The Education Leaders’ guide to… the Special Educational Needs Green Paper

• The old system of statementing is set to be reformed, with the disappearance of the categories of school action and school action plus. In its place will be a new kind of statement which brings together the medical and educational needs of the child.

• There will be a lot more focus on the attainment and progress of lower-attaining pupils in published school performance data

• The “bias towards inclusion” is to end, and the Green Paper suggests that parent power may prevent the closure of special schools which could be saved with Free School status.

• Parents will also be able to express a preference for their child to attend a particular school and this should be met unless this would not provide the best education for the child, disrupt the education of other children, or be an inefficient use of resources.

 

The Green Paper says life chances for the two million children in England with a disability or identified with SEN are “disproportionately poor.” Young people with SEN are twice as likely not to be in education, training or employment than others.

“But properly supported from childhood, many of these barriers should not hold young people back from leading a fulfilling adolescence and adulthood.

The kind of day-to-day support that can help children and young people who are disabled or who have SEN to fulfil their potential varies hugely. Excellent classroom practice with skilled teachers is sufficient for many; others will need expert, but time-limited, support such as speech and language therapy; and some will need 24-hour personal care with input from specialists across health and social care,” says the report.

These children, says the paper, can feel isolated and unable to get on at school without a welcoming environment “and the right approach in place. They feel frustrated that the barriers they face aren’t understood so they can learn and enjoy school, and enjoy the best possible quality of life.”

The paper says “radical reforms” are necessary to support children and young people who are disabled or have SEN. The Government’s “ambitious programme of public service reform” will, it says, provide “a strong platform” for this.

Schools, say the government, have been part of the problem. Teachers have not always had the training to identify children’s needs or provide the right help, while head teachers have been overwhelmed with top-down initiatives rather than having the freedom to drive improvements. There have been “perverse incentives” to over-identify children as having SEN, with the label perpetuating a culture of low expectations without the right support being put in place.

 

The paper says it wants the new system to support better life outcomes, to give parents confidence by giving them more control, and to transfer power to “professionals on the front line and to local communities”.

It wants to see early identification and meeting of children’s needs by ensuring that health services, early education and childcare are accessible to all, by creating a partnership with parents, and joined up education, health and social care which meet families’ needs. This will need:

• A new approach to identifying SEN in early-years settings and schools “to challenge a culture of low expectations”… and give them effective support to succeed.

• A new single assessment process and Education, Health and Care Plan in which all services will work with the family to produce a single plan, reviewed regularly. This has the same statutory protection as a statement of SEN, and those involved will commit to providing services.

• There will be a local offer of services available to support children with disabilities or SEN, which will include what is “normally available” in schools to help children with lower-level special needs.

• Families will have the option of a personalised budget by 2014, with key workers available to advise.

• Parents will have a “real choice” of school

 

• The document says most disabilities are picked up at around the time of birth, with recent improvements including a hearing test for newborns. But developmental problems can be more difficult to spot. An expanded health visiting service will offer a health and development review for children aged 2-2.5 years, with support offered to children found to need it.  Further work is being done by the Department of Health on the public health role of school nurses and their role with disabled children and young people with illness in schools.

• There will also be a joint Department of Health/Department for Education policy statement on early years reform in the spring. Assessment in early years settings is currently part of the Tickell Review of the early years foundation stage, and the Government wants it to concentrate on areas essential to children’s development.

• Parents will have a right to request a statutory assessment of their children, and statements must be drawn up if necessary, even if the child is under 5.

• Nursery education can cut the numbers of children “at risk” of SEN but can be expensive for the families who most need it. The Government’s extended entitlement of early education for two year olds will accommodate disadvantaged children with more complex support needs and their families.

• Local authorities must ensure there is sufficient childcare for disabled children.

 

• The QTS standards will have a stronger focus on supporting children with additional needs. Initial teacher training will include learning from the Achievement for All programme.

• There will be additional funding for ITT training providers for more placements in special school settings, with more SEN and disability training for college lecturers.

• The Training and Development Agency for Schools has been asked to commission online training materials for teachers about “profound, multiple learning disabilities, severe learning disabilities, and complex learning difficulties and disabilities." Free training materials will be "made available focused on autism; dyslexia; behavioural, emotional and social difficulties; and speech, language and communication needs. These resources will be nationally recognised and flexible so that they can be used for accredited professional development.”

• There will be scholarships for teachers to develop their practice in supporting disabled pupils and those with SEN.

