Shortage revealed of teachers with special needs training

A study by the Policy Exchange reveals many teachers and support staff in special schools do not have qualifications in special educational needs (SEN) and schools are struggling to recruit people with the right training.

This is despite the fact that more than a million children are now assessed as having special needs.

Just under one in five (18.2 per cent) of all pupils in England, some 1.47 million in total, have SEN but do not have a statement, while a further 2.7 per cent, around 220,890 pupils have a statement of SEN, according to Government figures.

Local Education Authorities usually provide a statement of a child's special educational needs if they decide that all the special help a child needs cannot be provided from within a school's resources.

Research fellow Ralph Hartley in the education unit at Policy Exchange, surveyed 45 special schools asking for information about teachers' training and qualifications.

Some 89,000 children were educated in special schools in 2009, it says.

The findings show that on average, per school, just over half (52 per cent) of teachers have a qualification in SEN.

Taking other staff into account, on average, per school, 39 per cent of teachers and support staff, such as classroom assistants, had an SEN qualification.

Fewer than one in four (23 per cent) schools said that all of their staff had an SEN qualification, the survey found.

And on average, per school, just three in 10 (30 per cent) of teachers had a qualification relevant to the needs of the children they were teaching.

The study also found that nearly three in four schools (73.2 per cent) say they found it hard or very hard to recruit properly trained staff, just five per cent saying they found it easy to recruit teachers with the right training.

According to figures published by the Department for Education, falling numbers of pupils with SEN are achieving the levels expected of them at the end of primary school.

Children's Minister Sarah Teather said: "We want to make sure that the most vulnerable children get the best quality of support and care. Children with special educational needs and disabilities should have the same opportunities as their peers.

"The system needs to be more family friendly."