CSIE has responded to the Department for Education’s Green Paper Support and aspiration: a new approach to special educational needs and disability. In its response, CSIE disputed the government’s unsubstantiated claim that there has been a bias towards inclusion and argued that government proposals suggest an underlying bias towards segregation. CSIE pointed out that the government’s commitment to parental choice confirms that parents “will be able to express a preference” but offers no assurances that this preference will be met. To the contrary, the Green Paper proposes a number of conditions that will have to be met, which effectively allow the status quo to remain unchallenged. For parents who might have been heartened by the promise of real choice, this can only add insult to injury.
In its response CSIE further argued that support for children does not necessarily improve by strengthening assessment and identification processes; made the case for funding to be targeted at services provided instead of being allocated according to perceived need of individual pupils; and commented on proposed changes to the Code of Practice and initial teacher education. CSIE expressed strong reservations at the suggestion that special schools could be granted academy status and warned on the likelihood of this backfiring on local authorities’ ability to ensure that appropriate provision is made available for all learners. CSIE suggested how the Local Offer can support the government’s commitment to offering a real choice to all parents. Finally, CSIE expressed significant concern at the way the Green Paper seems disconnected from the Education Bill, currently before Parliament, as well as the Equality Act 2010 and the UN Conventions on the Rights of the Child and on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, both of which the UK has ratified.
Department for Education’s Green Paper – Response from CSIE (Word, 272 Kb)
