supporting inclusion, challenging exclusion
news & events
Free conference on inclusion
11 December 2024
As our work to create the CSIE archive draws to a close, we are delighted to announce that we will hold a public event in Bristol on 17 January.
This will be a belated 40th birthday celebration for CSIE, as well as an opportunity to explore the development of inclusive education and CSIE's role in it.
The event will be of interest to teachers, senior leaders, governors, parents, local authority officers, students, lecturers, researchers, and anyone else with an interest in inclusive education.
It will take place at the University of Bristol's Humanities Gallery, 7 Woodland Road, Bristol BS8 1TB, 10:30 am - 3:30 pm on Friday 17 January 2025.
This event is free to attend, thanks to a grant from the National Lottery Heritage Fund to whom we remain grateful.
For more information and to book your place please go to https://CSIEconf2025.eventbrite.co.uk
Curriculum and Assessment Review
26 November 2024
CSIE has responded to the Department for Education's call for evidence towards the Curriculum and Assessment Review. CSIE's main response was included in the response from the collective voice of the Special Educational Consortium. In its additional submission CSIE drew particular attention to the following issues:
- Embracing the social model of disability and understanding disability as an ordinary part of human diversity are at the heart of developing a more equitable education system, which expects educators to have high aspirations for all children and young people, and which responds to the needs of all learners with equal commitment and effectiveness.
- Under the Equality Act 2010 schools have a duty to advance equality of opportunity between people who share a protected characteristic and those who do not. The current system's increasing reliance on separate "special" schools, however, means that instead of receiving the support needed to access learning in their local community, many disabled children and young people receive so-called “special” provision instead of what is offered to their peers. The Curriculum and Assessment Review can set a good example of how such equality of opportunity can be pursued.
- The Equality Act also places a duty on all schools to make Reasonable Adjustments so that disabled children and young people are not at a disadvantage. Recent evidence suggests that many schools are reluctant to welcome children with labels of SEN or disability. The Review offers a great opportunity to articulate a range of Reasonable Adjustments which can make the Curriculum, and the Assessment process, more accessible for disabled children and young people.
- Initial Teacher Education and Continued Professional Development will also need to be revised, to support a transformation of attitudes and cultures in a way which places children and young people with labels of SEND at the centre of the education system, rather than in the periphery or as an afterthought.
- The global call to develop more inclusive education remains strong (for example through the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and Sustainable Development Goal #4) and the UK has been repeatedly criticised by UN Committees for its slow progress towards developing more inclusive education.
- Finally, CSIE suggested that the entire model of financing inclusive education is thoroughly reviewed, bearing in mind that: a) changing systems of financing inclusive education is a key lever for achieving more widespread inclusion; and b) countries which implement a financing model based on funding services provided, have greater success compared to countries where funding is based on some aspect of individual need (e.g. types or categories of need).
The cost of SEND as a bolt-on
13 November 2024
The Public Accounts Committee invited CSIE to submit evidence to the inquiry into support for children and young people with special educational needs. In its response CSIE drew attention to the following issues:
- Since the introduction of the Children and Families Act the education system has become less inclusive. Increasing numbers of children and young people are identified as having SEN or as being disabled, are not in mainstream schools, and are achieving poor outcomes. Parents are frustrated at the lack of provision to meet their children’s needs. And there is growing concern that the financial impact of this system is becoming unsustainable
- The lack of national commitment to inclusive education has left inclusion as a moral choice for school leaders. The consequence is that too many children and young people are not accessing the education that they need, do not feel welcome in school, and outcomes for them are poor.
- The capacity of schools to respond to children with a range of SEN and disabilities continues to be significantly affected by the availability of specialist local education, health and care services. In recent years, there has been significant erosion of local specialist services such as educational psychologists, speech and language therapists, physiotherapists, autism outreach, teachers of the deaf and other sensory specialist teachers.
