Reflections on special educational needs provision

I have been in classrooms where practice has much improved since I last taught. I see creative inclusion practices, an understanding of children’s difficulties and good communication with parents. Yes, time and investment will be needed to make every classroom as inclusive as it can be, and there will need to be further investment to provide more in-school resource provisions for children where mainstream classrooms may be too much to ask of them.

I see councils working to deliver their plans following their participation in the Department for Education sponsored Delivering Better Value scheme and the DfE Change Programme starting to effect change at a local level. Having recently chaired a meeting to construct a partnership response to the trial template for the Local Inclusion Plans, it was good to see DfE and NHS colleagues sharing this challenge with us.