Special Educational Needs: Speech and Language Disorders

(asked on 2nd May 2019) - View Source

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans he has to ensure that staff working in an education setting are trained in awareness of speech, language and communication needs.


Answered by
Nick Gibb Portrait
Nick Gibb
This question was answered on 13th May 2019

The Department is investing £50 million to develop more high quality school-based nursery provision for disadvantaged children, £26 million to set up a network of English hubs, and £20 million to provide school-led professional development for early years practitioners.

The Department is reviewing the current special educational needs and disability (SEND) content in Initial Teacher Training (ITT) provision and building on our existing SEND specialist qualifications to develop a continuum of career development from ITT, through teachers’ early careers and into specialist and leadership roles.

Since the introduction of the 2014 SEND reforms, the Department has provided funding to a range of condition-specific organisations to develop resources and training to deliver high quality teaching across all types of SEND. This includes specialist resources in relation to speech, language and communication skills.

The Department currently funding nasen and University College London, on behalf of the Whole School SEND consortium, to deliver a programme of work that will equip the workforce to deliver high quality teaching across all types of special educational needs. New SEND regional leads will bring together practitioners and networks in their local area to build a Community of Practice, including local speech, language and communications champions.

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