Making sense of the new statutory

framework for special educational needs

What will it look like and will it work?

14 March 2013

Implications for education Implications for education professionalsprofessionals

1.Getting up to speed

2.What a new ‘architecture’ for SEN policy, practice and provision will look like

3.School level issues: professional development (training); being on the front line; inclusive support

4.Looking forward to 2014

1. Getting up to 1. Getting up to speedspeed

Two years on!

Ideological change

Inclusive education policy Broader education policy (e.g. curriculum and

assessment) and the concept of autonomous schools Parents as choice makers and ‘in control’ ‘Front-line’ services

Economic change

A radical overhaul ‘Our proposed reforms respond to the frustrations of children and young people and the professionals who work with them. We want to put in place a radically different system to support better life outcomes for young people; give parents confidence by giving them more control; and transfer power to professionals on the front line and to local communities.’

Support and Aspiration (DfE, 2011, p.4, para 4)

Pupils with SEN: England (2012)

1,618,340 (School age, all schools) 19.8% incidence (8,178,200) 95, 825 attending special schools (maintained

& non-maintained) – most common needs: 13,495 attending Pupil Referral Units (with

and without special needs) 73,205 attending independent schools

2011 Headline proposals

A new approach to identifying SEN Single assessment process and ‘Education, Health and

Care Plan’ A local offer of all services available Parents to have the option of a personal budget by

2014 Giving parents a real choice of school Greater independence to the assessment of children's

needs

2. New 2. New architecturearchitecture

Progress and Next Steps

May 2012 > December 2012

Steps to a new system Legislation introduced into Parliament early in 2013 (now!) Draft Code of Practice (guidance for schools, professionals,

parents, other stakeholders) published for consultation in early 2013

Revisions and refinements throughout 2013 Royal Assent (new Children and Families Act) in Spring 2014 Planned ‘lead in period’ to support a smooth transition

before a new statutory framework is implemented in September 2014.

Integrated service provision Introduction of a ‘co-created’ local offer Education and Health Care Plans (0-25) Personal budgets School requirements Parental preference Dispute resolution A new Code of Practice

Key components

A new Code of Practice

Outlining statutory guidance to parents, schools, local authorities and others

Incorporating statutory guidance on inclusive schooling

Intended to be streamlined (but covering ages 0-25) and less bureaucratic than the current version

Coming into force in 2014 following a ‘lead in period’ and a consultation on the draft.

Most aspects of policy reform are targeted at the

2.8% of the school population with statements of SEN (226,125 pupils) rather than the 17.0% of pupils with SEN but without statements (1,392, 215 pupils) – reflected in SEN Pathfinders

A two sides of A4 factsheet outlines two years of work on the new single school-based SEN ‘category’

Focus of reforms

Against the four objectives for the evaluation, which seek to assess whether the Pathfinders:

make the current system more transparent, less adversarial and less bureaucratic

increase choice and control and improve outcomes introduce greater independence into the assessment process

by the voluntary sector demonstrate value for money

SQW September 2012 (Evaluation, Interim Findings)

‘Too early to draw conclusions’

Lack of capacity in the health service to support testing of multi-agency working (clarity)

Uncertainty around role of VCS (clarity) Limited development of the local offer to date (slow

progress) Limited testing of personal budgets (slow progress) Partial consideration of accountability and resourcing

(slow progress) Scale and pace of the recruitment of families raises issue

about scalability and replicability in the longer-term Non-Pathfinder areas may benefit from lessons learnt but

will still need to undertake considerable development work

‘Issues arising’ in the SQQ evaluation (interim findings)

Accelerated Pathfinder activityPathfinder disseminationSynchronising development work with

legislation (Extended Pathfinders end in September 2014 when we might anticipate new legislation to be in place)

Getting back on track

Professional development

Implications of working on the front line

Inclusive support

3. School practice3. School practice

Better ITE (school, special school and PRU placements) SENCO training + other mandatory training (?) Whole school approaches to achieving access, participation and

achievement (involving lead SENCOs; Achievement for All) Online resources (Areas of Need ‘Advanced’; Complex

Needs/SLD/PMLD) Scholarships (teaching assistants and teachers) Specialist leaders (National College), school leaders (headteachers) Teaching schools (SEND remit), networked schools etc. Open market sources of CPD at a variety of levels (e.g. Autism

Education Trust CPD programme)

Schools will increasingly determine what they need

Professional development

Who is on the front line?

To transfer power to professionals on the front line and to communities we will: strip away unnecessary bureaucracy so that professionals can innovate and use their judgement; establish a clearer system so that professionals from different services and the voluntary and community sector can work together; and give parents and communities much

more influence over local services.

Support and Aspiration (2011, p.5, para 7)

Support services

Cinderella is not invited to the ball even though she is wanted (Ellis et al, 2012; NUT 2012)

Struggling to manage budget cuts at a time when they are needed (Gross, 2011; NUT 2012) (valued ‘front line services’?)

Need to trade services in a system that is ‘opened up’ to include independent providers (a service may have been privatised), special schools (including academies and free schools)

Need to work in competition with other services a school may wish to buy, for example educational psychology and advisory services including those run by voluntary and community sector organisations

,

A framework for outreach,

in-reach and support In addition to any frameworks already in use it might be

worth reviewing and adapting Quality Standards for SEN Support and Outreach Services (DCSF, 2008)

The Quality Standards cover 16 dimensions of support and outreach organised under 2 headings:o outcomes standardso service management and delivery standards.

The standards are designed to be used as suggested markers against which services provided can be evaluated

When using the Standards a school (mainstream) may want to consider

sufficient access to services service contribution to improved outcomes the nature of support, whether they think is sufficient effective in classroom contexts disseminating advice to teachers and teaching

assistants self-evaluation feedback cycle capacity building balanced against work overload and

the over delegation of responsibilities.

4. Looking forward 4. Looking forward

From the perspective of a school or related setting

September 2014 [1] Expect to be working with a new slimmed down SEN or

SEND Code of Practice that contains essential advice the professionals need and reflects changes to the law, including statutory advice on inclusive schooling

Expect to be using a single assessment framework and Education and Health Care Plans (not Statements)

Expect to play a role in the use of personal budgets and direct payments

Expect to be working with a clear ‘local offer’ that schools are part of and will be using to access services and support

September 2014 [2] Expect to be working with more parents and

children/young people as ‘decision-makers’ (e.g. with regard to choosing the ‘right’ school)

Expect to be using a new single school category of SEN (Who’s in/out ????)

Expect to be developing more effective ways of working with children and young people experiencing behavioural, emotional, social and mental health difficulties

Expect to be using effective interventions and approaches that ‘work for you’ (matching provision to needs)

September 2014 [3] Expect to innovate (teaching and curriculum provision)

but also to help pupils attain and achieve Expect to be taking a lead in providing, facilitating and

choosing training in a more open market Expect to play a key role in choosing external advice Expect to know how funding models operate and

how funds are used Expect to have to build, rebuild and sustain SEN

support networks with other schools and organisations - without relying on local authorities

Christopher Robertson

School of Education

University of Birmingham

Email: C.M.Robertson@bham.ac.uk

Tel: 0121 414 4832

Many thanks