Teachers and parents today made an urgent call for more money to help fix the “broken” special educational needs system, as the government launched its plan for the future of the provision.
In a long-awaited review of special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), the government said it will overhaul the system so children receive better help at school from an earlier stage, and includes plans to digitise paperwork.
But school leaders said the pandemic has caused a “staggering” increase in the number of children needing help, and more money is needed to tackle long waiting lists for services such as speech and language therapy and mental health.
Mother of three Sarah Hesz said her daughter, who has special educational needs, this week lost her one-to-one teaching assistant to a job in Asda.
She told the Standard: “My daughter’s amazing teaching assistant is leaving because the school can’t afford her, even though we have an EHCP (education health and care plan) in place.
“TAs are paid so little and are absolutely essential. They also don’t get the training they need. It’s all so frustrating.”
Annamarie Hassall, CEO of the National Association for Special Educational Needs, said vital therapeutic services are being “rationed” because of lack of funding.
She added that the already fragile system has been “pushed further to the brink by a long and brutal pandemic that has resulted in a staggering impact on the mental health of children and young people, increased absences from school and a stretched workforce.”
Patrick Roach, General Secretary of teachers’ union NASUWT, said the government’s ambitions “need to be matched by substantial and sustained additional investment.”
Paul Whiteman, general secretary of school leaders’ union NAHT said: “The challenge here is not one of culture, but of a persistent lack of funding from central government.”
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In the plans published today, the government said new national standards should be set to improve performance, and education, health and care plans (EHCPs), which help pupils with SEND access support in school, should be digitised and simplified to reduce unnecessary paper work.
Councils would be legally required to set up “local inclusion plans” which would bring education and health services together, and make providers’ responsibilities clearer.
Councils would also have a new national framework to simplify funding for pupils and young people with SEND up to the age of 25.
The paper also proposes that mainstream schools need to become more inclusive and identify SEND needs earlier to improve support.
The proposals are backed by the equivalent of £70 million in additional funding. A consultation on the plans has been launched.
Education minister Will Quince today admitted that SEND reforms in the past have not been up to standard. Speaking on LBC Radio he said it was “really fair” to ask why more had not been done before now, after the government has been in power for more than a decade.
He said: “We actually had reforms in 2014, they set the right aspiration and ambition, but in truth the delivery and implementation just wasn’t up to standard.”
