Schools: Special Educational Needs and Disabilities

Baroness Evans of Bowes Park Excerpts

Thursday 26th May 2016 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Evans of Bowes Park (Con)]

My Lords, I thank the noble Lord, Lord Addington, for initiating this debate and echo the words of the noble Lord, Lord Storey, in admiring his tenacity in returning to this issue on a number of occasions. It is an extremely important one, so I am delighted to be responding. I thank all noble Lords who have contributed today.

This Government’s vision for pupils with SEND is the same as for all pupils: we want them to achieve their full potential and make a good transition to adulthood. I assure the noble Lord, Lord Watson, and the right reverend Prelate the Bishop of Southwark that we are committed to inclusive education of pupils with SEND and to the progressive removal of barriers to learning and participation in mainstream education, where appropriate. To achieve this, we are transforming the system, improving teacher training and empowering teachers through our school reforms.

The Children and Families Act 2014 is delivering the biggest change to the SEND system in a generation, but it is only the start. We are aiming high. All children and young people should have an excellent education that equips them to have fulfilling lives. The legislation is of course only the start. We have invested heavily in practical and financial support for implementing the reforms, including an extra £80 million in 2016-17.

It will inevitably take time for the new system to bed down, but we are already seeing examples of good practice and getting positive feedback from parents of pupils with special educational needs.

We have set out clear expectations of schools in our revised SEND code of practice. Excellent differentiated classroom teaching is key. Schools should provide a graduated approach to assess, plan, deliver and review what works best for each individual pupil by way of support.

That is the theory, but how are schools supporting children in practice? As the noble Lord, Lord Watson, said, schools are now required to work with families to publish a school information report, setting out how they value and support pupils with SEND. They have risen to the challenge. The students at Ninestiles Academy in Birmingham, for instance, have put together a video showing what is on offer at their school, while St George’s Beneficial primary in Portsmouth has developed an engaging report covering every aspect of the support available in the school—from what to do about initial concerns, to the curriculum, teaching, specialist services, and even how children will be included in school trips.

Providing the best possible training is at the heart of our drive to improve standards. As all noble Lords have said, classroom teachers must be equipped to identify and respond to special educational needs. To make this happen, we have made improvements to initial teacher training and CPD, and all these changes have a special needs focus.

In addition, we have funded disability groups to produce good practice material for teachers on meeting particular needs. We have awarded contracts totalling more than £2.5 million a year to a number of sector specialists, including the Autism Trust and the National Sensory Impairment Partnership, to support the implementation of the SEN reforms and to provide information and training to schools and teachers. In 2016-17, we are continuing to provide a similar sum for organisations to provide workforce support for dyslexia, autism, speech, language and communication needs and sensory impairment. We have also funded Nasen to develop a free universal offer for SEN CPD for teachers, including those working in the early years and post-16 sectors, which will meet the requirements, providing high-quality teaching as described in the code of practice.

Currently, all ITT courses must ensure that trainee teachers can meet the teachers’ standards. Standard 5 specifies that teachers must,

“adapt teaching to respond to the strengths and needs of all pupils; and have a clear understanding of the needs of all pupils, including those with special educational needs”.

As several noble Lords have said, following the Carter review in 2015, we commissioned an independent expert group, chaired by Stephen Munday, to develop a framework of core ITT content. The Carter review had found variability in the quality of course content, with SEND being one area for improvement. The group has looked very closely at these issues and I understand that the noble Lord, Lord Addington, has also met Stephen Munday. I can tell the noble Lord, Lord Warner, that the group has now submitted its report to Ministers for consideration. The report will be published shortly and the Government will also be publishing a response that directly addresses its recommendations.

As the noble Lord, Lord Warner, also said, staff already in post need to be equipped to support children and young people effectively, which is why we are raising the bar for awarding qualified teacher status. In future, teacher accreditation will be based on proven practice in the classroom and assessed on the basics of the teachers’ standards, including responding to the needs of pupils with special educational needs.

In addition, we will shortly be publishing a new standard for teachers’ professional development, which will set out a clear description of what makes for effective professional development. We hope this will be used to challenge ineffective practice in the classroom now, and to improve quality.

Schools need to keep a close eye on the effectiveness of their support for pupils with special educational needs, and we have invested several million pounds in programmes to support schools. We are currently considering tenders for a further six contracts worth more than £3 million to support the implementation of the reforms. The largest of these is a contract to provide strategic support for the schools workforce on special educational needs, and to consider how it can best work in a school-led system.

