Parliamentary inquiry into special educational needs

The parliamentary committee which examines educational issues is scrutinising special educational needs.

IPSEA's submission makes it clear that the only interests served by reducing assessments and statements are those of the providers of education, not children or parents. The submission looks at the history of statements and concludes:

The reality is that over the 22 years of 'assessment and statementing' the critics have been the service providers (and those arguing their cause). Parents of children with special educational needs and the organisations which support them have never considered the assessment and statementing procedure to be overly bureaucratic. On the contrary, assessment and statementing is recognised by parents as a valuable protection for children with special educational needs when the needs cannot be met by their school. A clearly written statement, which quantifies the provision a child should receive, is enforceable and for that reason is generally honoured by an LEA …

IPSEA's experience is that a well-written statement, quantifying the support a child is entitled to receive and thereby guaranteeing that support, is an absolute requirement if inclusion is to be successful. Vaguely written statements are a deterrent to parents expressing a preference for a place in a mainstream school. They do not know what support their child will receive; still worse, there is no guarantee that their child will receive any support.

It is an irony that the Government should have launched an attack on the statementing system in 1997 at the same time as launching its attempt to promote inclusion. It is extraordinary that, some eight years later, the Government is still unable to grasp the contradictory and self-defeating nature of these policies, despite the growing backlash against inclusion which it has itself provoked.

Education and Skills Committee

21 July 2005

Special Educational Needs

The Education and Skills Committee has agreed to undertake an inquiry into Special Educational Needs.

The Committee will be looking at the following issues:

Provision for SEN pupils in 'mainstream' schools: availability of resources and expertise; different models of provision.
Provision for SEN pupils in Special Schools.
Raising standards of achievement for SEN pupils.
The system of statements of need for SEN pupils ('the statementing process').
The role of parents in decisions about their children's education.
How special educational needs are defined.
Provision for different types and levels of SEN, including emotional, behavioural and social difficulties (EBSD).
The legislative framework for SEN provision and the effects of the Disability Act 2001, which extended the Disability Discrimination Act to education.