supporting inclusion, challenging exclusion
news & events
Silent Auction launched
05 December 2022
We are excited to announce CSIE's inaugural online auction launching today, 5 December. It is expected to be a major celebration of CSIE’s 40-year contribution to disability equality in education, and to generate more support for our work.
Whether you fancy an exclusive New Year charm, a coaching session, a private online yoga lesson, a flight in a glider at 2,000 feet or a week's accommodation on a Greek island, do visit www.superstars-auctions.com/csie, browse through some gorgeous offers and bid for the ones you want.
You can get some great Christmas gifts or treat yourself to something special, while at the same time giving CSIE a wonderful birthday present. For the items that have been donated to CSIE, the charity will receive 100% of the final auction price.
The auction will close at 21:00 GMT on Sunday 11 December.
Many thanks in anticipation of your support for CSIE. We hope you enjoy the auction and secure the gifts that you want!
Welcome to our new Equality Officers!
01 September 2022
We have employed two new Equality Officers and are pleased to welcome Anna and Jemima to the team. Jemima comes to us fresh from the classroom where she led her peers in equality, diversity, and inclusion work. Anna, who recently moved from the States, was a Teaching Consultant supporting Seattle teachers to deliver best, equitable practice. We look forward to working with our new colleagues, as we can now make our work reach further supporting us to have a stronger and longer-lasting impact.
Happy Birthday CSIE!
28 June 2022
Life begins at 40, CSIE has just been given a new lease of life and, on its 40th birthday, we could not be more excited! Ongoing work is progressing well and we are about to recruit more staff and trustees.
Over the past four decades, CSIE has been at the forefront of developments in inclusive education. Founded in 1982 as the Centre for Studies on Integration in Education, CSIE took on its current name in the 1990s and its remit gradually expanded as the meaning of ‘inclusion’ in education expanded to embrace all aspects of equality. From autumn 2021 we introduced a focus on three geographical areas, to enable the various strands of our work to build on one another and have a stronger and longer-lasting impact.
Here are just some of CSIE’s remarkable achievements over the past 40 years:
- Regular reports, since the 1980s, on school placement trends of all local authorities in England. For many years these CSIE reports were the only place where such detailed information, at local authority level, was available. The most recent report (2019) is available online and findings can be explored on an interactive map.
- Publication of the Index for Inclusion, a set of materials to support inclusive school development through a self-review of the school’s cultures, policies and practices. In the late 1990s CSIE brought together the team of people who created the Index, and continued to publish the Index until ten years ago. The 2nd edition has been translated into 40 languages and is still used throughout the world.
- Extensive international work, including playing a key part in negotiations of the Ad Hoc Committee which drafted Article 24 of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (2004-2006).
- International Award (Innovative Practice Award 2016 from the Zero Project) for our practical and user-friendly toolkit “Equality: Making it Happen – A guide to help schools ensure everyone is safe, included and learning”.
- Delivery of equality workshops for staff and governors, and disability awareness workshops for pupils, consistently attracting overwhelmingly positive feedback.
- Invitation to Windsor Castle in April 2019, having been selected as one of 200 charities (out of 14,000 members) to attend a reception marking 100 years of the National Council for Voluntary Organisations (NCVO).
- Glowing report following independent evaluation of CSIE earlier this year.
We remain committed to the vision that all children are safe, included and learning in their local school, and will continue to work hard to get closer to this vision in the days, months and years to come. We wish to thank all our supporters, especially those who stayed close and helped sustain us when the going got tough (you know who you are!) and all those who continue to request our resources and our services and constantly remind us how much our work is valued – we would not be here without you!
Happy Birthday CSIE, we all wish that you keep going from strength to strength and continue to be valued for achievements at the cutting edge of educational change!
We are hiring!
20 June 2022
We are delighted to announce that we are looking for two full-time Equality Officers with experience and a passion for inclusion, and for two or more new trustees. If you have a passion for disability equality and for the development of inclusive settings which welcome all identities, we want to hear from you.
Working in close collaboration with CSIE’s director from September 2022, the two Equality Officers will initially be engaged in offering consultancy and training for local authorities, schools and other educational settings, as well as contributing to lobbying & campaigning activities, the development of new resources, fundraising and research.
