Asked by: Lord Addington (Liberal Democrat - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to their Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) and Alternative Provision (AP) Improvement Plan (CP 800), how they intend to address any confusion about the status of pre-existing legislation in areas where the National Standards will be trailed.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Shadow Minister (Education)
The new National Standards will build on the comprehensive legal framework relevant to children and young people with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) by clarifying what good evidence-based provision looks like, who is responsible for securing it and from what budgets.
The department has heard through the SEND and Alternative Provision Green Paper how important it is that National Standards are evidence-based and that children, young people and their families are able to feed into the development process. We are setting up a steering group of cross sector representatives, that will include parent-carer representatives, to oversee the development of standards. The department will test the National Standards in the context of our £70 million Change Programme to ensure they are iterated and set up for success.
The development of the National Standards may require updates to both the legislation on SEND and to the SEND Code of Practice. The department will publish the National Standards in full for consultation.
Asked by: Lord Addington (Liberal Democrat - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to ensure through ongoing continual professional development that all teachers and support staff are made aware of potential benefits, and given some instruction of, the implementation of assistive technology for those with special educational needs and disabilities.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Shadow Minister (Education)
The department is expanding training to increase school staff confidence in using assistive technology (AT). Following the promising results of our initial pilot, we are extending assistive technology training to a further 150 maintained schools. The extension, known as the ‘AT Test and Learn’ programme, will teach mainstream school staff how to use AT effectively, with a focus on the technology schools already have available or can easily obtain, such as text-to-speech tools. It will build on last year’s pilot by training more schools over a longer period and with more impact data to gain a fuller picture of how AT training can support wider Special Educational Needs and Disabilities, continuing professional development.
Asked by: Lord Addington (Liberal Democrat - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government how the new level 3 SENCO qualification will be able to influence the teaching profession as a whole to make reasonable adjustments for pupils with special education needs and disabilities across schools in England.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Shadow Minister (Education)
The Early Years Recovery Programme includes funding for training of up to 5,000 early years Special Educational Needs Coordinators (SENCOs), leading to an accredited Level 3 early years SENCO qualification. The training is for SENCOs currently working in early years group-based providers or working as childminders. SENCOs working in schools are subject to different requirements. They must be a qualified teacher, and must achieve the masters-level National Award for Special Educational Needs Coordination within 3 years of appointment as a SENCO.
Asked by: Lord Addington (Liberal Democrat - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they are able to make a pay award to teachers in maintained schools outside the review conducted by the Schools Teachers’ Review Body.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Shadow Minister (Education)
A pay award to teachers in maintained schools outside a review conducted by the School Teachers Review Body (STRB) is possible via an order under section 122 of the Education Act 2022, giving effect to a modified School Teachers’ Pay and Conditions Document (STPCD).
Asked by: Lord Addington (Liberal Democrat - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the proposed reduction in training hours for Special Educational Needs Co-ordinators by 525 hours, whether the resources previously allocated to training will be used to provide more specialist support in schools.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Shadow Minister (Education)
In March 2022, the Department published the Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) and Alternative Provision (AP) Green Paper. This included the proposal to replace the current mandatory qualification for Special Educational Needs Coordinators (SENCOs), the National Award for SEN Co-ordination (NASENCO), with a new leadership level National Professional Qualification (NPQ). The NASENCO is a Level 7 postgraduate qualification funded from school budgets, typically equivalent to a third of a full Masters’ degree, taking approximately 225 hours to complete. The time commitment required for leadership NPQs varies between courses and providers.
The proposal seeks to improve the level of expertise and leadership amongst SENCOs and ensure they have the knowledge and skills for the role at the earliest opportunity, enabling them to meet the needs of children and young people with SEND. NPQs are underpinned by the latest and best evidence. This would bring the SENCO qualification in line with wider teacher development reforms, with content and delivery quality assured by the Education Endowment Foundation and Ofsted.
The Department is now carefully considering the feedback received through the 16-week consultation period. The Department is committed to publishing a full response to the SEND and AP Green Paper, including the proposals on SENCOs, in an Improvement Plan early in the new year. If the proposed SENCO NPQ is to be introduced, the Department will communicate the arrangements around the funding for NPQs in due course.
Asked by: Lord Addington (Liberal Democrat - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what is the advantage for pupils of moving from the current qualification for a Special Educational Needs Coordinator requiring 600 hours training and a Masters qualification, to the proposed 75 hour National Professional Qualification.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Shadow Minister (Education)
In March 2022, the Department published the Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) and Alternative Provision (AP) Green Paper. This included the proposal to replace the current mandatory qualification for Special Educational Needs Coordinators (SENCOs), the National Award for SEN Co-ordination (NASENCO), with a new leadership level National Professional Qualification (NPQ). The NASENCO is a Level 7 postgraduate qualification funded from school budgets, typically equivalent to a third of a full Masters’ degree, taking approximately 225 hours to complete. The time commitment required for leadership NPQs varies between courses and providers.
