A report on SEND commissioned by the County Councils Network and Local Government Association has been published by the ISOS Partnership. The key findings are that:
- More children and young people than ever before are being identified as having SEND;
- There are more children and young people than ever before whose needs are not being met in mainstream education, and thus require specialist provision;
- More money than ever before is being invested in SEND, but it is significantly less than what is actually being spent on SEND by LAs, health services and education settings;
- Despite rapidly rising expenditure, outcomes of children and young people with SEND and families’ day-to-day experiences of the system have not improved.
The report goes on to recommend that reform is urgently required and puts forward eight recommendations, as follows:
- National government should set out a new national ambition;
- Create a National Framework that describes types and levels of needs;
- Put in place a series of measures to enable inclusive practice in mainstream education settings;
- Reform elements of the SEND statutory framework;
- Create a new Destinations and Progression Service in each local area;
- Reconfigure the role of partners so that they are coherent and provide a robust foundation for joint working;
- A new, more strategic relationship between the state and the independent sector should be articulated.
You can download the full report from the ISOS website, here.
dsga.org.uk 