CSE has responded to the government’s consultation on SEND reform and the Schools White Paper.  CSIE’s main response was included in the submission from the collective voice of the Special Educational Consortium.  In its additional submission, CSIE welcomed the focus on inclusion and drew attention to a number of issues that concern us.

In our response we called for inclusive education to be placed at the heart of national policy, and drew particular attention to the importance of embracing and committing to inclusion in principle and to a rights-based vision for reform.  We also emphasised the need for radical systemic change and co-production as the route towards this.

Our response cautioned against reforms that increase standardisation while weakening children’s rights or expanding reliance on segregated provision. Instead, we called for sustained investment in mainstream schools, stronger accountability for inclusive practice, improved teacher education, and a clearer commitment to the social model of disability.

The response emphasises that the challenges facing the SEND system are not caused by disabled children being in mainstream schools, but by a failure to build an education system capable of welcoming and responding to learner diversity.

As CSIE prepares to close at the end of this month, it will no longer have a voice to contribute to ongoing reforms.  All of us who have made up CSIE will be watching with a keen interest, continue to support the development of inclusive education in any way that we can, and hope that the government will seize this moment and work with all stakeholders to build a more equitable and inclusive education system for all children and young people.