• Outstanding special schools will be able to become Teaching Schools or members of a Teaching School Partnership and share their expertise. These networks are intended to identify and develop staff with the potential to become heads of special schools.

• Schools are to be encouraged to pioneer new approaches to teaching and learning, so the Government wants to reduce current burdens, particularly those on SENCOs. This means the updated Code of Practice will remove advice on using Individual Education Plans, encouraging schools to explore various approaches to help children with SEN to fulfil their potential.

“None of the ambitions highlighted here are possible without strong and effective leadership,” says the report.

• The content of the National Qualification for Headship will be reviewed in part so that SEN and disability are “considered appropriately”

• The number of National and Local Leaders of Education in special education will expand.

• There will be a new category of Specialist Leaders of Education, serving middle and senior school leaders who support others to improve, including those who work with children with disabilities and SEN.

• Heads and teachers will “need to continue to think” about how best to deploy support staff and ensure the neediest children experience the best quality teaching.

The Green Paper says current practice harms children who do not have SEN but are identified as such. It says: “This problem of over-identification sustains a culture of low expectations for these children and can mean that they do not get the right help. It can distract teachers away from their main priority of teaching pupils, assessing where they are in their learning and ensuring they get the right help where needed.”

Instead, the government wands to embed the approach of the Achievement for All project, change statutory guidance on how SEN should be identified and enforce “sharper accountability.”

• The SEN Code of Practice will be shorter and clearer for professionals, including those in early years settings

• There will be new measures in performance tables on the progress of disadvantaged pupils and those in the lowest-attaining 20 per cent.

School Action and School Action Plus will be replaced with a new single school-based SEN category offering clear guidance on “appropriate identification”.

This would help professionals differentiate between pupils who need additional support to catch up and those who need a tailored approach to address a special educational need, and the Government says it will help avoid the confusion inherent in the current framework which identifies needs on the basis of how support is provided. It expects fewer children to be identified with SEN as a result, with a focus on providing the help needed by every child.

“Our proposal for a single category of SEN would make it easier for schools to plan and deliver the right support and provide clarity for families on the help their child can expect to receive, whether it is a normally available tailored approach (such as support delivered through one of the Every Child programmes) or something specific to SEN,” says the report.

• There will be new indicators in school performance tables relating to the progress of the lowest attaining 20 per cent of pupils, focusing on pupils entering a key stage who have not reached the expected level. This will show parents and the public how well schools support pupils to progress when they start below the expected level.

• Schools will be helped to work together on the use of P Scale assessments for those working below KS1.

• The new Destination Measures at KS4 and 5 are intended to make schools accountable for helping all their pupils prepare for success after 16 and 18.

• Ofsted will be asked to provide a stronger focus on how well schools educate children with SEN and disabilities, and is about to consult on a new framework.

• There will be specialist inspectors for mainstream schools running resourced provision or special units.

• Schools will have increased accountability for pupils’ outcomes.

The report says school behaviour policies are of particular relevance to disabled children and pupils with SEN. They are more likely to experience bullying and are also more likely to be excluded. Over a quarter of children on School Action Plus and 14 per cent with statements have a behavioural, emotional or social difficulty identified as their primary need.

The Government and the Anti-Bullying Alliance will share best practice to help teachers identify pupils with disabilities or SEN who are at risk of bullying and tackle problems if they arise

Assessments of SEN and challenging behaviour should identify the root cause of the behaviour rather than focusing on the symptoms

The pilots of the Government’s new approach to exclusions will consider the needs of and impact on disabled children and those with SEN.

Exclusion guidance will recommend that children are assessed through a multi-agency assessment for underlying causal factors. Schools should be able to trigger this if a student’s poor behaviour doesn’t improve despite effective management by the school. This will also be trialled during the exclusions pilot.

The DfE wants to build the capacity to provide targeted mental health support and is funding whole family support through the new Early Intervention Grants.

The paper says the profile of disabled children and pupils with SEN is changing as children who would previously not have survived birth are now entering school, often with several conditions and learning difficulties.

• The Specialist Schools and Academies Trust and the DfE are working on a project with special school staff finding the right approach to helping children to learn. This will research, devise and test new approaches to teaching and learning for children with emerging complex learning difficulties.
• The DfE wants the special school market to be able to expand, and is encouraging schools to become academies in order to become more dynamic and innovative.
• Special Free Schools will be able to open from September 2012. The DfE will over time encourage their establishment in particular areas of the country to provide education for particular special needs or disabilities.
• The DfE supports moves to a more integrated system where children can move flexibly between mainstream and special provision to access the support they need.

