Comment on SEND and AP Improvement Plan
Steve Crocker, ADCS President, said:
The SEND and AP system needs a reset to make it work better for all children and families, to strengthen accountabilities and to reduce the insurmountable costs that threaten the financial sustainability of local authorities. This improvement plan is a promising start. Improving the experiences and outcomes of children and young people with SEND is a joint endeavour and so we welcome the strengthened role and commitments of health partners as outlined and more consistent offers of support for children and young people who need it. However, the plan must go much further and faster in a number of areas. While the response is largely focused on children in school, there is more we must do to re-set the system so it has a sharp focus on outcomes, not just for children today but also for the adults they will become in the future.
“The additional funding being made available to support the proposals is welcome, but with high needs budget deficits rising there is still not enough money in the system to meet the level of need being seen. The costs associated with the current SEND system are baked in for years to come, this must be addressed.
“Whilst the 2014 SEND reforms were rightly ambitious, they led to a drift away from inclusion in mainstream education and an over reliance on independent specialist provision. We need to re-balance the system in favour of inclusion if we are to see meaningful, lasting reform. Much of this rests upon some of the principles set out in the Schools White Paper yet its status remains unclear. The government must re-affirm its commitment to the White Paper and implement the proposals that would create a more inclusive education system at the first legislative opportunity. We would welcome National Standards to drive inclusivity and ADCS is keen to engage with government in their development. However, without legislative change it is difficult to see how a number of the proposals outlined in the improvement plan can be achieved.
“A key tenet of any reform programme is investing in the workforce who make a difference in children and young people’s lives. ADCS welcomes investment in training more educational psychologists where we have long experienced a real shortage. Professional development for the teaching and early years workforce to better support children with SEND is equally as important. We face sufficiency issues across the whole teaching workforce from the early years through to post-16. We must ensure that the workforce feels both valued and supported.
“ADCS members are ready to work with government, and others, to ensure the reforms set out in its plan meet the needs of children and young people by providing the right support in the right place at the right time.”
ENDS