For many years, parents of pupils with additional needs have struggled to navigate the special educational needs support system – some wait years to get the help they need.
Such pupils are not part of a small group: as many as four in 10 pupils – or 12 in a class of 30 – will be identified with some type of special educational need during their school years.
Despite Ofsted identifying inconsistencies in support from place to place in a 2010 review, the government’s new SEND Code of Practice published in 2014 failed to explicitly address this postcode lottery.
Following two high-profile court cases challenging discriminatory exclusion practices and the SEND funding system in 2018 and 2019, the government announced a £700m funding package and a new review of support for SEND with the aim of “improv[ing] the services available to families who need support […] and ending the ‘postcode lottery’ they often face”.
But more than two years on, the findings of this review are yet to be published.
Given this backdrop, researchers at the EPI embarked on an analysis of all primary pupils in England to explore the factors that predict identification of special needs. Our aim was to provide the first quantified picture of variations in access to SEND support, as shown through the system of pupil assessment and identification.
The results were troubling. We found inequalities in SEND identification at the pupil, school and local authority levels, suggesting an inconsistent system of assessment that is poorly adapted to children’s individual needs. Given the rise in mental and emotional health issues and disengagement from education among more disadvantaged pupils resulting from the pandemic, these findings are doubly concerning.
School type
The school a pupil attends makes the biggest difference to their chance of being identified with a special educational need.
More than half of the differences in SEND identification are explained by the school a pupil attends.
The type of school also plays a role: the chances that a child attending an academy school is identified with SEND are reduced by a third for those pupils with lower-level needs, and by as much as 50 per cent for those with the highest needs. Children in authorities with the highest proportions of academy primaries are one tenth as likely to be identified with SEND, regardless of their deprivation levels, ethnic mix or other factors.
School policies
Schools and local authorities often have different approaches to identifying SEND.
In assessing SEND needs, schools focus mostly on communication, language and literacy skills, while local authorities make decisions more aligned with personal, social and emotional development at the higher level of assessment (those on education, health and care plans).
That schools focus less on social and emotional development is highly significant and could have implications for pupils’ later-life outcomes. A host of outcomes, such as participation in post-16 education, employment and earnings, involvement with crime, and adult health and wellbeing, all depend on health, social and emotional development.
The disadvantage factor
Disadvantage and adversity play an important role in getting SEND support. Children from disadvantaged neighbourhoods are substantially more likely to be identified with SEND than children in affluent areas – with the most well-off families in these poorer areas most likely to be identified. This suggests some capture of resources by the better-off in deprived neighbourhoods and some rationing of support through the use of higher thresholds in the most disadvantaged local authorities.
How visible and vulnerable children are also makes a difference. Children who move schools, who experience frequent absences, or have a child protection plan all have reduced chances of being identified with SEND, suggesting the system is not responsive to the lives of particularly vulnerable children. The requirement for uninterrupted visibility in order to access timely support for SEND is even more problematic given the pandemic, during which face-to-face schooling was suspended in lockdowns and rates of school absence have risen.
System solutions
The fact that the school a pupil attends makes the greatest difference to whether they can access the right level of support means that school practice needs to improve.
Specialist SEND training for all school leaders, increased access to educational psychologists, and consistent assessment through greater use of age-standardised assessments, could contribute to this, as well as a curriculum and pedagogies that foster personal, social and emotional development for all children.
We also need clarity around minimum standards. We need to see the development of a framework of national expectations around the types of adjustment and support that all mainstream schools should provide.
On top of this, we need to ensure greater equality of access for individual children, meaning services extend their reach to engage with children at home, and monitoring and safeguarding to ensure visibility of the most disadvantaged children.
Changes to the accountability system, with Ofsted inspectors focusing on schools’ compliance with national expectations and the level of risk in pupil intakes, should be considered. And this must be met with far better use of resources, including local authority high needs funding that factors in the risk of over- or under-identifying SEND.
It is widely recognised that for too long, families have been neglected by the system of SEND support and identification. For many, the pandemic will have created yet more hurdles and setbacks. It’s now been a two year wait for the prospect of reform through the government’s SEND review. These findings illustrate why we cannot afford to wait much longer.
KEY RESOURCES FOR THE SECTOR
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Behaviour management strategies in school units and managed moves
Department for Education, June 2021
Call for evidence to inform review of the behaviour and discipline, and suspensions and permanent exclusions guidance. It covers behaviour management strategies, banning mobiles from schools, removal rooms and spaces, in-school behavioural units and managed moves. -
Strengthening Home Education, Third Report of Session 2021/22
House of Commons education committee, July 2021
Parliamentary inquiry to understand the extent that current arrangements provide sufficient support for home educated children to access education and establish what further measures may be necessary. It also assessed the impact of Covid-19 on home learning. -
Maintained nursery schools and children with SEND: the impact of the pandemic
APPG for nursery schools, nursery and reception classes, June 2021
A study by Early Education, the British Association for Early Childhood Education, found that 74 per cent of settings said their ability to accept children with SEND was affected by funding constraints in the current or next school year. -
Supporting SEND – How children and young people’s special educational needs are met in mainstream schools
Ofsted, May 2021
Around 1.4 million pupils in English schools have an identified special educational need. This study was developed to explore how the needs of children and young people are met in mainstream schools and how approaches vary between providers. -
Forgotten. Left behind. Overlooked
APPG for SEND, March 2021
Report details the experiences of children and young people with SEND during the pandemic in 2020. Remote teaching was particularly hard to access for some SEND children, found the report, which includes recommendations for change from a raft of charities. -
The impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on primary school children’s learning
The Juniper Education National Dataset Report, February 2021
Examines the percentage of pupils achieving, or exceeding, what is expected for their age for years one through to six in reading, writing and maths, in comparison to pre-pandemic levels. Analysis of teacher assessment data from 6,000 primary schools in England. -
The National Senco Workforce Survey: time to review 2018-20
Nasen and Bath Spa University, June 2021
In primary schools 55 per cent of Sencos feel they are not allocated enough time to complete their role effectively, with the figure increasing to 70 per cent among secondary school staff. Survey finds that 75 per cent and 79 per cent of primary and secondary Sencos are “routinely pulled away from their role to perform other duties”. -
The National Senco Workforce Survey
Nasen and Bath Spa University, January 2021
Almost three quarters of Sencos felt their schools had experienced challenges in providing support to children with education, health and care plans (EHCP) during lockdown. Increased workload and a lack of support are factors in Sencos’ concerns. -
SEND: Old issues, new issues, next steps
Ofsted, June 2021
Analysis of Ofsted joint visits with the Care Quality Commission to local authorities from autumn 2020 to spring 2021. Cases of children mistakenly being identified as having SEND have risen and failures in joined up commissioning across health, education and care have worsened. -
Happier in his own clothes: post pandemic possibilities for education for children with SEND
University of Sussex, March 2021
Authors suggest that post-Covid, there are opportunities to create a more flexible and responsive school system. -
National strategy for autistic children, young people and adults: 2021 to 2026
DfE and Department for Health and Social Care, July 2021
The government’s national strategy for improving the lives of autistic people and their families and carers in England, and implementation plan for 2021 to 2022. -
Identifying learners with SEND
Education Policy Institute, March 2021
Highlights significant inconsistencies in how children with SEND across England are identified and supported, with those from disadvantaged areas most likely to miss out on diagnosis. -
Pupil special educational needs and disabilities: identification, access and patterns of mental health support
Nuffield Foundation, 2017-2021
The school a child attends makes more difference to their chances of being identified with SEND than the characteristics and experiences of the individual child.
