one occasion. Exclusions also start young:

'My son was permanently excluded from nursery and from two schools by time he was 7 years old. He has now been out of school for 15 months.'

Parent of an autistic pupil, ringing helpline organisation

 

2.7. It is quite inappropriate that there is such over-reliance on the disciplinary route for disabled pupils and pupils with SEN, particularly when there is evidence of lack of support and of a failure to make reasonable adjustments which may amount to disability discrimination. There is a clear need to put in place appropriate provision and make reasonable adjustments. This depends on all the appropriate training and support being in place.

 

Training

2.8. Training is needed across different roles and at different levels in the service: curriculum managers, teachers in initial training, subject specialists in institutes of higher education, newly qualified teachers in their induction year, so that all teachers understand their duties towards disabled pupils and pupils with SEN.

 

2.9. SEC welcomes the work commissioned by the Training and Development Agency for Schools (TDA) which is now getting under way at the Institute for Education, London University. SEC understands that this work will lead to new programmes in initial teacher training that should ensure that teachers start their career with a better understanding of SEN and disability. However, SEC understands that this work will only affect the 3 and 4-year initial teacher training courses, and not the one-year Postgraduate Certificate in Education (PGCE). SEC considers it is essential that all trainee teachers have access to initial training on SEN and disability. Post-experience training can then build on this.

 

Access to specialist support in a delegated system

2.10 The provision of support services can significantly enhance the capacity of schools to respond to a range of needs. Ofsted identifies the important contribution of support services:

 

'Support and outreach services promoted inclusion and improved the life chances of many vulnerable pupils.'

Ofsted (2005) Inclusion: the impact of LEA support and outreach services

 

2.11 The report by the Audit Commission[6], in 2002, identified concerns about a 'shortfall of specialist support' and Ofsted identified delegation as undermining the LEA's ability to target support for pupils with SEN:

 

'The delegation of funding for support services had a negative effect on the provision for some pupils with SEN. It diminished the capacity of many LEAs to monitor the progress of pupils with SEN and reduced the range and quantity of specialist staff available to provide advice and support.'

Ofsted (2005) Inclusion: the impact of LEA support and outreach services

 

2.12 SEC argues strongly in favour of the proposal, in Removing Barriers to Achievement, to draw up generic minimum standards for SEN support services, to ensure that this crucial source of advice and support is not further eroded. At the same time it is important that there is clarity about delegated funds: what is delegated, what for and how it is being used.

 

 

3. Improving transparency and accountability

3.1. An important element in improving outcomes for disabled pupils and pupils with SEN is that schools are held to account for their progress. It is particularly important that the new frameworks for school improvement, that rely on schools working with a school improvement partner, make full use of the data on pupil progress to inform supported self-review in this area.

 

3.2. Regulations[7] require local authorities to publish information about how they meet the needs of pupils with SEN. In particular local authorities are required to set out, in their policies, the respective responsibilities of schools and themselves in respect of the use of delegated and centrally retained funds. Clarity about this aspect of local authority policy has a strategic importance: it should make clear what parents can expect schools to provide and what they can expect the LEA to provide. This can also be a tool for showing schools what approaches they can be expected to have provided for pupils with different types of need. Schools and parents can see what it is that the school can be expected to have provided before considering approaching the local authority for additional resources.

 

3.3. The LEA is required to publish its policy on its website. Not all LEAs comply with this requirement, but, following a survey by the Advisory Centre of Education, and revised guidance to Ofsted inspectors, more LEAs are now publishing their policies on their websites. It is important that there is continuing pressure to make this information available to parents and to schools.

 

3.4. Equally important is the information that schools are required to make available to parents. Schools are required to make available their SEN policies and their accessibility plans, and are required to report on these annually. However, parents regularly report to member organisations the unwillingness of schools to give them this information. In a small-scale unpublished survey of 20 parents by Centre 404 and the National Autistic Society, parents identified real difficulties in getting hold of information from schools on admissions, exclusions, and policies on SEN, accessibility and bullying:

 

'I had to fight for every piece of information above from school, LEA and in the end I had to go to independent bodies or charities to receive information. I never did receive school policies...'

 

'I was given a copy of the bullying policy but very begrudgingly!'

 

'[We should be given] all policies regarding the handling of disabled pupils - these should be given automatically without you having to ask.'

 

3.5. The significance of these difficulties is that it undermines parents' confidence that the school will be able to meet their child's needs and it puts them at a disadvantage in accessing schools. Difficulty in getting hold of information can fuel demand for a statement, simply because parents may not know what the school should be making available.

