Question to the Department for Education:

To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to ensure through ongoing continual professional development that all teachers and support staff are made aware of potential benefits, and given some instruction of, the implementation of assistive technology for those with special educational needs and disabilities.

The department is expanding training to increase school staff confidence in using assistive technology (AT). Following the promising results of our initial pilot, we are extending assistive technology training to a further 150 maintained schools. The extension, known as the ‘AT Test and Learn’ programme, will teach mainstream school staff how to use AT effectively, with a focus on the technology schools already have available or can easily obtain, such as text-to-speech tools. It will build on last year’s pilot by training more schools over a longer period and with more impact data to gain a fuller picture of how AT training can support wider Special Educational Needs and Disabilities, continuing professional development.