Department for Education
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Ed Balls: More support for children with Special Educational Needs

Ed Balls today announced measures to provide better support for pupils with special educational needs (SEN) and disabled children.

 

The proposals aim to make life easier for parents and help their children maximise their potential. The measures will:

 

• Test easier ways of assessing children with special educational needs

 

• Review current and future supply of teachers trained to meet the needs of pupils with severe learning difficulties

 

• New guidance for schools to tackle high exclusions of children with SEN

 

Writing in response to Brian Lamb’s letter which highlighted ways of improving parental confidence in the SEN system, Ed Balls announced trials to test different ways to assess children’s needs.

 

To ensure pupils had the highest quality teaching in special schools, Ed Balls announced he was commissioning Toby Salt to lead an independent review into the supply of teachers trained to meet the needs of children with Severe Learning Difficulties (SLD) and Profound and Multiple Learning Difficulties (PMLD). He also announced that the Specialist Schools and Academies Trust (SSAT) would be taking forward a £550,000 project to develop special schools as leaders in teaching and learning practice for children with the most complex learning difficulties, meeting a commitment in the 21st century schools system White Paper.

 

Finally, ahead of the new behaviour strategy he said that new statutory guidance on Behaviour and Attendance Partnerships will have a clear expectation that partnerships with high levels of exclusions of children with SEN should address this as a priority, especially as children with SEN are eight times as likely to be excluded from school.

 

Ed Balls, Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families, said

 

“The provision of care and education for disabled children and children with SEN has greatly improved over the last 10 years. The vast majority of parents are happy with the support they receive and pleased with the school their child attends and teaching assistants play a crucial role in helping some children with SEN. Teacher training now includes specialist modules on SEN and we are funding training for up to 4,000 specialist dyslexia teachers over the next two years. However, it is still the case that children with SEN are more than eight times as likely to be excluded, that some parents can find it hard to access the right support for their child and that pupils with SLD and PMLD need even more teachers with the right level of expertise, particularly because of those 20 per cent of children not getting to the expected standard in English over two-thirds have a special educational need. These measures will tackle these concerns.

 

“Parents have told me that they want the assessment process to be clearer and more transparent and that is why I have decided to ask local authorities to test out their assessment processes further. I am keen that we look at greater communication between Local Authorities and parents on how we can make the process less stressful and whether an assessment process which is more independent can improve parental confidence.

 

“It is important that we continue to support schools working with children with the most complex needs, and that we have sufficient staff using the most effective teaching strategies. That is why I am asking Toby Salt to lead an independent review into the supply of teachers for pupils with Severe Learning Difficulties (SLD) and Profound and Multiple Learning Difficulties. This will run alongside the work by the Specialist Schools and Academies Trust, led by the international expert Professor Barry Carpenter, OBE, to evaluate what teachers at the leading edge of practice are doing and share this across schools

 

“The new behaviour guidance will make tackling exclusions of SEN pupils a priority. I expect Behaviour Partnerships to work hard to address the specific needs of pupils, and draw on the support of partners to tackle behaviour issues early, before they become serious problems.”

 

Brian Lamb said:

 

"Accurate and transparent assessment is a crucial part of promoting parental confidence in the SEN system and ensuring children get the right support to achieve and thrive. Testing out new ways of ensuring this process is easier for parents by introducing greater independence and access to advice is an important strand of increasing overall confidence in the system. I welcome the new pilots to test out how this approach might work within a local authority framework.

 

“I also welcome that the Secretary of State has accepted my recommendation that behaviour and attendance partnerships should look at the worrying level of disproportionate exclusions of children with SEN and promote statutory guidance to reduce this trend. We know that there is excellent practice in schools and local authorities across the country on how existing partnerships have reduced exclusions through early intervention, schools working in partnership, effective staff training and multi-agency support and I want all partnerships to use these approaches to drive down the level of exclusions for children with SEN."

 

Toby Salt said:

 

“I’m delighted to be asked to chair this review. The National College is determined that all children should have the best possible education. This review will help ensure some of the most vulnerable and complex learners in our system have the focus they deserve.”

 

Editor's Notes
This press notice relates to 'England'

1. A copy of Brian Lamb’s letter and the Secretary of State’s reply can be found at: http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/lambinquiry/ . This exchange of letters follows three interim reports from the Lamb Inquiry also available on the reports website. Brian Lamb is due to publish his final report in October 2009.

 

2. The guidance for Behaviour and Attendance Partnerships is part of the upcoming Behaviour strategy.

 

3. Building on the eight innovative pilots run under the Lamb Inquiry and reviewed by the Institute of Education and Warwick University, a second round of projects will expand into every region, including projects where assessments are more independent of the local authority. It will include a formal evaluation of how this separation impacts on parental confidence.

 

4. Led by Toby Salt, deputy Chief Executive of the National College for Leadership of Schools and Children's Services, the review of teacher supply for those working with children with the most complex needs will identify any existing barriers to recruiting enough teachers with the right specialist skills, highlight existing good practice, improve professional development for teachers and identify ways in which we can encourage more teachers to consider working with this group of pupils particularly in special schools for children with SLD and PMLD. A formal terms of reference will be published shortly.

 

5. Toby Salt is the deputy chief executive and strategic director for school leadership development at the National College for leadership of schools and children’s services. He was formerly the executive head of a federation involving three schools, two of which are special schools. He was also a founding director at the Department for Education and Skills Innovation Unit. He has worked across all age phases and in all types of educational provision. He has held leadership positions within the local authorities and within social care. The bias of his career has focused on improving the education and the lives of the most vulnerable children and pupils with special educational needs. Toby has recently been invited to be a member of the Cabinet Office Innovator's Council, as well as being a member of a number of think tank groups. He has a B.Ed. (Hons) and a Masters in Education and is a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.

 

6. The Your child, your schools, our future: building a 21st century schools system White Paper committed the Department to commission work on developing special schools as leaders in teaching and learning practice for children with the most complex needs. Following an open competition, the Specialist Schools and Academies Trust has won the commission to take this work forward. It will be led by Professor Barry Carpenter, OBE, former Chief Executive at Sunfield School in Worcestershire, and a Honorary Professor at the University of Worcester.

 

7. Planned expenditure on SEN has increased from £2.8bn in 2001-02 to £5.1bn in 2008-09, with significant additional resources available to schools.

 

8. The Government has invested in improving the knowledge and skills of the schools' workforce in SEN and disability. Specialist SEN units have been produced for primary and secondary undergraduate courses with units for the post-graduate certificate for education being rolled-out in November. The three year Inclusion Development Programme will improve the confidence of serving teachers and the wider schools workforce in speech, language and communication and dyslexia (2008); autism (2009); and in 2010, children with behaviour difficulties. In response to Sir Jim Rose's review on dyslexia the Department is funding training for up to 4,000 specialist dyslexia teachers over the next two years.

 

Contact Details
Public Enquiries 0870 000 2288, info@dcsf.gsi.gov.uk

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