 

 

4. The system of statements of need for SEN pupils

4.1. SEC dislikes the confrontation surrounding statements. However, parents do not start out wanting or needing a statement for their child. Statutory assessments and statements are necessary to secure the appropriate provision to meet the needs of the child. As statements provide access to additional resources there will always be a need to use some form of assessment in order to determine entitlement to those resources, and indeed such assessment systems existed well before the publication of the Warnock report and the passage of the 1981 Act. While access to additional resources is always important in meeting special educational needs, some of the confrontation around statements arises from a lack of clarity about the respective responsibilities of schools and local authorities.

 

4.2. It is the allocation of resources through statements that has enabled disabled pupils and pupils with SEN to be included into mainstream schools and to access support and resources there.

 

 

5. The legislative framework for SEN provision and the effects of the Disability Act 2001, which extended the Disability Discrimination Act to education.

5.1. The DDA duties are less well known than the SEN framework, both to schools and to parents. The DDA duties have been in force for a shorter time and they require a different way of thinking: rather than focusing on the needs of the child, the duties in the DDA require us to consider the changes we can make in the environment to better enable a disabled pupil to access provision and to participate fully in the life of the school.

 

5.2. Organisations in membership of SEC occasionally report parents' positive experiences of visiting schools and finding a ready welcome, but they also report the negative messages parents receive, some of which may amount to discrimination:

 

'Try the school down the road. It has a much better SEN department.'

 

'[School X] has more experience of children with SEN.'

'I cant imagine anyone anywhere having anything good to say about your son'

 

'We can't take your child unless he stops having fits' (of a child with epilepsy)

 

5.3. Only a small number of claims of discrimination has been brought to the SEN and Disability Tribunal. Between September 2002 and January 2005, 188 claims were made. Commenting, in 2003, on the slow rate of claims to the SENDIST, Trevor Aldridge, the outgoing President of the Tribunal commented:

 

'Of the total of 3610 cases registered by the Tribunal during the year only 78 were claims for disability discrimination, just over 2 per cent of the total workload. It seems likely that this small number results from ignorance of the role which the Tribunal can now play, rather than a near-absence of discrimination.'

SENDIST Annual Report 2002-2003

 

5.4. Schools have also been slow to respond to the requirement to publish an accessibility plan:

'Over half the schools visited had no disability access plans and, of those that did exist, the majority focused on accommodation.'

Ofsted (2004)

Special educational needs and disability: towards inclusive schools

 

5.5. It is a matter of urgency that schools develop a greater awareness of the DDA duties and operate in the light of these duties. The new duties in the DDA 2005 place schools under a more active requirement to promote equality of opportunity between disabled and non-disabled pupils.

 

 

6. SEN and disability in every policy

6.1. SEC has welcomed the Government's SEN Strategy, Removing Barriers to Achievement, and would argue that the Strategy needs to be given a higher profile across the DfES and in other Government policies. There are instances of the SEN and disability dimensions being omitted from other initiatives through an oversight, as with the original publication of the National Literacy Strategy and, more recently, the guidance on Speaking and Listening. Disabled children and children with SEN are also absent from the Five Year Strategy for Children and Learners DfES (2004), where the strong emphasis on equal opportunities and outcomes might have argued that they should have a key focus.

 

6.2. There are other instances where SEN and disability perspectives run counter to the prevailing culture, for example:

 

· the abolition of the annual report of the governing body to parents. For parents of disabled children and children with SEN, this removed an important point of access to information in a document that was widely circulated and no one had to ask for. The proposed school profile does not contain the SEN and disability information that was in the annual report. It is proposed that the SEN and disability information, which is required annually, should be reported in the prospectus;

 

· when proposals on school transport were published in autumn 2004, they took little account of disabled children and children with SEN ;

 

· Academies: there has been a small number of difficulties reported by members of SEC in relation to admissions and exclusions from academies. SEC members are monitoring evidence from helplines. There is also a matter of principle. SEC is concerned that children with a statement of SEN have a lesser right of access than their peers and a lesser right of access to an Academy than to a maintained school. There is concern that this may amount to discrimination.

 

 

For more information please contact:

 

Philippa Stobbs

Council for Disabled Children

8, Wakley Street

London EC1V 7QE

020-7843-6334

[e-mail]

 

 

 

Brian Lamb

RNID

19-23 Featherstone Street

London EC1Y 8SL

020-7296-8164

[e-mail]

 

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[1] Ofsted (2004) Special Educational Needs and Disability: Towards inclusive schools

 

[2] DfES (2004) Removing barriers to achievement: The Government's strategy for SEN

 

[3] Baroness Warnock (2005) paper on inclusion for the Philosophy of Education Society of Great Britain, Special Educational Needs: a new look

[4] Audit Commission (2002) Special educational needs: a mainstream issue

 

[5] Office of National Statistics (2005) Mental Health of children and young people in Great Britain. London: Palgrave Macmillan

[6] Audit Commission (2002) Special educational needs: a mainstream issue

[7] The Special Educational Needs (Provision of Information by Local Education Authorities) (England) Regulations 2001