For Annamarie Hassall, 2021 was a pivotal year: amid the everyday challenges of the pandemic, a milestone birthday (she turned 60) was a reminder of the passage of time, while a serious eye operation meant confronting her own vulnerability. Post-op recovery meant an enforced break from her role as strategic director at children’s charity NCB, an opportunity to ponder her professional achievements “and whether I had more to do”. When the job of chief executive of Nasen came up a few months later, she knew immediately it was a role and organisation that stood out, joining the charity last October. Nasen advocates for equality of education on behalf of children with special education needs and disabilities (SEND) and has 45,000 members.
What are the key challenges of the role and what do you hope to bring to it?
Having led on transformational change programmes, and targeted interventions, I do think that addressing inclusion is the top priority. If we can achieve equality through our education system and the everyday life experiences, then we will go a long way to improve outcomes for all children. Rather than interventions that are about recovery, support for SEND needs to be top of the agenda – we’ve got so close with improving the system of identification and support; the intent is there, but the implementation requires improvement.
As a sector leader, what issues will you champion?
Succession planning is in my DNA and I’m passionate about developing the leaders of the future, encouraging professional development as continuous. In the charity sector, there is more to do to ensure we all play a part to increase diversity in those roles at the top table. Working among diverse communities throughout my career has also made me aware of unconscious bias and it is something I’m always considering.
What are your priorities for the organisation?
Nasen has a real strength in terms of engaging practitioners and organisations, and working with school-age children. Building on that, I want to broaden our reach to early years providers and those in post-16 settings so that we are an organisation that champions the workforce across the 0-25 remit. The sector is a bit dispersed and I’d like Nasen to be the glue that brings it together.
By bringing providers together we could help strengthen the pathways available to young people right through to adulthood, so that they have a wider choice of training, skills development or apprenticeship courses, complementing those offered by their school.
During the spring, we’ll be running a series of conversations with our membership, starting off with themes such as early years and post-16.
The delayed SEND Review is now due in the spring. What do you want to see in it?
Across England, we have a varied experience of SEND services, resulting in inequalities in provision for children and families. We need a benchmark that enables everyone to see what is expected for each phase or stage, for example at primary, secondary and beyond up to 25.
There’s an expectation that the review will bring huge change, but the 2014 Children and Families Act was transformational – we need to remember it’s not the legislation that is the problem, it is the inconsistent implementation of it.
I hope the review will truly take a 0-25 perspective and give the mechanisms and levers to ensure support is provided from the earliest possible stage in a child’s life. It must also bring health and social care around the table so that mobilising support for SEND is not seen as primarily an education role. This also applies to the workforce: there must be clarity of expectation and accountability, for leaders as well as frontline staff.
Are you worried about the rise in SEND children educated at home since the pandemic?
Recent figures from the Association of Directors of Children’s Services show there are more than 81,000 children being electively home educated (EHE) and a large proportion considered to have multiple vulnerabilities, including SEND. While the pandemic has exacerbated this, it is not the cause of the increase. We know that EHE is often a last resort for parents where the necessary support is not in place in school.
We also need to consider low levels of attendance of learners with SEND since the autumn, including specialist schools where attendance is just 35 per cent in some places. Some parents are home educating because their child has clinical vulnerabilities, and anxiety over the safety of schools is the most common reason cited for absence of children with SEND.
The sector is calling on the DfE to provide more practical support while recognising the need for flexibility.
Will the extra money from the Spending Review ease the funding crisis in SEND support?
It looks like there’s going to be genuine new money coming into the system, for local authorities and for schools, from the funding settlement. It is much needed. The key is going to be making sure budgets prioritise inclusion and that the child is at the heart of all decision making. That includes ensuring all those working in the children’s workforce have access to training and support to enable inclusion.
Inclusion needs to be the first base not the back stop – and Nasen can help broker that.
Annamarie Hassall CV
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October 2021 – present: Chief executive, Nasen
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June 2013 – Sept 2021: Strategic director, NCB
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Oct 2006 – April 2013: Director, Together for Children & Together for Disabled Children, Serco
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2005 - 2006: Children’s services executive, Capita
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2001 – 2005: Regional advisor, DfE
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1980 – 2001: Various roles, Birmingham City Council
