Schools: Exclusion of Disabled Children

Debate between Lord Agnew of Oulton and Lord Maginnis of Drumglass

Wednesday 11th July 2018 Lords Chamber

[Lord Agnew of Oulton]

My Lords, this issue is, by common consent, considerably complex. We have been looking at it in depth and giving careful thought to what would be in the public interest. We will be ready later in the year to confirm our intentions, which we will do publicly. We do not accept that discrimination exists at the moment, but I would like to take this opportunity to recognise the huge contribution that the noble Lord makes to this important area through his role as a vice-president of the National Autistic Society. I look forward to meeting him and some of his colleagues from the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Autism next week.

[Lord Maginnis of Drumglass (Ind UU)]

My Lords, I declare my professional interest in this particular matter—when they hear what I have to say, some may even say my professional prejudice—in so far as the last figures that I have been given show that our primary schools are 80% staffed by one-year-trained teachers who do a PGCE after doing a Mickey Mouse degree at university. The reality is that you cannot train a teacher in one year. Is the weakness not a question of failing to train our teachers properly?

[Lord Agnew of Oulton]

My Lords, we have done a lot over the last few years to improve the training for teachers in order to increase their awareness of both autism and other issues. The department issued a new framework for initial teacher training content in July 2016, and we are now funding the Whole School SEND Consortium to build a community of practice involving 10,000 schools. A new SEND regional lead, supported by a deputy, will bring together practitioners and networks in their local area to build a community of practice.