The SEND system needs urgent reform as yet more research paints a bleak picture
The Government’s recent decision to delay reforms to the special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) system is a big mistake.
A new Child of the North (CotN) report update adds weight to the argument that SEND reforms are needed now.
It highlights that schools still lack skills, resources and access to support services, face delays in receiving statutory individual education, health and care plans (EHCP), and experience severe school SEND absences.
As Baroness Anne Longfield, former Children’s Commissioner and founder of the Centre for Young Lives, says: “Reforming the SEND system is an urgent task. Too many families face draining and bureaucratic battles to get the right support for their children, and many children are missing out on the extra help they need to learn.”
Yet the Government has decided to delay the publication of its Schools White Paper. Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson said she had taken the decision to delay the White Paper to have a “further period of co-creation” to test the reform proposals with families, teachers and experts.
Writing in today’s newspaper, Jayne Dowle rightly points out that regardless of how the Government dresses it up, the delay “shows they haven’t got a grip of a situation which is letting children down”.
The failure to tackle issues in the SEND system has increased cost pressures on councils up and down the country. But more importantly it is the damage that it does to the development of thousands of children who are not getting the support that they need. Even children who don’t require SEND support sometimes feel the impact of the failings in the current system.
SEND reform cannot wait, it is an issue the Government needs to address as a matter of priority.