Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the upcoming SEND Review and Green Paper, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of revising the Initial Teacher Training framework to ensure that all teachers are equipped to teach children with (a) speech, language and communication needs and (b) other special educational needs.

Since September 2020, all courses offered by initial teacher training (ITT) providers have been aligned to a mandatory core content framework (CCF), which was published in November 2019. The framework sets out a minimum entitlement for all trainee teachers.

Evidence shows that teacher quality is the most important factor within schools in improving outcomes for all children, particularly those from a disadvantaged background, or for those with additional needs. The CCF is therefore key to the government’s plans to improve school standards for all.

The CCF is based on the best peer-reviewed evidence about what works and is designed to emphasis the importance of high quality teaching. The framework therefore deliberately does not detail approaches specific to particular needs, but what makes the most effective teaching. The department expects ITT providers and their partners to continue to tailor their curricula to the needs of their trainees and the children in the schools where they train and will work, which may include pupils with specific speech, language and communication needs.

Additionally, courses must continue to be designed so that trainee teachers can demonstrate that they meet the Teachers’ Standards at the end of their course, including standard 5, which is clear that teachers must have an understanding of the needs of all pupils, including those with special educational needs.

In July 2021 we published the government response to the ITT Review which set out new quality requirements for all ITT from September 2024 and the government's aim to ensure that all trainee teachers experience consistently high-quality ITT that incorporates the ITT Core Content Framework in full.

This week, the department published the Special Educational Needs and Disabilities and Alternative Provision Green Paper for full public consultation. These proposals set out a system that offers children and young people the opportunity to thrive, with access to the right support, in the right place, and at the right time, so they can fulfil their potential and lead happy, healthy and productive adult lives.