- This review by the Public Accounts Committee represents an opportunity to review the architecture of our education system as a whole, rather than revisit the detail of the SEN system. In order to ensure inclusive and equitable quality education for all, as Sustainable Goal no. 4 invites every country to do, planning for SEND issues needs to be built in, not bolted on. This is a welcome opportunity to build capacity in schools and strengthen inclusion, with careful consideration of key issues such as curriculum & assessment, teacher education, workforce planning, the disability duties in the Equality Act 2010, and funding (and in particular considering recent research suggesting that countries which implement a financing model based on funding services provided, have greater success compared to countries where funding is based on some aspect of individual need, e.g. types or categories of need).
- Finally, in its response CSIE expressed concern that many of the approaches put forward to date focus on driving down demand, rather than managing the drivers of that demand. In effect, they are designed to address high costs, and not the poor outcomes and parental dissatisfaction that are driving the high costs. There are no quick fixes, only long-term solutions. The clear articulation of a core set of values should frame the range of reforms that are required. Without clarity on values, any developments to address the long-standing problems of the system are likely to exacerbate, rather gradually resolve, these problems.
Spotlight on CSIE's history
23 October 2024
The CSIE archive has been taking shape through the collaborative work of CSIE staff, a local historian, a consultant archivist, our project co-ordinator and a small team of volunteer archivists.
Ongoing work to create the CSIE archive has been taking place at the University of Bristol, to whom we remain grateful for the hospitality.
Sorting through 42 years of history has been a fascinating process, and we are regularly surprised and excited at the richness of the material coming to light: documents from the creation of CSIE's Inclusion Charter and the Index for Inclusion, from the drafting of Article 24 (Education) of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, alongside unique artefacts notable to historians of graphic design and web development.
We are now looking to recruit a film-maker to work with us on the production of an engaging short documentary about the work and heritage of CSIE and its story as part of the wider movement towards more inclusive education. For more information and to express an interest please write to us at admin@csie.org.uk.
We remain grateful to the National Lottery Heritage Fund and to National Lottery players for making this project possible.
We are delighted to announce that we have received almost 20,000 in National Lottery funding, which will enable us to start a new project working with parents in Bristol.
The Bristol SEND community support project is expected to run from September 2024 until July 2025. The project aims to help families support their children s development as effectively as possible, while also improving their own mental health.
The new funding from the National Lottery Community Fund, which distributes money raised by National Lottery players for good causes, will enable us to work with small groups of parents in eight locations across Bristol.
The National Lottery Community Fund recently launched its strategy 'It starts with community', which will underpin its efforts to distribute at least 4 billion of National Lottery funding by 2030.
We are very excited at this opportunity to empower and support parents in Bristol, and offer our most heartfelt thanks to the National Lottery Community Fund and to National Lottery players for making this possible.
Happy Birthday CSIE!
28 June 2024
On this day CSIE celebrates 42 years of remarkable achievements!
Founded in 1982 as the Centre for Studies on Integration in Education, CSIE took on its current name in the 1990s. The Centre has continued to evolve, has expanded its remit to address equality in education holistically, and has remained at the forefront of developments in inclusive education.
Within the past year alone, CSIE has:
- Won the public vote in Tesco stores in south Bristol and was awarded 1,500 towards disability awareness workshops for pupils
- Delivered Equality, Diversity & Inclusion (EDI) training in Solihull attracting excellent feedback, eg Extremely wise delivery
- Delivered bespoke training for staff and over 1,000 students at Westgate school in Slough
- Embarked on the process of archiving CSIE s rich history, thanks to a grant from the National Lottery Heritage Fund
- Received a prestigious grant which will be announced next week
- Continued to be represented at the steering group of the Special Educational Consortium
- Invited to take part in new European project to support inclusion in Early Years and primary schools
- Presented at The Future of SEND national conference in Manchester.
- Presented at The Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) Conference 2024 (online event)
- Presented at local event in Milton Keynes
- Presented at the Policymaker s Forum at the Zero Project Conference in Vienna
- Presented at The development of Education in the Czech Republic and in Europe conference in Most, Czech Republic
We remain committed to the vision that all children are safe, included and learning in their local school, and hope to continue getting closer to this vision in the days, months and years to come. We wish to thank all our supporters, 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 at the cutting edge of developing inclusive education!
