Many autistic people, parents and unpaid carers are very aware of the struggle to get appropriate support in mainstream school or secure a place in a specialized school. These struggles are not new and to some degree represent a failure of politicians to adapt to changing needs and expectations and how as a society we are conditioned culturally to view disability and people with additional needs (AN). The words used to describe disability and additional needs are deliberate.
Special educational needs (SEN) were first defined in legislation in the 1944 Education Act. At that time needs were defined by a clear medical need. Over the years there have been reforms to redefine SEN and increase inclusivity in education, from the Warnock Report of 1978 and the resulting 1980 Education Act to the Children and Families Act 2014 and numerous revisions and strategies ever since. Education has been devolved in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. Despite repeated reform the system has got more cumbersome and adversarial. Parents are constantly frustrated by Local Authorities (LAs) appearing to fail to do their statutory duties and support their loved ones and LAs complaining of the strain on their budgets.
Over the years many politicians, even Education Secretaries of State, local councillors and journalists have talked about grasping parents and a perception that an SEN statement or EHCP is a “Golden Ticket”. Some have even described AN children as un-educatable and a few have described as these children as retards.
The system has come under increasing strain due to the increasing prevalence of autism and ADHD. Rarely a month goes by without a politician causing further controversy with other “Golden Ticket”, “it’s an unfair advantage” and similar messages.
Emma Duncan, writing in the Times in her article “Special needs bills are bankrupting councils”, is illustrative of this narrative. Duncan says these children get “special treatment” as if it offers an advantage, like extra exam time, over their peers. Pearson also touches on reinforcement of the parent blame and bemoans the dissipation of “The shame that went with being ‘statemented, and ‘neurodiversity’ losing its ‘stigma’.
Some teachers also reinforce this perception of advantage and special treatment. Some complain it makes their teaching practice harder. Some allege that a single child disrupts the education of the majority.
Reality is there is no “Golden Ticket” and parents have to fight tooth and nail to get even basic support for their loved ones.
https://www.specialneedsjungle.com/las-send-failings-everyones-fault-but-ours-too-easy-get-ehcp/
That said having a statement or EHCP doesn’t guarantee a reasonable education with adequate support. Many schools will use the extra resources to support more than one child. Schools have discretion and may only provide specific support if it is prescribed in “Section F”.
The situation has also been exacerbated by the adoption of behaviourist and zero tolerance policies in schools and the Department of Education (DfE). Such policies can make schools toxic for many neurodivergent and SEN students. This is reflected in the school suspension and exclusion statistics where SEN students outnumber non-SEN students 5 to 1.
This is also reflected in the school refusal and attendance statistics; according to the ONS, SEN students are 50% more likely to struggle with school attendance, and about 31% of autistic students are persistently absent (Office for National Statistics, 2021; Ambitious about Autism, 2022). Moreover, in one sample of children with school attendance difficulties, over 92% were neurodivergent and of them about 84% were autistic.
This makes SEN reform complicated without a meaningful understanding of the impact the school environment, behaviour policies, teacher training, SEN support policies and funding have on students. The picture is also complicated by the policies of LAs managing requests for support, and the lack of a meaningful and timely process to enforce existing laws to ensure LAs, Multi-Academy-Trusts (MATS) and others do their statutory duties and educate SEN children. It is interesting that when parents are forced to uphold the law and go to tribunal, they win most cases and LAs decisions are only upheld in about 1.7% of cases.
You may be aware that SEN was very topical last week with the publication of a National Audit Office report on SEN.
https://www.nao.org.uk/reports/support-for-children-and-young-people-with-special-educational-needs
The report is scathing and talks about impacts, consequences and costs. The monetary costs are huge but as usual ignores the lifelong consequences for each child and their families.
Focusing on just SEN policy also ignores the impact of SEN across society. The Children’s Commissioner for England reported that “Unfortunately, statistics show that young people with SEN are significantly less likely to be in work and, on average, have much lower earnings 15 years after Key Stage 4”.
https://www.childrenscommissioner.gov.uk/blog/children-with-special-educational-needs-and-employment
The impact of SEN policy is also felt in our justice system, our NHS and homelessness figures. There appears to be a school to prison pipeline according to Prof Amanda Kirby.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666353823000097
There are many other examples that can be cited, but one that haunts me is the 75% of prevalence of autism in the homelessness figures of one English town.
As you have seen the impact of SEN policy is huge and it currently sets our children up to fail and increases rather than reduces the long-term (or life-long in many cases) cost supporting our children.
Mrs Philipson, the Secretary of State for Education (for England) has asked asked for “patience” on SEN.
https://schoolsweek.co.uk/phillipson-urges-patience-on-send-reforms/
Many parents will be frustrated by this request, especially when the Secretary of State appears to push the same ignorant themes as Gillian Keegan. An example of this is the “Attendance Matters” campaign – a campaign that glosses over the impact of anxiety. Many parents will point out how long they have to wait to get appropriate diagnoses (years in many cases) and their considerable frustration in dealing with LAs who continually say no.
Whilst I understand there is a panel of “experts” looking at the issue, ask whether any real experts are included, you know parents and children who have endured the system. It appears that the panel is made of same Academy Trusts, teaching unions, academic and LA experts.
As always local councils blame others for the issue and continue to use the threat of bankruptcy to push their own agenda. Do the LAs fully understand their statutory obligations? Whilst they talk of working with parents, ask parents if they do.
Personally, I have a low opinion of the SEN team in my local authority from my own journey with 3 children. Each felt like a war of attrition with officers appearing to be deliberately ignorant of the law, the needs of each child and disregarding of clear clinical evidence of need. Always it felt as if we were asking them to spend their personal money rather than meet a statutory duty.
A few weeks ago, Prof Sally Tomlinson, from Oxford, pointed out that the SEN system does exactly what it was designed to do in the last century – exclude. Tinkering won’t solve anything and with a total redesign, the next government will be repeating the tinkering process. If you look at the reforms that have happened over the years, you know the lady is right.
So instead of throwing money at a system that doesn’t educate, causes no end of confrontation, sets children up for failure, ensures teachers struggle and creates huge later life costs, isn’t it time to actually reform the system once and for all by binning it?
Moreover, this issue is dominated by silo-based thinking. For example, the DfE talks about why attendance matters but ignores the consequences of bad mental health.
Surprisingly children also suffer from mental health issues and illnesses. Children are usually supported by Children and Adolescents Mental Health Service or CAHMS. Currently, waiting lists for CAHMS is huge, and there is anecdotal that autistic children are denied meaningful access. Denied timely access has a huge impact on mental health with conditions deepening and more serious. All of this has an impact on public finances as parents stop working to care for their children. This increases poverty, reduces the tax take etc. A never-ending circle of despair and destruction of opportunity.
Imagine if the DfE and other Government departments worked together. The current system just wastes money.
If we can create and send a drone to Mars, isn’t it straight forward to create an education system that works for everyone for the benefit of everyone? Our current system creates burden rather than opportunity.
From my point of view each SEN child failed or under educated is an opportunity missed. Think how every profound change, invention, business was started by someone who thought differently. Remember Turing, Jobs and Currie.
Tim Cook, CEO of Apple, once said at Oxford Foundry that Apple’s success is based on its diversity, diversity of thinking.
We need to embrace SEN because that different way of thinking creates opportunity rather than burden. In addition we need to fully understand the long-term financial and life-long consequences for society and SEN people.
