Asked by: Sojan Joseph (Labour - Ashford)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of (a) teachers and (b) other teaching staff participating in mandatory autism awareness and sensitivity training.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
As set out in the cross-government autism strategy (2021 to 2026), the government wants to improve understanding and acceptance of autism and for public sector services to become more autism-inclusive.
Under the Equality Act 2010, public sector organisations, including schools, are required to make changes in their approach or provision to ensure that services are accessible to disabled people as well as to everybody else.
There is work underway in the department to improve autism awareness. High quality, evidence-based teaching is critical in ensuring that the needs of children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) are met effectively.
The Teachers’ Standards set clear expectations that teachers must understand the needs of all pupils, including those with SEND. The department funds the £12 million Universal Services Programme, which helps the school and further education workforce to identify the needs of pupils with SEND earlier and more effectively. The programme includes autism training, delivered by Autism Education Trust training partners, to over 200,000 education professionals so far.
Also, following the recent review, the initial teacher training and early career framework (ITTECF), which was published in January 2024, contains significantly more content related to adaptive teaching and supporting pupils with SEND.
The department is committing to a full review of the delivery of the early career teacher (ECT) entitlement, including the content of the ITTECF, in 2027 to ensure it continues to provide the best possible support for ECTs based on the most up-to date-evidence. This review will focus on increasing support for mentors, as well as for teaching pupils with SEND.
In education settings, school staff can access a range of training as appropriate to their career stage. Training to support pupils with autism should include information on how to access health and social care as necessary.
Asked by: Sojan Joseph (Labour - Ashford)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of including lessons on death and bereavement in the National Curriculum.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
The department wants to support all young people to be happy, healthy and safe, and to equip them for adult life so they achieve and thrive.
The statutory relationships, sex and health education (RSHE) statutory guidance makes clear that teachers should be aware of common adverse childhood experiences, including bereavement, and understand when and how these may be affecting of their pupils. This will help teachers to tailor their lessons accordingly, taking decisions on appropriate resources and support to enable them to teach the curriculum effectively. Teachers are free to draw on the support and expertise of subject associations and other providers of curriculum support.
The RSHE statutory guidance, which sets out the specific topics pupils should be taught, is currently under review. My right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education has been clear that children's wellbeing will be the government's priority, in light of which the department is looking carefully at the responses from the period of public consultation which ended on 11 July, engage with stakeholders and consider the relevant evidence before setting out next steps. As part of this process, the department will explore whether any more or amended content is required, including on death and bereavement.
Asked by: Sojan Joseph (Labour - Ashford)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to support children diagnosed with dyslexia in Ashford constituency.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
The department is committed to improving support for all children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), including those with dyslexia and other neurodiverse conditions.
Early identification of need and support is critical to improving outcomes for children and young people with SEND, including those with dyslexia. There is already a number of measures to help teachers do this, including the phonics screening check and statutory assessments at the end of key stage 2.
Measures have also been introduced to support the effective teaching of reading, including for those at risk of falling behind. This includes the English Hubs programme, the publication of the Reading Framework and an updated list of high quality phonics programmes for schools.
The English Hubs programme is dedicated to improving the teaching of reading, with a focus on supporting children making the slowest progress in reading. As part of the continuous professional development provided by the English Hubs, the Reading Ambition for All programme has been launched to improve outcomes for children who need additional support with reading, including those with SEND.
Ashford’s local English Hub is Kingsnorth. Further information is available here: https://www.kingsnorth.kent.sch.uk/english-hub.
Asked by: Sojan Joseph (Labour - Ashford)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of the provision of SEND services in Ashford constituency.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
Following the inspection of Kent’s special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) services by Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission (CQC) in January 2019, inspectors reported nine significant areas of weakness, requiring the local area to produce a Written Statement of Action.
A revisit by Ofsted and CQC took place in September 2022. The report was published on 9 November 2022 and judged that the local area had not made sufficient progress in addressing any of its significant weaknesses, which were:
(i) A widely held concern of parents that the local area is not able, or in some cases not willing, to meet their children’s needs.
(ii) A variable quality of provision and commitment to inclusion in schools.
(iii) That parents and carers have a limited role in reviewing and designing services for children and young people with SEND.
(iv) An inability of current joint commissioning arrangements to address known gaps and eliminate longstanding weaknesses in services.
(v) Poor standards achieved and poor progress made by too many children and young people with SEND.
(vi) The inconsistent quality of the education, health and care (EHC) plan process.
(vii) Weak governance of SEND arrangements across the EHC system at strategic and operational level.
(viii) Unacceptable waiting times for children and young people to be seen by some health services.
(ix) A lack of effective systems to review and improve outcomes for those children and young people whose progress to date has been limited by weaknesses in provision.
Every child and young person with SEND should have access to high quality services. Where a council does not meet requirements to provide appropriate support for these children, the department will take action to prioritise their needs and bring about rapid improvement. That is why Kent County Council (KCC) was issued with an Improvement Notice in March 2023, setting out the steps expected of them to raise standards in their SEND services.
After reviewing the actions that KCC has taken to improve its SEND services, the department lifted its Improvement Notice in August 2024 on the basis that KCC has met the conditions set out within it. The department continues to maintain close oversight of services and the further improvements KCC must make to ensure every child and young person with SEND has access to high quality services, including through regular review meetings, close working with NHS England, and the continued support of a department commissioned SEND Advisor.