CYP Now - Blogs (7)

"The Children and Families Act has been hailed as delivering "the biggest reforms to the special educational needs system for a generation" and is intended to create "a more effective, transparent and accountable system of support for children and young people with special educational needs". The act takes a step forward by creating a holistic 0-25 system for the first time, rather than cutting off young people's chances by moving to an entirely separate system when they reach 18. But will it change the most basic injustice: that 70 years on from the introduction of universal education in 1944, children with autism are still missing out on their fundamental right to go to school? When 40 per cent of children with autism are missing out on full-time education, we cannot claim to have a system of SEN support that works."

- Kate Williams on educating children with autism

"The furore over the Leeds General Infirmary Heart Unit abated last year, but last month's report that it is safe but that standards of compassion were poor will raise the temperature again. The problem is that different issues are being conflated - the right size of an institution, the surgical care and the non-surgical care. Of course, both the surgical care and the non-surgical care need to be as good as they possibly can be and, where there are problems, they should be dealt with by management, training and support. This is as true for schools and nurseries as it is for specialist hospital care. But the best size of an institution should not be judged on particular cases and decisions should be based on assumptions that everything else is as good as it could be."

Register Now to Continue Reading

Thank you for visiting Children & Young People Now and making use of our archive of more than 60,000 expert features, topics hubs, case studies and policy updates. Why not register today and enjoy the following great benefits:

What's Included