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Introduction
Anyone working in the Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) context will no doubt be familiar with the legislation and range of policies which derive from these and are then used to underpin practice. This chapter starts by reviewing key legislation and policies which are enshrined within the practice of supporting both practitioners and pupils. Commencing with the Warnock Report and charting the way in which society and the understanding of how best to support individuals with SEND have changed in the previous 40 years, this chapter aims to:
ā identify and outline some of the key reports, acts and codes of practice relevant to the area of SEND
ā describe the impact that these had on the professional practice
ā review the role of Ofsted in the inspection of professional practice, with particular reference to outcomes for SEND pupils and local area SEND inspections
ā analyse the importance of the SEND Code of Practice (2015) and examine the implications of differing contexts, the importance of the local offer and the implications of the Graduated Response and Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCP) deriving from the SEND Code of Practice.
The following section focusses on some of the key reports, acts and codes of practice, which have had an impact of our perception of SEND over the past 40 years. It is not an exhaustive list but outlines the key recommendations or findings as they relate to policy and practice. outlines legislation and acts specifically aimed at safeguarding.
A colleague of yours who does not work in the area of SEND asks you the question: āHow have views concerning the education of pupils with SEND changed over the past 40 years?ā
ā What would your response be?
Read the following outlines and for each of the key reports, acts and codes of practice focus on the following:
ā Which political parties were in power at that particular time?
ā What cultural and social factors might have influenced the outcomes?
ā Which models of disability and discourses were in evidence?
Warnock Report (1978)
The Warnock Report (1978) introduced the idea of special educational needs (SEN), āstatementsā of SEN and an āintegrativeā ā which later became known as inclusive ā approach, based on common educational goals for all children regardless of their abilities or disabilities, namely independence, enjoyment and understanding. The Report of the Committee of Enquiry into the Education of Handicapped Children and Young People chaired by Mary (later Baroness) Warnock stated that there was a clear obligation to educate all children, including those with severe disabilities. The Warnock Committee introduced the term āspecial education needsā to replace the term āhandicappedā and was a move anyway from placing the child with a disability in a category of need (Tutt and Williams, 2015). SEN statements were proposed and it suggested that as long as an individualās needs could be met in a mainstream school, this should always be the first choice for children with SEN, noting that too many children were being sent to special schools when this was not always necessary. Its wide scope of reference included categorisations of SEND; education in mainstream, special, independent, residential and hospital schools; relationships between families, health and social services; and the roles of colleges, universities and teacher training.
In the terms of reference, the Committee aimed to consider the most effective use of resources and to prepare young people with disabilities for entry into employment. The committee responded by setting out a coherent case for improving the quality of special education and for forms of schooling that embodied social acceptance. The report asserted the hard-won rights of those with SEND to have the usual choices of association, movement and activity, from working and contributing materially to the community, to travelling without fuss on public transport and having a social life and a love life. There exists, therefore, a clear obligation to educate the most severely disabled for no other reason than that they are human (Warnock Report, 1978). We were moving rapidly away from the idea of education as an intrinsic good to which all were entitled, towards the idea of education as a means of producing an improved economy (Warnock, Norwich and Terzi, 2010).
Read the following article āWarnock U-turn on special schoolsā from the Telegraph, 2005, in which Baroness Warnock revisits the notion of inclusive education. This can be accessed online via the Telegraph website (Telegraph, 2018).
ā What are her views in 2005 concerning inclusion and why does she now admit to a ādisastrous legacyā of problem children in mainstream teaching?
Education Act (1981)
The act which progressed the Warnock Report into legislation came into force on 1 April 1983 and stated that a child has SEN if he has a learning difficulty which calls for special educational provision to be made for him. (This was also echoed in the 1996 Education Act and 2014 Children and Families Act.) It emphasised mainstream, but with caveats, and outlined the statementing process. The 11 categories of handicap were replaced and defined SEN within an umbrella of the continuum of difficulties. The act outlined assessment procedures for parents, teachers and other professionals and statements of SEN for children with severe and/or complex needs, and introduced support plans for children regarding educational provisions. However, the aims of the original Warnock Report proved incredibly difficult to achieve despite the 1981 legislation (Legislation.gov.uk., 1981).
SEND Code of Practice (1994)
The SEND Code of Practice first came into effect in 1994, and this policy established a framework of addressing and meeting the needs of children with SEN and disabilities. The code gave practical guidance on how to identify and assess children with SEN and called upon Governments to adopt the principle of inclusive education and outlined the statutory role of the SEN Co-ordinator (SENCO). This code outlined practical guidance on how to implement the Education Act of 1993, regarding the legislative duties of governing bodies, Local Education Authorities (LEAs) and schools concerning provision for children with SEN (Department for Education, 1994).
Education Act (1996)
The purpose of this Act was to consolidate the Education Act of 1944. It defined SEN as a learning difficulty, which requires special educational provision to be made, and this provision is more than what the average child requires. It also clarifies that the learning difficulty must be significantly greater than others of the same age. It stated that children with SEN should be educated in a mainstream setting as long as they are receiving the educational support that they need and that this does not interfere with the education of others (Legislation.gov.uk., 1996).
Green Paper: excellence for all children meeting SEN (1997)
In this paper, the Labour Government gave public support to the UN statement on Special Needs Education 1994, which calls on governments to adopt the principle of inclusive education and implies a progressive extension of the capacity of mainstream schools to provide for children with a wide range of needs. It identified the difficulties of early intervention and suggested how appropriated intervention would be made for children with SEN at the start of their education (Gov.uk., 1997).
The Special Educational Needs and Disability Act (2001)
The Special Educational Needs and Disability Act (2001) provided further provision against discrimination towards students at any level of education on the grounds of disability. In order to avoid discrimination of disabled people, all education providers were required to make reasonable adjustments for students with disabilities to ensure that they are offered the same choice and opportunities as the rest of society. The reasonable adjustments that are required may include: physical changes of a building, delivering classes in alternative ways and providing materials in other formats. This act also gave children with disabilities a stronger right to mainstream education and, if parents wanted a mainstream place for their child, everything possible should be done to provide it (Legislation. gov.uk., 2001).
Removing barriers to achievement (2004)
The DfES SEN Strategy had the aim to improve access to education for children with disabilities in order to help them reach their potential and it aimed to personalise learning for all children. Another aim was to raise the standards of teaching and set out a clear plan for improvements with children and their parents; in doing so, this would also raise the achievement of individuals with SEND. This policy also called for services affecting children with SEN to become more integrated; it wanted to make education more innovative and responsive to cater for individualsā needs, with the hope that this would reduce the reliance on separate services for SEN support.
It aimed to drive the inclusion agenda forward by suggesting that policies based on mainstream schooling with inclusive practices, where achievement is measured against the norm, creates an educational environment for children with SEN being disadvantaged and marginalised. Educational targets for SEN pupils should thus be realistically attainable and accessible to ensure a truly inclusive ethos. Furthermore, in terms of guidance given to local authorities, the SEN Strategy specifically says that the proportion of children educated in special schools should fall over time as mainstream schools grow in their skills and capacity to meet a wider range of needs with children with less significant needs. However, a small number of children have such severe and complex needs that they will continue to require special provision; and the desired goal for local authorities to reduce reliance on statements (D...
