Should SEND children have right to home school support?

Flexible approach to schooling
By Dr Jacqui Shepherd, lecturer in education, and Dr Christina Hancock, lecturer in primary education

All children with or without special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) have a right to education – ideally alongside their peers in an inclusive school setting – but where the challenges of this become insurmountable (or temporarily so) what can we do to ensure that those basic human rights of access to education are still met?

The ongoing Covid-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on schools and education for all children not least through school closures and the shift to home learning. Children with SEND are already a vulnerable group in the education system, often requiring specialist teaching and support, and most only had limited access to this provision during the lockdown. For some children the removal of the pressures of performative expectations and social interactions was beneficial and for some parents a more flexible approach to learning is desirable as we move forward after the pandemic. Equally, we have to remember that for some families, the lack of regular and routine school provision was very detrimental to their children and has had a huge negative impact on their academic and social progress. This leaves us with the challenge of both continuing to develop the most inclusive and supportive education that we can as well as allowing ways in which more flexible approaches to schooling can be sustained.