Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to ensure schools and colleges are (a) trained to identify neurodiverse learners and (b) equipped to develop strategies to improve education outcomes for neurodiverse learners.

The SEND Code of Practice is clear that schools (and further education colleges, sixth form colleges and 16-19 academies) are required to identify and address the special educational needs (SEN) of the pupils they support and to use their best endeavours to make sure that a child or young person who has SEN gets the support that they need.

One of the ways of ensuring that children with SEN are identified and receive good support is through the work of SEN Co-ordinators (SENCOs). All schools (including academies) must have a qualified teacher designated as a SENCO. SENCOs play an essential role in schools, supporting teaching staff to meet the needs of pupils with SEN and ensuring that schools have a clear and effective approach to inclusive education.

The department recognises the importance of teachers developing and building on their awareness and understanding of special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). Our school-led system places the responsibility on schools to determine the training and support required by their staff to meet the needs of children with SEND, within their approach to school improvement, professional development and performance management.

The performance of all teachers in maintained schools must be assessed every year against the Teachers' Standards, which set out that teachers must have a clear understanding of the needs of all pupils, including pupils with SEN, and that teachers must be able to use and evaluate distinctive teaching approaches to engage and support their pupils.

Through our contract with nasen, we have funded the Whole School SEND consortium to produce information for families and resources for schools (including training to support teachers to respond to the COVID-19 outbreak). This activity complements their wider programme of work to equip the workforce to deliver high-quality teaching for all children with SEND, for which we have provided funding of over £6 million since 2018.

For those working with children with autism, the department has funded the Autism Education Trust (AET) since 2011 to deliver autism awareness training to staff in early years settings, schools and colleges. To date, the AET has trained more than 287,000 people – not just teachers and teaching assistants, but also receptionists, dining hall staff and caretakers, promoting a whole-school approach to support for pupils with autism.

Regional networks have also been established to promote the use of the training developed by the AET in schools, and we encourage schools to access this training. The AET has also developed national standards for autism support and a progression framework for those who work with children who have autism. These are available from their website at: www.autismeducationtrust.org.uk.