The proposal seeks to improve the level of expertise and leadership amongst SENCOs and ensure they have the knowledge and skills for the role at the earliest opportunity, enabling them to meet the needs of children and young people with SEND. NPQs are underpinned by the latest and best evidence. This would bring the SENCO qualification in line with wider teacher development reforms, with content and delivery quality assured by the Education Endowment Foundation and Ofsted.
The Department is now carefully considering the feedback received through the 16-week consultation period. The Department is committed to publishing a full response to the SEND and AP Green Paper, including the proposals on SENCOs, in an Improvement Plan early in the new year. If the proposed SENCO NPQ is to be introduced, the Department will communicate the arrangements around the funding for NPQs in due course.
Asked by: Lord Addington (Liberal Democrat - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans, if any, they have to carry out exploratory assessments into whether those children classed as vulnerable who did not physically attend schools during the COVID-19 lockdown had a recognised category of special educational needs and particularly those of the neuro-diverse types including (1) dyslexia, (2) autism, (3) dyspraxia, and (4) Attention Deficit Disorder.
Answered by Baroness Berridge
There are no plans to assess the special educational needs categorisation of children classed as vulnerable who have not attended school during partial closures.
The department will continue to ask schools to report on attendance overall, as well as attendance by vulnerable pupils, including those with education, health and care plans and social workers, beyond 1 June, when schools began welcoming back more children.
The department carries out analysis on the regional attendance trends which is used to support decision-making and to inform conversations with special educational needs and disabilities leads in local authorities.
Asked by: Lord Addington (Liberal Democrat - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans are in place to provide structured physical education for any children returning to school before the 2020 summer break.
Answered by Baroness Berridge
We want to get all children and young people back into education as soon as possible because it is the best place for them to learn, and because we know how important it is for their mental wellbeing to have social interactions with their peers, carers and teachers.
We are working to ensure that schools are fully supported when they open more widely. Schools are free to organise and deliver a PE curriculum that suits the needs of all their pupils whilst following COVID-19 government guidelines. Our latest guidance for schools can be found here:
We want every child to be able to do the 60 minutes a day of physical activity recommended by the UK Chief Medical Officers. This is important for their physical and mental wellbeing and will be especially important for children who have had restricted opportunity to exercise while at home. The government is working closely with nurseries, schools, physical activity experts and sport providers to ensure that there is advice and resources to support everyone to participate in regular exercise. We are advising schools to use outside space for exercise where possible and encourage activities such as supervised non-touch running games.
The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, working alongside Sport England, launched a £195 million package to help the sport and physical activity sector through the COVID-19 outbreak, with more recent guidance published on the phased return of grassroots sport and recreation:
These are rapidly developing circumstances; we continue to keep the situation under review and will keep Parliament updated accordingly.
Asked by: Lord Addington (Liberal Democrat - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the number of vulnerable students who are not attending the available school places for those with special educational needs.
Answered by Baroness Berridge
69,000 of the children and young people in attendance on Thursday 7 May were classed by schools as vulnerable. Of these, around 20,800 were children and young people with special educational needs who have an Education, Health and Care (EHC) plan, and 35,000 were children in need (reported by schools as having a social worker). The remainder were unknown, where schools either did not provide this information or the children were classed vulnerable for other reasons.
The department is working with educational settings and local authorities to improve our understanding of the total number of vulnerable children for whom continued attendance at educational establishments would be beneficial and appropriate. We are asking local authorities to work with educational providers, families and the child or young person to carry out a risk assessment to judge whether the child or young person’s needs cannot be met safely at home. Many children and young people with EHC plans can have their needs safely met in the home environment. Attendance may not be appropriate for some children, including because of health considerations for them and their family. Full guidance on the definition of vulnerable children and options for continued attendance can be found at the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-guidance-on-vulnerable-children-and-young-people/coronavirus-covid-19-guidance-on-vulnerable-children-and-young-people.
Asked by: Lord Addington (Liberal Democrat - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to review the long-term educational benefits of educational material provided by public service broadcasters to children who cannot attend school during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Answered by Baroness Berridge
We have no current plans in place to review the long-term educational benefits of material independently developed and provided by public sector broadcasters for children unable to attend school during the COVID-19 outbreak. For most children who benefited from materials offered by public sector broadcasters, this would only have been part of their overall educational provision, and it would be extremely difficult to isolate the impact of just this one element.
Many schools have set work for pupils and shared resources for children who are at home; the Department has issued guidance for schools which signposts to an initial list of free online resources identified by educational experts and teachers; many educational suppliers have also helpfully made their resources available for free.
Additionally, leading state schools collaborated to open The Oak National Academy, which was launched online on 20 April. This initiative is led by 40 teachers who have assembled video lessons and resources for any teacher in the country to make use of if they wish to do so. 180 video lessons will be provided each week, across a broad range of subjects, for every year group from Reception through to Year 10.