The government’s intention to “get it right” has led to delays in the announcement of reforms to the SEND system, a Department for Education (DfE) advisor admitted.
Dame Christine Lenehan, the SEND strategic advisor to the DfE, told participants attending the Tes SEND Show that the reforms were “taking a while, probably longer than you hoped, to get its plans right.
“And in the midst of that, there’s a lot of planning, a lot of thinking, a lot of testing. Does this work, does that work, with what we’re trying to do.”
But, she added, she had “never known” the system “so angry” in the build-up to the announcement, which is due later this year.
Unfounded speculation
Lenehan said the delays has caused a “vacuum of information”, which means “at least two thirds of the stuff that I read is not true”.
“There is a lot of noise, a lot of worry, a lot of anxiety in the system.
“Part of my role has been coming back, understanding from parents – but understanding from schools in the system – what are the vital things we have to hold onto?”
Growing consensus on principles
Meanwhile Tom Rees, who chairs the DfE’s expert advisory group for inclusion and is CEO of Ormiston Academies Trust, told the event that there was a “growing consensus on some of the principles” that should be at the centre of the reforms.
“The first is to move from thinking a SEND system as separate, and to see it as a design principle within the main system, to see it as something that should influence the main fundamentals of schooling,” he said.
He added that it was important to move from targeted support “that comes as a result of long processes of assessment or even waiting for diagnosis”, to earlier intervention and more inclusion in the mainstream.
Rees said a reformed system should move away from categorising SEND pupils separately from their peers.
“Lots of what we categorise and we work with in special educational needs is quite usual, and it’s predictable,” he said. “We should be making sure that schools can respond in the usual, predictable ways”.
The government has pledged to set out its reforms in a SEND white paper this term.