The CSIE archive is taking shape
21 June 2024
Our wonderful project co-ordinator and team of volunteers, all history students at the University of Bristol, have been working hard alongside our Consultant Archivist and CSIE staff. Ongoing work to create the CSIE archive has been taking place at the University of Bristol, to whom we remain grateful for the hospitality.
Sorting through 42 years of history has been a fascinating process, and we are often surprised and excited at the richness of the material coming to light.
As the work progresses, we are delighted that the Centre for Disability Studies at the University of Leeds has expressed an interest in hosting the archive.
Seeing the CSIE archive take shape is fascinating and exciting in equal measure! We remain grateful to the National Lottery Heritage Fund and to National Lottery players for making this possible!
Bespoke support for school
31 May 2024
We were delighted to be invited by Westgate School in Slough to support their work on developing a more inclusive school.
Earlier this month we led a training event for all staff, which focused on reviewing the learning environment and exploring practical ways of making the school as inclusive as possible for everyone.
The workshop was framed around the 9 protected characteristics of the Equality Act 2010 and stressed the importance, and the school s legal obligation, to ensure students learn about all 9 of these characteristics and understand how essential it is that every aspect of a person s identity is respected.
Last week we led workshops for over 1,000 students in years 7, 8, 9, 10 and year 12. These workshops were also framed around the 9 protected characteristics and focused on the 7 that are most relevant to students while they are at school (age, disability, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, ethnicity and religion).
We used the power flower , a self-reflection tool created by Canadian social change educators, and invited every student to think about each of these aspects of their identity. We also asked them to reflect on how each of these aspects of their identity may give them or take away from them any sense of power or privilege.
We also spoke about how we do not get to choose who we are, though we do have a choice of how to express our identity and how to interact with others. This gave us a chance to think about how we respond to difference, and to reflect on the importance of treating everyone with respect.
As part of this conversation we also explored the impact of our behaviour on others. With the older students, we considered the relationship between bullying in school and hate crime in society (so, the realisation that treating others badly is usually called bullying in schools and has some consequences, and yet similar behaviours outside of school may be seen as unlawful discrimination, might even be classed as a hate crime, and carry far more serious consequences).
At the end of each workshop we asked students to write down their answers to three questions: what they most liked about this workshop, what they would like the school to do and what they are willing to do, to make the school a more welcoming and more inclusive place for everyone.
We were very impressed with the level of engagement from students, and with their answers to these questions. Many of them told us that they liked how the workshop made them think, and how they learnt new things. In response to what they would like the school to do, a number of students said that they would like more workshops like this. And in response to the last question, what they are willing to do, a large number of students said that they will try to be kinder to others.
We find this a very promising response and look forward to working with Westgate school again in the future, to support the development of inclusion, and help ensure that every student finds the school a welcoming place and feels a sense of belonging.
Another international honour
25 March 2024
Last week CSIE was represented at a conference in Most, Czech Republic, to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Zdenek Matejcek Primary School.
We were particularly honoured to receive this invitation, as CSIE had also been invited to contribute to a similar event in 2018, following a number of engagements in Prague.
Our director, Dr Artemi Sakellariadis, represented CSIE and spoke about inclusive education as a human rights issue.
She put forward a rationale for inclusive education, based on children s rights as these are stated in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, the Salamanca Statement and the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. She also described the current education system in England and spoke about how CSIE is supporting the development of more inclusive education.
As with other invitations to share CSIE s voice (for example at The Future of SEND national conference in Manchester last month) we were delighted to share CSIE s perspective and feel honoured to see our work being appreciated.
CSIE response to the Department for Education s consultation on non-statutory guidance on gender questioning children
13 March 2024
CSIE has responded to the Department for Education s consultation on the draft Guidance for Schools and Colleges: Gender Questioning Children.
In its response, CSIE argued that the draft guidance is not fit for purpose. It is inconsistent with existing law and statutory guidance, there is no Easy Read version, and the consultation document itself has been presented in a form which looks more like government guidance than a consultation document. As a result, it has been widely misunderstood, even mis-represented in the media, as the long-awaited guidance that schools have to follow.
