The Department for Education’s inclusion tsar and trust boss Tom Rees will co-chair an expert panel to develop packages underpinning education, health and care plans and national standards.
Two adverts have also gone out to recruit up to eight panel members and a health co-chair for the independent panel.
Under government SEND reform plans, EHCPs will be reserved for children with the most “complex needs” from 2030.
Specialist provision packages will inform what support is needed for a pupil and put it in place before the EHCP is issued.
The inclusion standards will set out what should be available in every mainstream school.
Rees, chief executive of Ormiston Academies Trust, said: “I’m pleased to be able to continue to contribute to reform, as co-chair of the independent expert panel.
“We want to create more inclusive, coherent education, health and care systems that high ambition and deliver brilliant outcomes for every child; the panel will play an important in making that a reality.”
The panel will provide recommendations to ministers on what the content, design and structure of the standards and packages should look like.
The DfE said the panel will engage with stakeholders and experts and evaluate the existing evidence base on strategies to identify barriers to learning. It will also recommend what research needs to be commissioned.
Expert panellists sought
Alongside two co-chairs, the panel will be made up of five to eight other members from education, health and social care research and practice.
There will also be representation from UK Research and Innovation, the Education Endowment Foundation and the DfE’s scientific advisory council.
Members must have a “strong understanding” of either the evidence and research base, or “extensive experience of delivering exceptional evidence-informed practice” across mainstream and specialist education.
They must have the “ability and credibility to convene and engage with a wider set of stakeholders in the SEND space, including relevant organisations, and children and their families”.
Essential skills also include the “ability to negotiate between conflicting opinions and values, generating options to reach consensus and deal with difficult situations sensitively”.
In a message to applicants, education secretary Bridget Phillipson said: “The panel’s work will help our education system adapt to be able to support all children, ensuring that SEND support is dynamic, well-evidenced, high-quality and timely.
“As a member of the panel, you will make a real and lasting positive difference to children and young people’s lives.”
Members will be appointed for two years as individuals, not as representatives of their profession, employer or interest group, the advert states. They have to commit one day a month.
The DfE said all appointments were expected to be made this spring.
Panel will play ‘important role’
The health co-chair will be paid £400 per day, for one day per week for a two year term.
Phillipson said the successful candidate will support schools to “become more inclusive and ensure this aligns and brings together planning and policy in the NHS and health provision”.
She added: “A core part of our SEND system is the smooth, interdependent working of the health and education systems.”
The SEND white paper is co-signed by the health secretary Wes Streeting, but experts have expressed concerns it doesn’t go far enough to force health services to deliver support.
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