The government needs to invest more in specialist SEND teachers and to introduce earlier and better screening of needs among at-risk pupils, according to a new report.
The ‘state-of-the-nation’ study, from the Education Policy Institute (EPI), found that attainment gaps between different groups of pupils remained stark and any post-pandemic gains in narrowing the discrepancies had “gone into reverse”.
It found that Pupils with an EHCP “have some of the widest attainment gaps in England’s education system, while those receiving SEND support also remain substantially behind their peers”.
A particular cause for concern, the report said, was among five-year-olds, with many SEND children starting school “already significantly behind” their peers.
The challenges for SEND pupils was compounded by substantial changes in need types, with a bit rise in children with autism, and a decrease in those presenting with moderate learning difficulties since 2016.
“These shifts are likely to be influencing trends in overall SEND attainment gaps, with new EPI research showing that pupils with different types of need experience widely varying attainment outcomes,” the study said.
Government ambitions
The EPI’s annual report found that, overall, and on current trends, the government’s ambition set out in the school’s white paper to halve the disadvantage gap by the time the current cohort of children finish secondary school, was “moving further out of reach, not closer”.
The EPI found that disadvantaged gaps were wider than before the pandemic in every phase, but particularly in the early years, where it increased by 17% since 2019.
The next Prime Minister inherits a difficult starting position
The report called for ministers to address the challenges facing SEND pupils in three areas:
- Better investment in the workforce to support pupil with SEND, both within education setting and beyond. This included increased the number of educational psychologists, speech and language therapists, and improving access to paediatric services, including CAMHS
- Implementing screening for SEND, targets at children known to be at-risk of unmet or late-identified needs
- Introduce a ‘strengths and needs profile’ approach to SEND assessment, informed by research into how needs cluster within and between developmental domains.
It also called for a thorough evaluation of where the curriculum, assessment, qualifications and school accountability measures were creating obstacles to meeting children’s needs.
Scourge on society
Julie McCulloch, EPI’s chief executive, said: “The size of the gap between the educational outcomes of children from more and less advantaged backgrounds is a scourge on our society.
“The government’s ambitious target to halve this gap is right and welcome. However, the findings of EPI’s latest Annual Report show that, on current trends, the distance between where we are and where the government wants to be is growing, not shrinking.
“That is absolutely not a reason to abandon the target but presents a concrete challenge to be far more exacting about the mechanisms for hitting it.
“The next Prime Minister inherits a clear pledge and a difficult starting position. We need a laser-like focus on whether current structures, systems and resources are enough to actually deliver it.
“This is particularly crucial for the children who have fallen furthest behind, who are too often those who have grown up in long-term poverty or have other vulnerabilities such as special educational needs.
“Commendable intentions got us a target. We need a credible, long-term delivery plan to achieve it.”
Daniel Kebede, general secretary of the National Education Union (NEU), said: “While educators across the country support the government’s goal to halve the disadvantage gap, they also see the reality of the challenge.
“The gap exists at every level, from across regions to within classrooms. It cannot be right that children’s ability to thrive depends on where they grow up or whether they have additional needs.
“A step change of significant investment is required to turn this around.”