CSIE s response also stated that are significant gaps in the guidance, for example the absence of any reference to neurodiversity, learning difficulties or any other issues of SEND, and no reference to the intersection of trans and SEND identities. These issues need to be explored and understood by educators who will be called upon to support children and young people who are questioning their gender identity.
There are also significant conflicts with existing legislation and statutory guidance.
The Equality Act 2010 protects all trans people regardless of age, so there is no justification for a blanket ban in primary schools in fact that would seem unlawful.
Keeping Children Safe in Education (KCSIE) places a statutory duty on schools to safeguard and promote the well-being of all pupils, yet the proposed guidance invites staff to act in ways which undermine trans pupils' well-being particularly suggestions that staff should ignore pupil wishes and disregard their identities, for example by not adhering to requests for change of name, pronouns or use of spaces. Such practices would also be in conflict with the Equality Act s Public Sector Equality Duty, especially the duty to eliminate harassment and discrimination.
Further, KCSIE states that sharing with parents an LGBT disclosure may not be in the pupils' best interest and could constitute a breach of confidentiality. The draft guidance says that parents should be informed, which is in direct conflict with existing statutory guidance and, potentially, with young people s well-being.
Our response further suggested that if a "watchful waiting" period is interpreted as a blanket policy for no immediate action, this could prove detrimental for some young people who have waited a long time before confiding in an adult and are ready for things to begin to change.
International recognition for CSIE
26 February 2024
We are honoured to have been invited to contribute to the Zero Project s Policymaker Forum, during last week s Zero Project Conference 2024 in Vienna.
The Zero Project is an international organisation working for a world with zero barriers. It promotes the rights of disabled people globally, according to the principles and Articles of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
The Policymaker Forum was an opportunity to exchange ideas and best practices, as well as serve as a platform for creating impactful change. Our director, Dr Artemi Sakellariadis, represented CSIE and spoke alongside representatives of the European Agency for Special Needs and Inclusive Education, and the Ministries of Education of Italy, Spain and Sweden.
The outcomes of the Forum will be compiled into a publication which will be distributed at significant policy events, including the Conference of State Parties.
Thanks again to the Zero Project for this invitation, we were delighted to contribute to this remarkable event!
Heritage Fund makes archiving CSIE possible
16 January 2024
We are honoured and delighted to announce that we have been awarded a grant by the National Lottery Heritage Fund to archive CSIE s rich 40+ year history!
The project will involve researching CSIE records, collating stories & publications, and producing a short documentary film on the history of inclusive education in this country, with a focus on the history and heritage of CSIE. There will also be a celebratory event at the end of the project.
We are now looking to recruit a project co-ordinator and four volunteers who will meet in Bristol for 2-3 hours each week for up to six months. For more information and to express an interest, please visit www.smartsurvey.co.uk/s/CSIE-archiving-project
We are delighted at the prospect of embarking on this project and offer our most heartfelt thanks to the National Lottery Heritage Fund and to National Lottery players for making this possible!
Disability Awareness Workshops for Pupils
01 August 2023
For anyone at or near south Bristol: you can help local schools secure a great offer, if you shop at Tesco and use your token to vote for CSIE.
We are in the customer vote for a Tesco Stronger Starts project, so up to three local schools will enjoy CSIE s Disability Awareness Workshops for Pupils at significantly reduced rates: 300 for a whole day of workshops, instead of our usual rate of 800!
The number of schools benefitting will depend on the number of votes CSIE receives in local stores throughout the summer so please look out for us and pop your token in the CSIE slot!
Our engaging and thought-provoking workshops get consistently excellent feedback: 95-100% of participants say on anonymous feedback forms that they found the workshop helpful.
Voting closes on Saturday 30 September. Please support us when you shop at Tesco in south Bristol: the more votes we get, the more pupils we'll reach in local schools!