Our new Trustees are welcome to join us as soon as possible. Trustees meet four times a year, mostly online. They agree CSIE policy & strategy and have an overview of CSIE activities, supporting and challenging staff as critical friends and enabling staff to stay focused on CSIE’s core aims. We are keen to appoint trustees with a background and experience in finance and fundraising.
As existing staff and Trustees know, there is never a dull moment in CSIE’s life. Our work is intense, with a significant element of unpredictability. When the telephone rings, it could be someone selling water coolers or a journalist seeking CSIE’s position on a topical issue. If nobody wanted CSIE’s resources or services (this has not happened in our 40-year history), we would have to rely entirely on fundraising to sustain CSIE. For those of us already here, this adds a further layer of interest to an already exciting and gratifying job.
To find out more, please feel free to explore our website and the succinct information we have prepared about CSIE and, for Equality Officer applications, the job description and person specification. If you have any queries, you can write to us at admin@csie.org.uk.
There is an online application process for Equality Officer and for Trustee applications. The closing date for all applications is 12 noon on Friday 8 July and job interviews will be held on Thursday 14 July.
Thank you for considering joining CSIE, whether in a paid or voluntary capacity. We are very committed to and very proud of our organisation and hope you will enjoy being part of CSIE’s life and contributing to its further development!
New Summer Interns
16 June 2022
CSIE is excited to welcome two new faces to the team! Asha Ambasna and Sofie Kwiatkowski are both students at the University of Bristol and will be joining us for the next month to work on our Equality Hub project.
Asha has just finished her BA in History at the University of Bristol, and will be embarking on an MSc in International Development in September. Her experience as a young carer has helped to shape her understanding of inclusivity issues and drives her commitment to overcome exclusion. Asha has always been vocal about issues of inequality, both in her academic work and in her personal life, so she is thrilled to be able to commit this enthusiasm to a great organisation. She hopes to go on to work for an NGO and knows that CSIE will provide amazing insight and experience in this sector.
Sofie has just finished her second year studying Politics and International Relations at Bristol. She has long had an interest in increasing inclusion in education, and has previously volunteered as a tutor with Student Action for Refugees (STAR). Sofie is really excited to help the charity in any way she can, and sees CSIE as a brilliant charity with an important cause behind it.
Both Asha and Sofie hope to contribute to the great work being done by CSIE, especially on the Online Equality Hub which they feel will massively increase the reach and accessibility of CSIE around the world, and be a truly valuable resource.
We are thrilled to start working with Asha and Sofie, and are hugely grateful for all the work they are doing for CSIE.
Summer Internship
30 May 2022
This week we are delighted to welcome a new member to the CSIE team as Sophie Shanahan begins her summer internship with us!
Sophie has just finished her degree in Modern Languages at the University of Bristol and is joining us as part of the University’s Small and Medium Enterprises programme. This scheme was set up during the COVID-19 pandemic to fund internships for undergraduate students at organisations such as CSIE.
The internship will cover a broad range of tasks to assist the team, and offer our intern a valuable glimpse into working in the charity sector. Sophie has already been getting to grips with the organisation’s vision and current projects, and is enthusiastic to support CSIE across the next two months.
Sophie speaks of her personal enthusiasm for inclusive education, having worked in the voluntary sector alongside her studies in Bristol to campaign for a more accessible education system. Sophie’s experience in the voluntary sector has shaped her vision of inclusion, committing her to the belief that everyone should have the opportunity to thrive within the education system, and not be bound by any particular characteristics or circumstances. She is looking forward to a career in the charity sector post-graduation, and is sure that the experience of working at CSIE will further deepen her commitment to the causes of equality and inclusion.
We are excited to start working with Sophie, and extend our gratitude both to her, for choosing to support our work, and to the University of Bristol, for enabling this internship. We are also looking forward to welcoming two more interns later in June, who will focus on completing the online equality hub project.