The report says there are currently 17 different requirements to publish information on SEN and it intends to implement recommendations on how to improve the provided information.

The government proposes to slim down the requirement on schools to publish information, so parents are clear about schools’ approaches to SEN. The Council for Disabled Children suggests a focus on core information parents find essential, which is:

• The school’s statutory responsibilities
• The school’s approach to SEN
• How this approach was consulted on
• The provision normally available in school for pupils with SEN

The report says parents of children with SEN will have different views on the type of school that is right for their child’s education. But some parents say they have little choice in reality either because they are unclear about their options, their local mainstream schools cannot offer provision for their child, or because there is a shortage of special school places.

“There should be real choice for parents and that is why we are committed to removing any bias towards inclusion that obstructs parent choice and preventing the unnecessary closure of special schools. We believe that real choice for parents requires a diverse and dynamic school system that offers a wide range of high quality provision and that has the autonomy and flexibility to respond effectively to parental choice; parents to be able to express a preference for a placement in any state-funded school; and good quality information that enables parents to make informed choices,” says the report.

It adds: “By injecting greater autonomy into the school system, we aim to create a system that is able to offer a range of high quality specialist provision for children with SEN; to innovate and pioneer new education pathways and curricula; and to offer parents a genuine choice of school for their child and to respond effectively to parents’ choices.”

There will be legislation to ensure that parents of children with a statement of SEN or an Education, Health and Care Plan have the right to express a preference for any state-funded school.

There is currently a consultation about how the speech and language service should be organised in the future, which closes on March 31.

The DfE will work with the educational psychology profession and local commissioners to review future training arrangements for ed psychs.

• More governor training in the area of SEN
• There will be a new scholarship fund for “the most able teaching assistants and other support staff” to enable them to build their SEN support roles and develop their careers further.
• The Achievement for All project, which has a culture of high expectations and provision of personalised school-based support, has led to schools declassifying children on School Action plans, and the Government is asking organisations to bid to spread these good practices and create a quality mark for schools developing excellent and innovative SEN support.
• The new National Curriculum will take account of all children’s needs and the Government says it will be designed so that parents find it easier to understand their children’s progress and support their learning.
• Ofsted will be asked to review the impact of changes in the way pupils’ SEN is identified
• The Government wants to enable voluntary and community service sector organisations to do more in this area, including in the assessment process or in providing key workers for families of children with SEN. The DfE will shortly publish a prospectus outlining key areas in which such organisations will be able to bid for grants or contracts.

The Green Paper says schools have been given greater flexibility over resources. The pupil premium will provide an extra £2.5bn a year by 2014-15, and almost a third of pupils with SEN are eligible for free school meals. Schools can use this money as they wish, for instance on extra tuition or catch up support.

“Every Child” funding is now available through the dedicated schools grant, and the Government will help those programmes on to the open market so that any school can take up training and use these approaches.

There will be funding for phonics-based funding and resources to help children who are behind at reading catch up.

Schools and local authorities are among those who can bid for a share of the new £110m Education Endowment Fund to turn around the lowest performing schools. This will include support for new approaches to raising the attainment of disadvantaged pupils.

The DfE and local authorities are to work together on the possible creation of a national banded funded framework to set out high-level descriptions of different types of provision for children with more severe and complex SEN or disabilities. This will have to fit with the funding of SEN provision in special and mainstream schools.

• The DfE will build on the Wolf Review findings to improve vocational and work-related learning options for 14-25 year olds with SEN or disabilities.
• Young people with learning disabilities will be helped to access paid work during evenings and weekends to learn more about the world of work
• The National Citizen Service will be available to young people with disabilities or SEN up to the age of 25 so that they can experience this when they are ready.
• Disabled students with talent and ability will be helped to access higher education with funding and support.

 The government proposes the LA should set out a “local offer” of the support available for children with SEN or are disabled and their families, and who is offering such support. There will be a change in the existing regulations.

This will include describing what additional or different provision schools make for children with SEN, covering four key areas:

• The curriculum, and how it is tailored to meet individual needs

• Teaching and how it is adapted to meet children’s special educational needs, and how specialists are used

• Assessment, and how it is used by teachers to identify children’s barriers to learning

• Pastoral support, including the involvement of parents in children’s learning and how the school supports the education and wellbeing of disabled children and those with SEN.