The education select committee’s new report, Solving the SEND crisis makes a stonking 95 recommendations. Many have considerable merit, but the report fails to grasp that the very way the system is structured is compounding problems for the future.
The report makes for grim reading. A system in crisis. Children under-served. Parents feeling let down and unheard.
This will come as little surprise to those on the ground, who pour their efforts into making things work as well as possible. If it comes as a shock to policymakers, let’s hope it’s one that leads to action.
The key barrier is that the committee’s 95 recommendations for change each require money or time. The first is rarely forthcoming; the second is in short supply.
What we need are solutions that meet need earlier, before issues escalate.
Reforming EHCPs is seen as a silver-bullet by some, but this comes with a very high risk of alienating parents. Our best chance of empowering schools to deliver a life-changing education for all our young people remains broadly unexplored.
Time and again, longitudinal studies show that paving the way to a truly inclusive educational experience begins with identification and support of need in the earliest years of a child’s life.
Here are three practical ways we could strengthen early identification and support, and thereby put the SEND system on a more sustainable footing.
Increase early years training
The government has rightly prioritised expanding nursery provision, and it’s important that we make the most of this opportunity. If we’re serious about building an inclusive mainstream experience, early investment is crucial.
Yet early years staff are among the least-trained and least well-paid in the system.
With extra investment in training, we can improve existing provisions’ ability to intervene early. This will halt a pattern of escalating need. For example, a focus on speech and language training could help plug the shortfall in qualified speech therapists.
We need to train and develop SENCOs at early years level too, ensuring they have the skills to identify needs and signpost families to support.
It’s crucial that early years provision is also joined up with wider services that engage with children at this age, particularly health visitors. My Early Years colleagues have felt the severe reduction in health agency capacity in recent years. The “multi-agency” approach that schools are familiar with is something that we should foster among those supporting families in the first years of a child’s life.
Commit to early interventions
There is an increasing presumption that children with SEND should start their school career in mainstream education and only move to specialist provisions when it becomes unavoidable.
If this stems from a desire to build a truly inclusive mainstream education, the ambition is admirable but misguided. Stronger support from specialist provision at an early stage makes it more likely that young people will be able to participate in mainstream education as they get older.
Schools with SEND centres are particularly well placed to help young people in this position and provide life-changing support to remove educational barriers.
Build the approved special free schools
Ministers have pressed pause on special free schools that are currently in the pipeline in a bid to ensure value for money. While this is understandable, it is flawed for at least two reasons.
First, the children that need the support simply cannot wait. Delays mean more barriers to opportunity, so they make no educational sense.
Second, delays only compound problems, and remedial action is always more expensive than early intervention, so they make no financial sense either.
Meanwhile, as the report notes, lack of specialist provision only force local authorities to pay for expensive private school places – a situation some private providers exploit.
There are no quick fixes to get us out of this crisis, but these three policies are immediate, actionable and reasonably low-cost. They won’t solve the problems overnight, but they are crucial in putting SEND on the path to a sustainable future.
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