Participating stores are:
5515 Bristol Clare St Exp BS1 1XR 6352 Bristol Paragon Exp BS1 2HJ 5235 Wine St Bristol Exp BS1 2PH 2129 Bristol Broadmead BS1 3DW 5247 Blenheim Ct Brstl Exp BS1 3LA 6040 College Bristol Exp BS1 5SP 6138 Bristol Canons Exp BS1 5TY 3424 Whitchurch Express BS14 9HX 5800 Bristol St Nth Exp BS3 1HZ 5366 Bedminster Brstl Exp BS3 3NN 3302 Totterdown Express BS3 4RJ 6132 Bristol Axbri Rd Exp BS4 2RX 2141 Brislington Extra BS4 5AY
Happy Birthday CSIE!
28 June 2023
Today CSIE celebrates 41 years of remarkable achievements! Founded on 28 June 1982 as the Centre for Studies on Integration in Education, CSIE took on its current name in the 1990s. The Centre has continued to evolve and has expanded its remit to cover all aspects of equality in education, while retaining its passion for disability equality. Within the past year, CSIE has:
- Recruited two full-time Equality Officers, thanks to the generous support of our funders, expanding the team to achieve an even stronger impact.
- Accepted invitations to speak at national and international events, including an international conference in Indonesia. CSIE was also represented at the Zero Project Conference 2023 in Vienna, accepting a special invitation.
- Submitted its response to the Green Paper on the SEND Review.
- Continued to deliver Disability Awareness Workshops for pupils, which as ever received excellent feedback. These workshops are designed to tackle prejudice and stereotypes, and are one of CSIE s key tools to promote inclusion of disabled people in schools and society.
- Continued its collaboration with the Metropolitan Borough of Solihull to design an Inclusion Audit Tool which has been successfully rolled out across the Local Authority. Solihull schools continue to access further CSIE support for their inclusion journey through our workshops and consultation. As part of our work in Solihull, we attended their Head Teacher s Conference where Professor Mel Ainscow, a good friend and supporter of CSIE, made a powerful contribution on Inclusion and implications for Leaders.
- Delivered our workshop, Equality: Making it Happen to all Bristol Designated Safeguarding Leads.
- Continued to be represented on the steering group of the Special Education Consortium, a national forum lobbying for the right to high-quality education. This gave our director an opportunity to present to the DfE CSIE s concerns about the SEND and AP Improvement Plan.
With so much achieved this year, we look forward to our continued collaborations with local authorities across the UK. These collaborations ensure inclusion continues to be a priority for those in Education, and through these CSIE will work with individual settings within the LAs. The coming months will see us continue to develop and deliver our workshops and resources, all designed to promote and encourage equality and inclusive practice at all age levels, building a more inclusive education system with practical ideas for educators to use in their classrooms and around school.
Serious Concerns Expressed. Again.
06 June 2023
Several serious concerns have been expressed by the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child in its most recent round of feedback for the UK. The Committee is the body of 18 independent experts that monitors implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) in all countries and, following each examination, it publishes its Concluding Observations. The Committee has carried out five examinations of the UK since the Convention was ratified in 1991 and on each occasion has urged the UK to create systems of inclusion and belonging for all children. The most recent examination of the UK took place in May 2023 and, in its Concluding Observations published on 2 June, the Committee once again expressed similar concerns.
Children have the right to education.
The Committee has said that the UK must strengthen measures to address inequalities in educational attainment and improve educational outcomes for children in disadvantaged situations. This includes children from socioeconomic disadvantage, ethnic minority groups, children who have asylum-seeking, refugee, or migrant status, children with impairments, children who identify as trans- or gender-questioning, and children with caring responsibilities.
The report states the UK Government should Ensure inclusive education in mainstream schools for all [disabled children], by adapting curricula and training and assigning specialised teachers and professionals in integrated classes, so that children with disabilities and learning difficulties receive individual support and due attention. Proactive steps for inclusion must be made in the face of budget shortfalls, as it appears there have not been many gains on this conclusion since the UK s ratification of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.
Children have the right to be treated equally.
Persistent discrimination remains a deep concern, specifically, expressions of racism and bullying against children in disadvantaged situations, including children belonging to minority groups and lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender children and that there is insufficient progress in ensuring protection of all children under 18 years of age against discrimination not to mention the overrepresentation of marginalised children who are in the criminal justice system and who are living in poverty. Discriminatory practices disproportionately affect children from minority groups, such as; exclusions, colonised curricula, access to digital devices and assistive technology, academic selection and testing, use of restraint and seclusion, and unnecessary stop-and-search checks.
