Provision for children with SEND should become “an intrinsic part” of mainstream schooling rather than just an add-on, according to a report from the Commons education select committee.
In the report, MPs call for a root and brand transformation in the way schools cater for children with SEND and call for “inclusivity embedded in all education settings, from early years to post-16”.
They also want to see more early diagnoses, so that a child’s needs can be provided in an inclusive setting from the start, the report found.
The report, Solving the SEND Crisis, also calls for government funding to ensure all staff are trained in SEND, which should no longer be the responsibility of just a few teachers.
This would require the government to invest in “both the education and health services’ workforces, to ensure that the health service steps up to its role in solving the SEND crisis, and to improve collaboration between the two sectors”.
Any piecemeal alternative would mean that we later look back at this period as the moment the Government failed to finally solve the SEND crisis
All new headteachers should hold a qualification relating to SEND within four years.
MPs said: “This cultural shift would then calm the rising need for complex, costly education health and care (EHC) plans in the long-term and help put schools and local authorities’ finances on a sustainable footing.”
Some of the other key recommendations include:
- Establishing national standards and expectations to help education settings become more inclusive
- Publishing statutory requirements mandating the minimum resources, specialist expertise, and equipment that every educational setting must have to deliver an inclusive education
- Publishing a definition of inclusive education and examples of good practice across different phases of education and settings
- Urgently assessing the funding required to implement SEND reforms with details of how this will be delivered
- The possibility of writing off SEND-related deficits accumulated by local councils
- Expanding specialist SEND provision by creating specialist state schools and improving resources in mainstream settings
- Making it mandatory to appoint governors or trustees with specific responsibility for and relevant expertise (including lived experience) of SEND
- In the short-term, mandating that at least one member of the senior leadership team in every school and every multi-academy trust holds SENCO qualifications
The report also calls for routine screening for SEND in Best Start Family Hubs, and a re-think of GCSE resits so that only candidates with a realistic prospect of gaining a grade 4 taking them.
Helen Hayes MP, the chair of the select committee, said: “Some of this Committee’s key recommendations will require investment to embed new practices and bring in new resources. But any piecemeal alternative would mean that we later look back at this period as the moment the Government failed to finally solve the SEND crisis.”
Daniel Kebede, general secretary of the National Education Union, said: “MPs have shown an understanding that the SEND crisis needs drastic solutions which are not cheap. The forthcoming Education White Paper must reflect this and provide radical but essential solutions in its proposals.” Full details of the MPs’ report can be found here [cross-refer to feature]