Down Syndrome Act
08 May 2022
The Down Syndrome Act, having passed through both houses of parliament, gained royal assent on 28 April. The Act, which came into effect immediately, aims to ensure that the local authorities for health, education and social care consider the specific needs of people with Down syndrome when exercising their relevant functions. This legislation comes as part of the government’s commitment to improve outcomes for people with learning difficulties. However, campaigners have raised serious concerns about the contents and purpose of the Act, criticising the lack of consultation and the singling out of Down syndrome over other learning difficulties.
The All Parliamentary Group for Down Syndrome, which includes as some of its trustees people with Down syndrome, suggests that people with the condition face specific social, educational and health challenges, and so need specific considerations. MPs who supported the Bill in parliament cited exclusionary practices in schools, a lack of employment opportunities and widespread stigmatisation as reasons to back the Bill.
The Down Syndrome Act has drawn its fair share of opposition. Critics suggest that there is little evidence to suggest that Down syndrome should be distinguished from any other learning difficulty or chromosomal disorder in this kind of legislation. Some parents have argued that the bill could act as an excuse for the government not to introduce legislation on the rights of people with other learning difficulties. Baroness Brinton told peers at the Bill’s second reading that she feared this new hierarchy “risks doing harm to the rights of other disabled people”. Before the Bill became law, Genetic Alliance UK called for an amendment to include in the Bill those with genetic conditions with significantly overlapping features to Down syndrome. However, the Bill passed with no amendments.
Despite opposition to the legislation, many parents celebrated its introduction, gathering outside parliament late last year as the Bill passed, wearing blue, pink and purple - the colours of the newly formed Down Syndrome Policy Group.
Much criticism has stemmed from a lack of detail within the Act. The sparse, six-page document simply states that there will be a duty on local authorities to assess the needs of people with Down syndrome and plan provision accordingly, creating a significant gap between the ambitions of the legislation, and its actual contents. Parent advocate and previous CSIE Trustee Sharon Smith notes that the “detailed ‘meat’ will be added to the bones of the Act through the guidance”, but that this guidance has not yet been produced, rendering the Act in its current form ineffective. The Down Syndrome Association , who were not involved in the Bill’s development, has criticised the government’s new legislation as weak and potentially divisive, drawing attention to far more detailed existing guidance for people with Down syndrome on areas such as health and education.
Legal experts have taken issue with the phrasing of the Act. The legislation merely states that authorities must pay “due regard'' to the guidance, an obligation that is not particularly stringent, and does not guarantee the provision of services. Some suggest that this legislation, despite its purported noble aims, actually places very little pressure on the relevant authorities to make provision for those with learning difficulties.
CSIE shares all the above reservations and more. We are disappointed by the contents of the Act which, having been published without the guidelines on which it relies, are at the least ineffectual and potentially divisive. We also agree with those who assert that there was no reason to introduce legislation specifically for people with Down Syndrome, as their rights are already protected by the Equality Act (2010) and, for children and young people, the Children and Families Act (2014).
Charity Health Check
20 April 2022
We are delighted to have received an excellent Charity Health Check from New Philanthropy Capital (NPC), the leading think tank and consultancy for the charity sector. NPC used its framework ‘What Makes a Good Charity’ to evaluate CSIE, drawing from publicly available documents and some of our internal documents, as well as interviews with staff, trustees, and previous funders.
The report praises the clarity of CSIE’s vision and suggests that our work has ‘never been more needed’, particularly as the number of disabled pupils with EHCPs in mainstream schools has been steadily declining over the last decade. The report recommended that CSIE articulates more clearly the added value from our work, which will help us communicate our message more readily to educators, parents, policy makers and funders alike.
The report further remarks on the range of our activities and the strong impact they appear to have. Particular mention is given to our Disability Awareness Workshops for pupils, and the overwhelmingly positive feedback they consistently attract.
The report also praises CSIE staff and trustees, acknowledging everyone’s passion and experience in inclusive education and equality advocacy. It further recommends recruiting more trustees with more diverse experience, which we look forward to putting into practice in the near future.
Last but not least, we are particularly pleased to see that our recent decision to focus our work on three local authority areas, so that our activities build on one another to create stronger and longer lasting impact, is highlighted in the report as an exciting opportunity to strengthen the organisation and increase its impact.