The report urges the educational and legislative sectors to Ensure the teaching of children s rights and the principles of the Convention within the mandatory school curricula in all educational settings and in the training of teachers and education professionals and to evaluate and publish data on the impact of the Prevent Strategy on children s rights and discriminatory attitudes and practices that come by stigmatising specific minority groups regularly and routinely.
The report also states that the UK must Increase efforts to eliminate discrimination and bullying, including cyberbullying, on the grounds of race, sexual orientation, gender identity or sex characteristics, disability, migration or other status in the school context, and ensure that such measures: (i) are adequately resourced and developed in consultation with children; (ii) address the root causes of bullying; and (iii) encompass prevention, early detection mechanisms, awareness-raising on its harmful effects, the empowerment of children, mandatory training for teachers, intervention protocols and consistent and robust recording and monitoring of bullying behaviour.
Children have a right to be heard.
The historical embedding of the trop, children should be seen and not heard, has led to a societal stigma that ignores and oppresses the voices of children. The committee specifically points out the need to ensure that disabled children s voices are heard in all decisions that affect them.
The Committee calls on the UK to Ensure the right of all children, including younger children, [disabled children] and children in care, to express their views and to have them taken into account in all decisions affecting them, including in courts and relevant judicial proceedings and regarding domestic violence, custody, placement in alternative care, health, including mental health treatment, education, justice, migration and asylum.
To support an increased and meaningful participation of children in society, the Committee suggests that the UK develop mechanisms to ensure that the outcomes of children s and youth parliaments are systematically fed into public decision-making and Ensure that all relevant professionals working with and for children systematically receive appropriate training on the right of the child to be heard and to have his or her opinions taken into account.
They recommend that pupil voice be recognised as valid and that it is amplified in decision making to ensure a more equitable approach to developing policies and procedures involving children.
Children have a right to receive adequate and timely health care.
The Committee emphasises the need for stronger systems and reduced wait times for early detection and intervention for disabled children to improve access to education, health care, and social services. It calls for improvement in the social integration and individual development of disabled children centred on the rights of the child and based on the specific needs of each child.
Sharing its deep concern about long waiting lists for children seeking mental health services and the large number of children with mental health issues, learning disabilities and autism placed in detention and adult psychiatric wards under the Mental Health Act 1983 , the Committee also highlights the need to address the overrepresentation of children belonging to minority groups in inpatient mental health care, specifically naming children with autism and disabled children.
The Committee suggests that the UK Develop adequately funded mental health services that are tailored to the specific needs of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex children, migrant children, [disabled children] and young carers , including through sufficient investments in specialist services; screening for mental health issues and early intervention services in schools and that this work is supported across the social sector.
Sadly, most of this feedback is a repetition of earlier Concluding Observation reports. It is essential that the UK takes action to further the equality work needed to embed children s rights in our society.
The Committee recommends that the UK Government: a) ensure that action plans include a special focus on children in disadvantaged situations, b) adopt a national strategy for awareness-raising of children s rights among the public and promote the active involvement of children in public outreach activities, and c) develop the systematic training on children s rights, the Convention, and the Optional Protocols thereto for all professionals working for and with children.
CSIE will continue to champion equality until every child has equitable access to reach their fullest potential.
Not even talking the talk?
04 March 2023
It is not unusual to read a document which appears committed to inclusion, and to wonder if its intention is to create inclusive change or just pay lip-service to it. When we see that someone is talking the talk , we are keen to see if they will walk the walk .
On this occasion, we were surprised to see that this latest offering from the Department for Education (DfE) is not even talking the talk. First it speaks of a strong commitment to developing inclusive education, then it announces plans to strengthen alternative provision and prepare teachers to work in separate settings. This flies in the face of inclusion and goes against the spirit of the Equality Act and its commitment to disability equality.
