Special education needs and disability review

The special educational needs and disability review

A statement is not enough This review was commissioned to evaluate how well the legislative framework and arrangements served children and young people who had special educational needs and/or disabilities. It considered the early years, compulsory education, education from 16 to 19, and the contribution of social care and health services.

Age group: 0?19 Published: September 2010 Reference no: 090221

The Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills (Ofsted) regulates and inspects to achieve excellence in the care of children and young people, and in education and skills for learners of all ages. It regulates and inspects childcare and children's social care, and inspects the Children and Family Court Advisory Support Service (Cafcass), schools, colleges, initial teacher training, work-based learning and skills training, adult and community learning, and education and training in prisons and other secure establishments. It assesses council children's services, and inspects services for looked after children, safeguarding and child protection.

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No. 090221

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Contents

Executive summary

5

Key findings

9

Outcomes

9

Assessment and identification

10

Access to and quality of provision

10

Evaluation and accountability

12

Recommendations

13

Assessment and identification

13

Access to and quality of provision

13

Evaluation and accountability

14

Context

15

Undertaking the review

17

Assessment and identification

18

Appropriateness of `identification'

20

Expertise

24

The drivers for formal assessment

26

Timeliness

27

Access to and quality of provision

29

Links between identification and access to provision

31

Organisation of provision

33

Transition

41

Teaching and learning

45

Outcomes

49

Academic progress

50

Progress in other areas

51

Participation in events and other activities

55

Relationships

56

Monitoring, evaluating and recording progress

56

Accountability

57

Accountability across services and the national indicators

59

Outcomes versus provision

62

Evaluation and the Code of Practice

66

Accountability through inspection

66

Young people, parents and carers

68

Conclusion

71

Notes

73

Further information

74

Publications by Ofsted

74

Other publications

74

Acts of Parliament

75

Annex A: Defining special educational needs and disability

77

Annex B: Contextual data

79

Annex C: Historical context ? legislation and guidance

84

Annex D: Local authority areas and providers visited

87

Annex E: Focus groups, meetings and other contributions

93

Executive summary

Just over one in five pupils ? 1.7 million school-age children in England ? are identified as having special educational needs. Pupils with special educational needs are categorised, using the 2001 Special Educational Needs Code of Practice, according to the degree of support they require. When pupils are regarded as requiring School Action, this usually means they have additional learning needs and that they should receive additional support from within the school, such as small group tuition.1 When pupils are defined as requiring School Action Plus, staff working with them should receive advice or support from outside specialists.2 Those in need of the most intensive support are given a statement of special educational needs. Since 2003, the proportion of pupils with a statement of special educational needs has slightly decreased from 3% to 2.7%, while the proportion identified as needing less intensive additional support at School Action or School Action Plus has increased from 14.0% in 2003 to 18.2% in 2010.

This report considers all the children and young people that the providers identified as having special educational needs (both with and without a statement of special educational needs) in early years provision and schools, as well as young people aged between 16 and 19 with learning difficulties and/or disabilities. However, we also recognise that as many as half of all pupils identified for School Action would not be identified as having special educational needs if schools focused on improving teaching and learning for all, with individual goals for improvement.

As a whole, pupils currently identified as having special educational needs are disproportionately from disadvantaged backgrounds, are much more likely to be absent or excluded from school, and achieve less well than their peers, both in terms of their attainment at any given age and in terms of their progress over time. Over the last five years, these outcomes have changed very little. Past the age of 16, young people with learning difficulties or disabilities comprise one of the groups most likely not to be in education, employment or training.

This review was commissioned by a previous Secretary of State to evaluate how well the legislative framework and arrangements were serving disabled children and young people and those who have special educational needs. The work of the review began in April 2009 and has considered provision for education up to the age of 19, as well as the contribution made by social care and health services. It has focused on

1 `School Action' means that when a class or subject teacher identifies that a pupil has special

educational needs, the teacher provides interventions that are `additional to or different from those provided as part of the school's usual differentiated curriculum offer and strategies'. The term is defined in the Special educational needs code of practice (DfES/581/2001), DfES, 2001; sen.ttrb.ac.uk/viewarticle2.aspx?contentId=12386. 2 As with `School Action', the term `School Action Plus' is defined in the Code of Practice: `when the class or subject teacher and the SENCO [Special educational needs coordinator] are provided with advice or support from outside specialists, so that alternative interventions additional or different strategies to those provided for the pupil through School Action can be put in place.'

The special educational needs and disability review

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