Our thoughts on the proposed SEND Reforms
Like the rest of the sector, at Whole Education we’ve looked keenly at the proposals set out in the Schools White Paper, particularly at what they mean for learners with SEND.
We’re cautiously optimistic. The underlying principles of the reform align with many things we believe in:
A knowledge that all learners can make progress
A holistic approach to pupil development, supporting and celebrating a wide range of achievements
Identifying need early and providing evidence-based support accordingly
Having the flexibility to adapt to needs without requiring formal diagnoses
Providing support for children’s individual needs, not only their label
Mainstream and local provision where possible, with specialist provision available when needed
Strong local partnerships, with health, social care and education settings planning and delivering services together
Development of the workforce as key to ensuring an inclusive culture
Whole Education SEND
We work with over a thousand schools, a hundred MATs and dozens of Local Authorities through our SEND School Improvement work, investing in leaders’ capability and confidence to make the right strategic changes to their settings and localities, so that they are better able to meet the needs of a wider range of children and young people with SEND.
We are bothered about supporting those leaders, teachers and support staff to address the things that make the greatest difference to their learners.
Three thoughts on the proposed SEND reforms
There is so much to unpick in these proposed SEND reforms, and the consultation is the place for a full response to every aspect. In this response we pick out three key changes that we think are important for our work, and the implications for the schools, Trusts and LAs in our national network.
Workforce development: qualifications or cultural change?
DfE promises £200m of funding directed to the training and development of “all staff in schools, colleges, and early years settings” through a new National SEND Training Programme. We’re delighted at this - really impactful training enhances teachers’ and leaders’ ability to make their own professional decisions and choices.
We acknowledge that ITT/ECT/NPQ are part of this, but that it's also about well-embedded, ongoing training that involves and supports all adults in a setting, whether or not they are engaged in formal qualifications.
We also note the intention for DfE to ‘work with the sector to develop a peer review process to promote learning and improvements on inclusion’. We’ve seen the powerful impact in our own SEND School Improvement programme of SENCOs working closely with peers to effect positive changes over the course of several terms.
We see these longer-term, embedded forms of professional learning, with recipients as active collaborators in iterative cycles of improvement, as the way to truly create a workforce of experts in meeting needs.
2. Inclusion Bases: educating through exclusion or flexible and specialist provision?
It seems clear that for schools and Trusts, a major focus of the next few years will be developing Inclusion Bases. The proposal sets out two types of base; ‘support bases’ that are school/Trust-funded, aimed at providing ‘targeted’ support beyond OAP, and ‘specialist bases’ that are LA-funded. This builds on what many schools, Trusts and LAs are developing already around the country.
DfE intends to produce guidance on what evidence-based provision might look like, which will form the benchmark for inspections. There’s also capital funding to develop new bases and expand existing bases.
The proposals set out the intention for bases to be used flexibly, with children able to dip in and out of mainstream provision when appropriate. This is nuanced, tricky and important to articulate clearly in the guidance and inspection frameworks, to avoid an unintended consequence of ‘internal exclusion’ for some children.
There’s also little detail in the proposals, at this stage, about resources to increase the skills and capacity of staff who work in those bases.
Develop your Inclusion Base with Whole Education
We run a strategic leadership programme and practice-sharing network specifically around Inclusion Bases, enhancing provision through training, guidance and the sharing of good practice.
3. Local partnerships: bogged down in procedure or enabling change?
LAs and partners (including schools) will be tasked with creating and having oversight for inclusion in local groups of schools.
All schools would be required to join a group over the next three years, and there would be an element of peer support and challenge between schools. Schools would develop their own Inclusion Strategy and report on their own use of Mainstream Inclusion Funding, which would in turn feed into locality-based strategic plans and reporting arrangements for SEND.
Over the longer-term, there would be some pooled funding across schools, with accountability for showing how funding is used to make an impact across the area.
We see really good practice in this area already, with schools developing comprehensive provision maps and working together in supportive groups, sometimes in existing local partnerships, Trust partnerships or through the structures we set up through our SEND School Improvement programme.
We see the potential for local partnership groups to deliver earlier, targeted support for children. Much of our work with LAs and in regions is focussed on just this - bringing partners together to share their understanding of how to flexibly meet the needs of children in classrooms, as early as possible. Click here to find out more.
Preparing for change
Many of the proposals add or build on new or developing ways of working. The pace of change set out in the reforms may be too slow for those who feel urgent system improvement is needed, or too fast for those who may be overwhelmed by the myriad procedural and cultural changes they need to embed. There are also multiple references to building the evidence base for many of the newer elements, something that also requires time to complete, communicate and implement.
We recognise that these reforms build on what highly inclusive settings are doing already. Those settings don’t only wait for DfE guidance, but instead seek out who in their locality, Trust or wider network is already doing effective work on a particular area, and work with others to develop practice and culture, guided by but not limited to what is set out in these reforms.
Whole Education is here to help make those connections, and support leaders at all levels through that process, confident in the power of effective networks and in the importance of a holistic education for all.