We offer below a bit more information on what this document is, and why we suggest it is not even talking the talk.
The government announced in 2019 that it would carry out an SEND Review, to explore the impact of the Children and Families Act 2014 on children and young people with labels of SEND. It is important to remember that this Act had been introduced in order to overhaul the previous statutory framework, which was no longer seen as fit for purpose, and to re-ignite parental confidence in the system.
In March 2022 the DfE published the SEND Review: Right Support, Right Place, Right Time as a Green Paper which was open to consultation from relevant and interested parties. The Review concluded that there are three main issues causing concern: frustrated parents and young people; poor outcomes for children & young people with labels of SEND; and unsustainable financial strain on the system. These are alarmingly similar to the failings of the previous framework, so the Children and Families Act does not seem to have solved the problems it set out to address.
CSIE responded to the consultation through the collective voice of the Special Educational Consortium and an additional submission of our own. We argued that the issues causing concern have more to do with implementation of the Act and that, therefore, there is no need to amend existing legislation or statutory guidance
And now, one year on from the publication of the Green Paper, the DfE has published the SEND and Alternative Provision Improvement Plan , outlining how it intends to move forward in light of the consultation responses received.
Inclusive education for all remains CSIE s top priority, so our initial response to this publication was one of excitement. Despite the reservations we had expressed regarding the Green Paper, we were excited to see how this would set out inclusive education as a prime concern and area for improvement.
Before we go any further, let us ensure we clarify how inclusion in education is defined. We take our definition from the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, of which Article 24 (Education) calls for an inclusive system at all levels . General Comment no. 4, which explains what Article 24 means by inclusion, clarifies the meaning of four key terms: exclusion, segregation, integration and inclusion. Exclusion, not mentioned in Article 24, is when children are not in school. Segregation, also not mentioned at all in Article 24, is defined as the education of disabled children in separate settings, isolated from non-disabled children. Integration, it says, is the process of placing disabled children in existing mainstream institutions and expecting them (the children) to adjust to the requirements of these institutions. Inclusion, on the other hand, is the process of systemic reform involving changes in content, methods, approaches, structures and strategies in education, so that all children can have an equitable and participatory learning experience. This is what Article 24 means by inclusive education, and this is the definition we have adopted.
Now to the Improvement Plan. Please notice first how Alternative Provision has been added to the title of the document. Alternative provision was not mentioned when the SEND Review was launched, it had a prominent place in the content of the Green Paper, and now appears in the title of the Improvement Plan. Strengthening Alternative Provision is a particular way of addressing some of the issues causing concern. Building capacity in schools, thereby strengthening inclusion, is another way to address exactly the same issues, but this is hardly mentioned in the Improvement Plan.
With the jarring addition of Alternative Provision aside, the Plan begins positively. Within the first few paragraphs of the Executive Summary, we read that inclusion is indeed a priority, with the document stating that the proposed new National Standards will set out types of support that should be ordinarily available in mainstream settings . A promising start, focussing on including children in their local school, rather than keeping that door locked for some of them.
This is where the repetition of thematic contradiction begins. There is frequent mention of inclusion as an aspiration, while all the improvements in the plan focus on increasing segregation.
Let s refresh our memory of the existing SEND Code of Practice which states that schools and colleges must use their best endeavours to ensure that such provision is made for those who need it and that the UK government is committed to inclusive education of disabled children and young people and the progressive removal of barriers to learning and participation in mainstream education . We use this as our mainstay; children should be educated in their local school, and all schools should aim to meet their needs under the public sector equality duty l duty to make reasonable adjustments more on this later. One would hope that any new legislation would emphasise this requirement, not least because research has repeatedly shown that inclusive education benefits all children more on this, too, later. However, this new Plan separates and segregates by highlighting Alternative Provision in its very title and proposed changes. Planning for an increase in Alternative Provision is planning for more segregation, it is as simple as that. CSIE sees this as committing to a direction of travel away from inclusion, away from the stated intention of the Code of Practice and away from the requirements of the Equality Act, the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, both of which the UK has signed and ratified.