The noble Lord, Lord Warner, asked about reviewing the success of implementing the 2014 Act, and we are keeping the situation under review through a number of measures. The noble Lord, Lord Watson, mentioned the independent inspection of local areas by Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission. This is an innovation and the first reviews are due this month. We are also conducting surveys of local authorities and parent and carer forums.

Several noble Lords mentioned the issue of exclusion of those with special educational needs. We believe it is right for heads to take the decision whether to exclude. Schools need to be safe places for all learners, and poor behaviour cannot be tolerated, but it is of course important also to recognise that some poor behaviour may relate to an underlying special educational need—for example, the pupil is disengaged from learning because their needs are not being met. So, we have clear statutory guidance for schools on exclusions and special educational needs, with a number of safeguards. For instance, parents can request that a SEND expert sit on the review panel for a permanent exclusion, and when a pupil has a statement of SEND or an EHC plan, permanent exclusion should very much be the last resort.

In our recent White Paper, we set out our vision to continue the rise in educational standards—a school system in which every school can adopt the benefits of academy status, which give excellent leaders and teachers the freedom to run schools as they see best and ensure that every child gets the education that they deserve. Multi-academy trusts are key to this. The noble Lord, Lord Warner, mentioned concerns expressed in a letter from Sir Michael Wilshaw. The Ofsted report to which that refers was based on seven MATs that Ofsted had specific concerns about and did not look at the excellent practice going on in many MATs around the country. For example, the Community Inclusive Trust is a multi-academy trust in Lincolnshire that has a strong focus on inclusive education and aims to develop a mixed MAT of special and primary academies. CIT consists of six academies, meeting the needs of some 800 pupils in mainstream and special school environments. Academies work together to share staff expertise and resources.

The free school model is also providing opportunities for excellent new provision. The Churchill Special Free School, for instance, is an eight-to-18 all-through school in Suffolk. Opened in 2013, it is rated outstanding by Ofsted, caters for young people with speech, language and interaction needs and is part of the Samuel Ward Academy Trust, a partnership of schools in Suffolk, Essex and Cambridgeshire.

In future, local authority duties will fall in three areas, one of which is ensuring that the needs of vulnerable pupils are met, including children with special educational needs, so the existing legal responsibilities will remain unchanged in the new system. Local authorities are already providing these functions in an increasingly autonomous school system. For example, Blackpool is implementing the reforms effectively in partnership with its high proportion of academies. We heard first-hand experience from the noble Baroness, Lady Sharp, about the academy for which she is a governor, which continues to work closely with the local authority and uses its specialist services to support its pupils with special educational needs. Indeed across the country, local authorities are working effectively with autonomous schools; they work with SENCO forums, representing all the schools in their area. They provide support, advice and challenge to schools to help them to improve the offer for children with special educational needs. Developing and reviewing the local offer for SEND involves the full range of schools and other provision locally. There are strong working relationships with local schools forums. Local authorities also support local parent carer forums and provide information, advice and support services to parents locally.

All noble Lords mentioned the important role of educational psychologists. Local authorities will retain important functions in relation to them, and continue to provide services to support those functions, including educational psychology. In the planned changes to the funding system, we will make sure that authorities are funded so that this important work can continue. We recognise that there are pressures on these services and will continue to keep the situation under review. I shall write to the noble Baroness, Lady Sharp, about her question around commissioned places.

We want all schools to be supported with a fair allocation of funds, so we are protecting the national schools and high-needs budget and proposing a national funding formula, to bring a more equitable distribution of funding to schools and academies, and to local authorities for those with high needs. As the noble Lord, Lord Storey, rightly highlighted, local authorities have a finite budget for high needs, which they are responsible for managing and distributing, so they can meet their statutory duties and use the funding at their disposal where it has most impact. We know that some local authorities have found it difficult to manage with the level of funding that they get, which is one reason why we are planning for a better way in which to distribute that funding. We have started a process of consultation and will continue to consult further, because we realise that it is critical to get this right.

Finally, on capacity in schools, we announced in the White Paper that at least £200 million will be assigned for special places to expand existing schools and create new special schools.

The noble Lord, Lord Watson, specifically asked about sex education and academies. I am afraid I will have to write to him with a full answer.

This Government are committed to educational excellence for everyone, everywhere. Identifying and meeting pupils’ special educational needs and disabilities is at the heart of that commitment. I am proud of what we are doing to deliver that, and I assure noble Lords that it remains a priority to ensure that all young children get the best chance of the best education that they deserve.