In response to government’s review of the SEND and alternative provision, set out in a green paper published in March, Dame Rachel de Souza, the children’s commission for England, has set out her vision for SEND reform with “children’s voices” at the heart of it.
Following a consultation with 55 children and young people with additional needs across a range of educational settings, along with an analysis of 650 education, health and care plans (EHCPs), de Souza said in her report, Beyond the Labels: “Children want practical help, not labels. At present the system is overly focused on diagnostics; this often delays help and can inadvertently increase thresholds.”
-
Inspections Clinic: Nine key SEND inspection changes
-
Analysis: SEND reforms consultation - five key issues the sector wants resolved
Among the recommendations is a focus on early intervention, with children getting “timely and effective support locally”.
De Souza supports the Department for Education’s proposal to increase the number of staff with an accredited Level 3 SENCo qualification in early years settings to “improve SEND expertise” and identify children who are “failing to meet key developmental benchmarks”.
However, the report states that “not all children are receiving all the mandated health visitor checks”, or that checks are not being undertaken by a suitably trained professional, particularly in areas of high deprivation.
This reduces the chances of developmental issues being identified at the stage where intervention is likely to be most effective,” the report says.
Neil Leitch, chief executive of the Early Years Alliance, said, in response to the report, that quality care and education “costs” and that additional training for the early years workforce alone will “not solve the multitude of challenges” the sector faces when it comes to providing support for young children with SEND.
“Early educators have to deal with a complicated, inconsistent and painfully slow SEND funding system that fails to meet the needs of providers and families. As it stands, even if a child is identified as having additional needs at nursery, pre-school or their childminding setting, all too often financial support to help meet these needs only becomes available once they reach school age.
"Early years settings must be able to access the SEND funding they need when they need it,” he said.
A smoother transition to adult services is another key recommendation made in the report, with a “statutory duty” placed on local authorities to arrange alternative provision for young people with SEND aged between 16 and 18.
“There should be no ‘cliff-edge’ or sudden end of support for young people once they leave secondary school or reach the age of 16. Reform needs to build smooth transitions for young people with SEND as they move around the education system and across different settings," the report states.
De Souza said: “There is no reason why children with SEND can’t achieve great outcomes: whether that be travelling independently, starting an apprenticeship, or going to Oxbridge. The current system is not sufficiently ambitious for children: often a SEND diagnosis is used as an excuse for poor attendance in school, low attainment and poor expectations for higher education and employment. I believe that a diagnosis should simply be one route into further support and the right interventions to ensure that a child can achieve their ambitions.
“The prize of getting this right is enormous, not just in terms of improved experiences for children and families, but in terms of improved life-chances and ambitions realised. This must be our motivation to reform, innovate, integrate, and invest to improve our offer to children.”
Meanwhile, Kent County Council (KKC) and NHS Kent and Medway have issued a “heartfelt apology” after Ofsted revealed a “continued failure” to meet the needs of SEND children in the county.
Three years after Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission identified nine areas of weakness, a three-day follow up visit in September found that the partnership had “not made sufficient progress in addressing any of the significant weaknesses”.
Parents told inspectors about their attempts to call SEN officers "forty or fifty times with no response", a lack of availability of speech and language therapy and educational psychology services and the “extreme frustration” at the length time for diagnoses and EHC plans.
Roger Gough, leader of KCC, said: “The report from Ofsted makes uncomfortable and hugely disappointing reading.
"We will look to the approaches that we have taken in children’s services, which led to that service being rated as 'outstanding' by Ofsted earlier this year. We now need to apply those strengths to our SEND provision, with children’s needs and rights at the centre of everything we do as we move forward.”
KKC is working with the Department for Education to produce an Accelerated Progress Plan to transform services, further details of which will be published in the coming weeks.
