There’s a clear correlation between attainment and inclusivity, and the reasons for this are obvious too, says Charlotte O’Regan.
Recently the government set out its plans for creating more inclusive mainstream schools.
But our research shows that children who are doubly disadvantaged – both having SEND and coming from low-income families – are being shut out of some of the best state schools.
The top 500 schools for attainment take in just half as many disadvantaged pupils with SEND as the average comprehensive.
These findings will not come as a surprise to many working in schools. Indeed, our Teacher Tapp polling found 41 per cent of school leaders think some schools are actively discouraging applications from pupils with SEND.
But what’s really going on? It’s easy to point the finger at the schools which take fewer free-school-meals children, and fewer children with SEND. But there’s a long list of complicating factors working against teachers and leaders who, by and large, want to do the right thing.
Accountability measures
One element is the system of accountability measures. Ofsted inspections, performance indicators and league tables disincentivise schools from prioritising inclusion.
We need to find ways of recognising the efforts made by schools with more disadvantaged intakes and celebrating their achievements with more contextual progress measures.
School reputation also plays an important role. The most common reasons given by school leaders for the differing SEND cohorts among schools in their area were different reputations for quality of SEND provision (63 per cent) and inclusivity (55 per cent).
Parents naturally look for the school that feels like the best fit for their child. Schools meanwhile will be aware of their own limitations in the support they can provide.
They will also be aware of potential impacts on wider behaviour when some children with SEND become dysregulated and their needs are not met.
Some schools have strict behaviour policies which may not seem to allow for reasonable adjustments.
Others have particular specialist provisions and will naturally attract the children needing that level of support.
And yet, all schools have legal and moral obligations to support children with SEND. These reasons are understandable, but not excusable.
It is telling that the differences in intakes disappeared when we looked at children who had EHCPs, who have to be prioritised in admissions.
Previous Sutton Trust research showed that children from low-income backgrounds, although more likely to have SEND, were less likely to secure an EHCP.
This means poorer students are overrepresented in the SEN support grouping, and it’s here the admissions gap comes into play.
The government’s recent white paper also pledged to halve the disadvantage gap in school attainment. Clearly that cannot be achieved in a system that allows for such social segregation.
More teachers and TAs
So what can be done? Inevitably, much comes down to resource, and in particular, staffing.
Two thirds of senior leaders in our poll said that more teachers or TAs would be most helpful in helping their schools to educate more students with SEND.
Fifty-eight per cent reported that more specialist support would help, with leaders in schools with the lowest levels of SEND most likely to agree.
We would like the government to ensure senior school leaders and teachers are able to shape the design and delivery of “experts at hand”, which is an important part of increasing mainstream schools’ SEND capacity.
Narrowing gaps in socio-economic intake between schools would very likely lead to greater SEND intake among those schools that currently have lower levels of SEND.
The Sutton Trust has previously recommended that schools should carry out an annual fair-access review to assess whether they are serving the full socio-economic range of their community. This should be extended to consider children with SEND.
After Easter, we will be launching more detailed guidance and resources to help schools on this journey. The good news is that there is much schools can do themselves – and recognition is the first step to addressing the gaps.
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