Question to the Department for Education:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the proposed reduction in training hours for Special Educational Needs Co-ordinators by 525 hours, whether the resources previously allocated to training will be used to provide more specialist support in schools.

In March 2022, the Department published the Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) and Alternative Provision (AP) Green Paper. This included the proposal to replace the current mandatory qualification for Special Educational Needs Coordinators (SENCOs), the National Award for SEN Co-ordination (NASENCO), with a new leadership level National Professional Qualification (NPQ). The NASENCO is a Level 7 postgraduate qualification funded from school budgets, typically equivalent to a third of a full Masters’ degree, taking approximately 225 hours to complete. The time commitment required for leadership NPQs varies between courses and providers.

The proposal seeks to improve the level of expertise and leadership amongst SENCOs and ensure they have the knowledge and skills for the role at the earliest opportunity, enabling them to meet the needs of children and young people with SEND. NPQs are underpinned by the latest and best evidence. This would bring the SENCO qualification in line with wider teacher development reforms, with content and delivery quality assured by the Education Endowment Foundation and Ofsted.

The Department is now carefully considering the feedback received through the 16-week consultation period. The Department is committed to publishing a full response to the SEND and AP Green Paper, including the proposals on SENCOs, in an Improvement Plan early in the new year. If the proposed SENCO NPQ is to be introduced, the Department will communicate the arrangements around the funding for NPQs in due course.