Teachers: Training

(asked on 17th May 2022) - View Source

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the ambition of the SEND Review to make schools more inclusive for children with SEND, what steps the Government is taking to help ensure that teachers are adequately trained to teach children with SEND.


Answered by
Will Quince Portrait
Will Quince
This question was answered on 25th May 2022

All teachers are teachers of special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). The department is committed to ensuring that all pupils can reach their potential and receive excellent support from their teachers. The Schools White Paper and SEND and AP Green Paper are aligned on this expectation.

To support all teachers to meet these standards, the department is implementing a series of high-quality teacher training reforms. This begins with initial teacher training (ITT) and continues into early career teaching, through to the reformed suite of leadership and specialist National Professional Qualifications.

The revised ITT and Core Content Framework (CCF) and the early career framework (ECF), which all newly qualified teachers benefit from, have been designed around how to support all pupils to succeed and seeks to widen access for all. This includes those pupils identified within the four areas of need set out in the SEND code of practice, and children in need of help and protection as identified in the Children in Need Review. All trainees who achieve qualified teacher status must demonstrate that they can adapt teaching to respond to the strengths and needs of all pupils, including those with SEND.

Consideration of SEND underpins both the CCF and the ECF, which were both produced with the support of sector experts.

Once teachers qualify and are employed in schools, headteachers use their professional judgement to identify any further training, including specific specialisms, for individual staff that is relevant to them, the school, and its pupils.

In February 2022, the department announced more than £45 million of funding for continued targeted support for families and parents of children with SEND and SEND services. This includes funding that will directly support schools and colleges to work with pupils with SEND, for example through training on specific needs like autism.

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