SEND Review
01 April 2022
On 29th March, the Government published the Green Paper: SEND Review: Right support, right place, right time. The SEND Review sets out the Government’s proposed changes to the SEND system, addressing the challenges faced by disabled children, those identified as having special educational needs and their families, in securing appropriate education provision. The public consultation will be open for responses until 22nd July.
The government originally announced in 2019 that it would carry out a review of the special educational needs and disability (SEND) system in England. This was in order to find out what had been achieved by the major reforms introduced to the SEND system in 2014. When the Children and Families Act had been introduced in 2014, it was intended to overhaul a system which was no longer seen as fit for purpose, and to re-ignite parental confidence in the system. By 2019 the proportion of children attending separate special schools had already started to rise, as shown by CSIE’s Trends reports among other reports.
The Review found that:
Children, young people and families’ experiences of the SEND and alternative provision system are negative;
Both SEND and the alternative provision system are financially unsustainable;
There is inconsistency across the SEND system regarding how and where needs are assessed; and
That a vicious cycle is driving these challenges through late intervention, low confidence across the system, and inefficient resource allocation.
Parents have been highly critical of the postcode lottery facing their disabled children. One of the primary proposals set out in the Review is the establishment of a single, national SEND and alternative provision system, to account for the variation in outcomes for children and young people with SEND across schools, local areas, and regions. Although there is supposedly an existing system for SEND across England, the Department for Education acknowledges that this is ineffective, and that many disabled children and young people have been failed by their schools or local authorities.
The new review sets out national standards for SEND, which decide which needs of disabled children and young people should, and can, be effectively accommodated within mainstream educational settings, and which would be better addressed in special and alternative provision schools. It should be noted, however, that the national SEND standards do not set out the obligations of public bodies in education, or their role in supporting the inclusion of all disabled children and young people within mainstream education settings. The presumption of segregated education settings for disabled children and young people violates their human rights to inclusive education.
Among the proposals is also a simplified EHCP system, with a new legal requirement for councils to introduce ‘local inclusion plans’ that will combine early years education, schools and further education with health and care services. The Government has also set out a new process for naming a school or college place in a child or young person’s EHCP, meaning parents will only be able to express a preference for a ‘tailored list’ offered by local authorities, rather than being able to request any school. It is worrying that families’ choices are being restricted in this way, with focus being drawn to which provisions are available in the local area, rather than to individual children’s needs.
The Government has set out its plans to offer ‘excellent provision’ for disabled children and young people, to allow schools to be more inclusive to more students, with the aim of increasing the numbers of disabled children in mainstream schools. The main focus of this section of the Review is workforce development. This includes the introduction of mandatory teaching training with SEND children and young people, and new guidance for teaching assistants. The Government also plans to increase funding for traineeship places.
Concerningly, the government is also planning to expand alternative provision, despite this having drawn heavy criticism. Alternative provision, which covers education settings outside of mainstream and special schools, is a form of segregated education, meaning the government is once again acting in opposition to its obligation to promote inclusive education for all. The IntegratED partnership, which aims to reduce preventable school exclusions and improve the education received by excluded children, identifies ‘vast inconsistencies in quality across the sector and some AP pupils do not receive the high-quality education and support they require and deserve.’
The Review has been heavily criticised for its lack of substance. Simone Apsis, of the The Alliance for Inclusive Education denounced the review, saying ‘we do not need any more reviews. We need action now’, and criticising the Government’s ‘total disregard for the continuing systematic attack on disabled pupils’ and students’ human rights to inclusive education.’
Crucially, the SEND Review does not draw upon the UNCRPD Monitoring Committee’s recommendations to focus on the development of a national inclusive education system. Instead, the new proposals will further embed some of the existing issues with the SEND system, resulting in the further regression of disabled children and young people’s rights to inclusive education. The Government also stresses that this Review should be read in conjunction with the Schools White Paper, published a day earlier, but CSIE sees no reason why these were not released as part of the same document. The Green Paper seems to uphold practices of separation, suggesting that some disabled children and young people must be placed in segregated education settings.
Note: some of the documents on this page are in PDF format. In order to view a PDF you will need Adobe Acrobat Reader
Page last updated: Tuesday 26 September 2023