Within hours, the old rainbow logos were taken down and replaced with DfE signs. It made it clear where the coalition government’s priorities lay.
Less dramatic but of equal significance is the decision by new Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson to reconfigure her department and move responsibility for special education needs and disabilities (SEND) policy out of the family division, where it lived for a decade, and into the schools team (Analysis, p10).
The move has been welcomed by children’s services leaders, who say SEND had played second fiddle to children’s social care in the DfE’s family division even though 1.7 million schoolchildren have SEND. The Association of Directors of Children’s Services highlights the past decade has seen the thresholds for accessing support for children with special needs rise significantly and a shift towards more high-cost specialist packages outside of mainstream education (Analysis p16).
Latest research suggests 2014 SEND reforms, deemed groundbreaking at the time, have delivered few benefits – studies by the National Audit Office and Isos Partnerships concluded there is little or no evidence the extra £4bn spent on SEND services has improved educational outcomes, while the attainment gap for reception-age pupils has widened to record levels, according to the Education Policy Institute (News, p5). While attainment is not the only measure of success, the failure of the reforms to move the dial on education outcomes is contrary to everything Gove aimed to achieve when renaming the department.
Another indicator of the failure of SEND policy is the rise in exclusions in mainstream schools (Analysis p12). Suspension rates for SEND children are four times higher than their peers while charity Chance UK has found 97% of excluded primary pupils have SEND.
The past decade has seen record spending on SEND services but delivered a system that has failed to improve attainment and resulted in more pupils leaving mainstream schools. Addressing this is now the challenge for Phillipson and her team. For too long, SEND has been seen as an aside to mainstream education but it seems Phillipson believes an inclusive approach offers the best chance to deliver a better learning experience for vulnerable pupils.
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Derren Hayes is editor of Children & Young People Now. Contact Derren at derren.hayes@markallengroup.com