The Improvement Plan says that the government is approving a tranche of applications from local authorities to open new special free schools and that it is committed to delivering alternative provision that is fully integrated with the wider SEND system .
In our opinion, and we are certainly not alone in our thinking, more special schools and alternative provision does not inclusion make.
The Plan claims that it will Extend funding until March 2025 of the alternative provision specialist taskforce (APST) pilot programme, which is testing co-location of a diverse specialist workforce in pilot alternative provision schools . This sounds to us like a plan to strengthen segregation, especially as no funding is announced to support building capacity in ordinary schools. We struggle to understand the purpose of creating isolated groups of experts when the need is in mainstream settings. This is even more baffling, when one notices the contradiction between the evidence and the Plan. As the Plan itself states: when children and young people who are in alternative provision were asked what would have helped them stay in their mainstream school, the most common answer was teacher training in SEND .
Throughout the Improvement Plan, we read about the implementation of new alternative provision, the opening of special schools and the use of specialised staff to increase access to learning and benefit existing educational staff and new teachers.
We welcome the suggestion of building SEND issues into Initial Teacher Training (ITT) this is, indeed, long overdue but are rather alarmed at the Improvement Plan s suggestions. We are deeply concerned at the suggestion of appropriate use of special schools for ITT placements , which is intended to enable expertise from special schools and alternative provision . Just this. Just planning to learn from examples of segregated provision. How can teachers be expected to work effectively in inclusive settings, if ITT is not squarely focussed on drawing from the established range of inclusive practice? How can every teacher become a teacher of SEND, if ITT does not equip them to work in inclusive settings? Has the commitment to inclusion, stated in the Code of Practice, been overlooked? How can the progressive removal of barriers to learning and participation in mainstream education ever happen, if ITT does not adequately prepare our future workforce for inclusion?
The Plan tells us that its proposals and we won t repeat here our assertion that there is no need for new legislation or guidance, all the more if it is not evidence-based will not come into effect for another two years. It does not say what will happen in the meantime. 2025 is too late for the children with labels of SEND who are in school now. No amount of consultation and new legislation will impact their inclusion right now. What would be beneficial to them immediately? Well trained staff with the necessary level of comfort and expertise to work with these children and young people in their local mainstream setting. We do not see much from the Improvement Plan that alleviates our concerns over the lack of this, now or in the next few years.
It is heartening to see a promise to give more guidance to increase awareness of schools duties under the Equality Act 2010 to prevent discrimination and to prevent discrimination from arising in the first place by supporting schools to comply with their duties under the Equality Act 2010 , but there is no mention of how. More to the point, one of the legal duties that schools have under the Equality Act is to make reasonable adjustments, in order to become more accessible. This is an anticipatory duty, which requires schools to identify institutional barriers to inclusion and work towards removing them. In other words, the Equality Act requires settings to become more accessible and include more disabled pupils, and this Improvement Plan sets out to drive pupils away from their local school. The Public Sector Equality Duty also places a duty on schools to foster good relations between disabled and non-disabled people. It is hard to imagine how the DfE will support schools to comply with this duty when it plans to send disabled pupils to different settings.
Ambivalent about the value of inclusion? You are not alone. But might you be thinking of integration? In line with the definitions mentioned above, placing children in their local school without the necessary support amounts to integration. And if you are witnessing integration and concluding that inclusion does not work, we would encourage you to think again.
When we consider the value of inclusion, the evidence is compelling. The Alana Institute s Summary of the Evidence on Inclusive Education reviewed 280 studies from 25 countries and concluded that there is clear and consistent evidence that inclusive educational settings can confer substantial short- and long-term benefits for students with and without disabilities . More specifically, this research confirms that the benefit of including disabled children in ordinary schools is twofold: a) it leads to improved educational outcomes not only for disabled children but for their non-disabled peers as well; and b) it better supports the social and emotional development of all children, disabled and non-disabled.
Who wouldn t want that for all children and young people? The wider implications of this for society are wonderful, with every generation we could see a step toward a more inclusive society, if inclusive education is the norm.
We can only hope that the DfE walks the walk sooner rather than later
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Page last updated: Friday 20 December 2024