Understanding the Impact of the Government's New SEND Policy on Families and Schools

The government’s new policy on Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) has sparked widespread discussion among families, educators, and policymakers. Changes in SEND policy can deeply affect how children with additional needs receive support, how schools allocate resources, and how families navigate the education system. This post explores the key elements of the new SEND policy, its practical effects on families and schools, and what it means for the future of inclusive education.

A classroom setting showing inclusive education with a teacher assisting a student with special educational needs

What the New SEND Policy Changes

The government’s updated SEND policy aims to improve the identification, assessment, and support for children with special educational needs. Some of the main changes include:

• Streamlined assessment processes to reduce delays in identifying children’s needs.

• Greater emphasis on early intervention to provide support before difficulties escalate.

• Increased collaboration between schools, health services, and local authorities to create more coordinated care plans.

• Clearer guidelines for Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCPs) to ensure they are more tailored and regularly reviewed.

• More funding directed towards specialist support services within mainstream schools.

  
  

While these goals are commendable they still lack a fundamental understanding of the scope, spectrum and often subtle nature of individual special educational needs. Mainstream education cannot meet all of these needs.

Children with severe physical disabilities or brain injury cannot assimilate or be accommodated within mainstream school settings. If all goes well with the new plans, these children will be catered for in special schools or units.

Children who have already received a diagnosis such as Dyslexia, Developmental Coordination Disorder, ADHD or Autism can and do thrive within mainstream school settings if they are provided with relevant support, but this involves specialist teaching tailored to the individual needs of the child. Some children need smaller classes and a different style of teaching to that provided in mainstream classes. How does the new policy propose to provide these settings?

The spectrum of disability encompassed by various diagnostic categories is vast. The Autistic spectrum provides just one example of this, from children who have not developed verbal language, who lack understanding of social reciprocity and are locked into stereotyped behaviours at one end of the spectrum, to children who show exceptional skills in one area while being overloaded by busy sensory environments and struggling to relate socially with their peers at an age appropriate level, at the other. The educational needs of this diagnostic category alone, require radically different educational environments and approaches.

The above assume that a diagnosis has been made. In my professional experience, the journey to a formal diagnosis can be long, frustrating and inadequate. Certain categories require medical assessment while others can be given by qualified educationists. The problem for parents is that children who fall into a "grey" area - not quite bad enough to warrant medical referral - but lacking some of the basic tools needed to succeed in the classroom, fall between professional domains and simply become "lost in the system" for several years before the need for assessment and support is recognised. This group become a cohort of hidden under-achievers for whom support is too little and arrives too late.

In an ideal world, a national screening programme is needed, which examines physical, cognitive and emotional development at key stages in the education process. Some forty-five years ago, this was partly in place. Every child was seen by a school medical officer at rising five years of age who carried out a basic assessment of motor, visual and hearing competence. This was phased out in the mid-1980's as authorities did not have the resources to deal with children who had not reached expected developmental age expectations in the absence of a formal diagnosis. These children entered the school system as "silent" special needs children or under-achievers of the future.

While the government's initiative to improve provision for special educational needs within the inclusive environment of mainstream schools is a positive step forward, unless a universal system of screening and evaluation of all children at the time of school entry and at key stages in the educational process is implemented, many children will continue to lack the individual support they need and fall through the net of services.

To help prevent this in the future what is really needed is a national screening system to:

• Identify early signs of immaturity in physical skills

• Assess verbal and non-verbal performance

• Refer for diagnosis if indicated

• Provide recommendations and implement relevant educational support