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SEN: harder to exclude special needs children should new law be passed
Excluding SEN children difficult under new law
But Bill’s backers say schools will have opportunities for teacher training
New powers to make it harder for teachers to expel children with special educational needs could become law.
Schools would only be able to exclude children if teachers can prove they have made “reasonable adjustments” to take their needs into account if the Special Educational Needs and Disability (Support) Bill, which receives its second reading in Parliament today, gets on to the statute book.
The private members’ bill was drafted by the National Autistic Society and will be led by Conservative MP John Bercow, who headed last year’s Government inquiry into services for children and young people with speech, language and communication needs.
Children with SEN are nine times more likely to be permanently excluded, and the NAS claims this is often because teachers fail to understand or address their needs, particularly those of autistic pupils.
If the bill become law, it will provide extra training opportunities for teachers. Other elements include a requirement on Ofsted to assess how well teachers cater for children with SEN and disabilities as part of its inspections.
From this September, all new special needs co-ordinators will have to be trained, but the bill would compel all staff working with SEN pupils or the disabled to have appropriate expertise.
It will also place a legal duty on initial training providers to include teaching on autism and SEN. Students will not receive qualified teacher status unless they have completed this part of the course.
The Disability Discrimination Act and the SEN code of practice already include a duty on schools to cater for children with additional needs, but NAS policy manager Beth Reid said many are not complying.
“This legislation doesn’t mean schools can’t exclude children, but if they do they would need to prove they had put support in place. You’ve always got to look at the reasons behind bad behaviour,” Ms Reid said.
“The review would be conducted within school, but we envisage autism outreach workers could become involved, too. It will be an opportunity for reflection.
“We know all teachers want to make a difference and the training set out in this bill will enable them to do that.
“There’s likely to be five children with special needs in each class and many teachers start work with no idea of what to do for them.”
Mark Lever, NAS chief executive, said: “Autism is more common than many people realise. Yet many children with this serious, lifelong and disabling condition do not get the kind of education they deserve.
“School inspections often ignore the experiences of children with SEN, so these profound problems go unheard and unrecognised.”
He added: “John Bercow’s bill is great news for children with autism.”
Work in progress
- The Autism Bill is a private members’ bill being taken forward by Conservative MP Cheryl Gillan. Currently at committee stage in its journey through Parliament, the bill aims to tackle the lack of local information about children and young people with autism and the failure of councils to take account of their needs in service-planning.
- Minister for care services Phil Hope now says the Government will ensure that councils and others collect and share information.
- Government funding for the Autism Education Trust is to increase to £500,000 from £320,000.
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Comment (5)
Given that many children are deemed to have a special educational need purely because of their appalling behaviour, it will dismay teachers to hear that these children will be protected from one of the few sanctions open to heads. I once permanently excluded a boy with SEN for behaviour after he launched a horrific attack on another child, causing that child serious injuries - what do the people behind this bill think training could have done to prevent that happening?
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16:38
16 May, 2009
middlemarch
Well-comments that are fueled with a lack of knowledge and understanding are not the answer either.
Children can have various difficulties or what is classed as SEN including some sort of social or emotional difficulty like high levels of anxiety or an autistic spectrum disorder like my son. Unfortunately he has displayed unwanted behaviour in a mainstream school and been excluded on various ocassions (he hasn't hurt anybody). Exclusion is not the answer-in fact it gets him out of a place he sees as horrid.
My son also goes to a SEN school part-time and has never shown any unwanted behaviour while there. I believe a higher level of training has been needed for a long time and a range of schools which can support children's levels of emotional and academic abilities not just schools that are mainstream and want children to fit in or SEN schools for more severly Special needs. My son has a statement for 22 hours per week and is still failing and he isn't the only one.
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15:50
31 May, 2009
purplehazesparkle
This is exactly what the government can expect from David Blunkett making MLD schools into SLD (New Model Special Schools) and forcing children into mainstream education..which is fine for physical disabilities but does not work for other disabilities such as autistic spectrum disorders who need a quiet environment and an empathetic approach!
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19:57
11 June, 2009
sensupporter
Given that many children are deemed to have a special educational need purely because of their appalling behaviour, it will dismay teachers to hear that these children will be protected from one of the few sanctions open to heads. I once permanently excluded a boy with SEN for behaviour after he launched a horrific attack on another child, causing that child serious injuries - what do the people behind this bill think training could have done to prevent that happening?
I have a child who is autistic and have taught autistic children, Im dismayed as a parent at the comments made. My child struggles with behaviour and has an adapted behaviour plan at her school. I feel autistic children are expected to conform to the schools behaviour policy but this isnt differentiating for children with a sen issue. The say autism is the silent disability and many autistic children struggle day to day with simple things. Many are hypersensitive to noise, light, smells and can cause problems. My daughter would react badly and displayed 'appalling behaviour' if the school reacted as you think they should then my daughter would have been expelled. After careful questioning after a particular outburst, a light issue was exposed. My daughter is very sensitive to noise and light, in the classroom she was seated in a position where she could see glare from lights above her, by moving her to the row in front, the behaviour improved. Much of the behaviour autistic children display isnt wilful but something beyond their control, by not allowing a differentiated behaviour policy then these children are disadvantaged, we as teachers, wouldnt expect a pupil with SEN needs to learn in a classroom without differentiated resources, so why expect them to be able to abide by school rules.
I do agree that there needs to be more training for teachers and more support in the classroom
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20:20
12 June, 2009
biscuitmonster13
These comments above highlight the dilemma of inclusive practices in mainsteam education. It is well-documented that children and young people with SEBD are often the most difficult to include as challenging behaviour can have such an impact on their peers
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9:36
17 June, 2009
mariewatters