Schools 'failing to meet legal duties for disabled pupils'
Fiona Simpson
Thursday, January 23, 2020
Schools are failing to meet legal duties to provide provision for disabled pupils, new research warns.
A study by the Alliance for Inclusive Education (ALLFIE) and Disability Research on Independent Living and Learning (DRILL) found that parents of disabled children are “largely uninformed” about the existence of accessibility plans, despite schools being legally required to implement and regularly review them.
The study reveals that almost two-thirds of 127 local authorities who responded to a Freedom of Information (FoI) request did not know how many of their schools had plans in place.
Researchers held 12 focus groups, interviewed around 300 parents and 100 professionals, and spoke to disabled young people as part of the project.
Very few of the young people asked said they had heard of the plans and none had been involved in making them, the report states.
Just 21.3 per cent of parents polled had heard of the plans and just over half of these (52.4 per cent) had ever seen one.
Less than half (48 per cent) of education professionals and 20 per cent of parents surveyed said the plans had improved opportunities for children to take part in activities, and 51 per cent and 23 per cent respectively said the plans had improved access.
School governing bodies must set out in writing its plan to improve physical environments to boost participation of disabled pupils and its plan to increase the extent to which they can take part in the curriculum, legislation states.
The plans, which have been a legal requirement since 2002, must be reviewed every three years, statutory guidance published by the Department for Education states.
The report calls for new national guidelines on producing “robust” plans, and more inclusion training for teachers and school staff.
“The Department for Education needs to monitor, promote and enforce the positive and continuous development and implementation of accessibility plans,” it states.
Michelle Daley, director of ALLFIE, said: “Accessibility plans must focus not only on the removal of physical barriers in schools, but on challenging attitudinal, systemic and other obstacles within the admissions process so disabled learners can attend their preferred school and achieve their full potential. That is an internationally-recognised human right.”
A DfE spokesperson said: “Schools must have accessibility plans that set out how they will improve access to the curriculum and make sure their buildings enable disabled pupils to take full advantage of the school.”