Stakeholder engagement is an essential part of policymaking (Bromell, 2024) and being policy-active is generally considered an important aspect of professionalism (Muller and Cook, 2024). As the professional body for teachers, we therefore see it as our responsibility to facilitate dialogue between policy and practice in order to ensure that any new policies are both theoretically sound and practically feasible.

As part of this work, we regularly host Fellow roundtables that bring together policymakers and practitioners to discuss current issues in teaching and learning. 

After each roundtable event, we will write a short blog summarising the main points of discussion to share with you and the wider education community, in order to enable discussions to continue beyond the meetings and among networks across the country. We hope that these write-ups will also encourage many more of you to attend and share your views in the future.

In November 2024, we were delighted to bring together a large number of Chartered College Fellows for a SEND-focussed roundtable with colleagues from the Department for Education (DfE). In light of the ongoing Curriculum and Assessment Review as well as Ofsted’s consultation on its new inspection framework, we felt that it was important to share what this group of Fellows felt was needed to improve inclusion in our schools.

Representatives from primary, secondary, further education, specialist provision, and hospital schooling shared their first-hand experiences of SEND provision in school settings nationwide. 

The aim of the roundtable was to discuss issues but also to celebrate great practice and achievements despite ongoing challenges. 

The importance of agency and trust at school and teacher-level emerged as strong themes. 

We heard stories of schools offering bespoke curricula for SEND pupils, all whilst working within the confines of the National Curriculum, by embracing alternative pedagogical approaches to ensure pupils are well supported to access content. Representatives from Multi Academy Trusts (MATs) felt that the freedom around their curriculum design processes was beneficial. Colleagues in alternative provision also shared examples of how they met the needs of their students by having some freedom in how and what they delivered in their curriculum. Agency is an essential aspect of teacher professionalism and this debate highlighted that it appears to play a particularly important role in the context of SEND. 

The role of AI in assessment for students with SEND 

Some schools shared positive experiences of using AI to access and support assessment by both the students and teaching staff. Others raised concerns about AI causing potential unfairness and further widening the digital divide. The need for support and guidance on how best to use AI to support colleagues and pupils safely and fairly was raised.

Schools as crucial support systems in their communities

Numerous schools shared how they had set up additional resource provision to support the needs of their students. This required additional funding as central funding was insufficient to meet these needs. Additional support ranged from full units to informal support rooms, and all discussed the positive impact that this had on their pupils and communities. 

Educators’ expertise and dedication is key to success

The main strength of the current system is the undeniable expertise demonstrated by colleagues across the sector. Dedicated teams of learning support assistants (LSAs), teachers, and SEND specialists go above and beyond to ensure students are supported. We celebrated the growth in system-wide awareness from teachers and all school staff around adaptive practice and how this had improved from even just twelve months ago. The increase in Social Emotional Mental Health (SEMH) roles in schools was also noted. Leaders shared that they had to be creative with tight budgets to protect this service as they deemed it to be essential. The key takeaway was that schools are now trying to “fill the gaps in wider society” and doing all that they can, but it was also suggested that this was unsustainable. 

So what would make the system better? How could policymakers support the necessary change in schools? 

Flexibility in curriculum-making for all

As alluded to earlier, flexibility in curriculum-making was considered essential in supporting students’ needs. On the flipside, a lack of flexibility within the current system was considered to be a barrier by many. The volume of content that needs to be covered combined with restrictive success measures can lead to inappropriate pathways instead of what may be most suitable for individual children. Colleagues were keen to express that this was not about a lowering of standards but instead the flexibility to make school fair and engaging for all. Colleagues also called for a focus on physical and emotional health and protected time for students to be active throughout the day. This was discussed as beneficial for all but particularly for students with SEND.

Recruitment and retention of qualified support staff

Colleagues discussed the difficulties in recruiting and retaining qualified support staff who have the experience, knowledge, and skills to support the often complex needs of children and young people. Schools that were able to get funding for 1:1 support were then faced with a lack of candidates for the role. Teaching assistants and LSAs are becoming challenging to recruit, with pay and conditions cited as contributing factors. 

The need to increase funding 

Colleagues discussed the unavoidable need to increase funding in order to improve the system for young people. It was highlighted that funding has not increased in line with the rise of resourcing costs. Schools cannot continue to do more with less and less funding. 

Colleagues also spoke of the rising costs of specialist support for assessments, such as educational psychologists, and that due to the high need for these services, private firms have been able to monopolise the market and raise the costs.

The need to improve the wider support system

Colleagues spoke of local authorities each having their own system for applications, and suggestions were made to centralise the paperwork and evidence expectations so that the system is fair across the country. What was described as a “postcode lottery” for EHCP must stop so that all children have the support they need to succeed.

Another key discussion point was access to the professional and specialist support that students with SEND may need. Colleagues spoke of Child and Adolescents Mental Health Service’s (CAMHS) waiting lists of two to four years, and access to educational psychologists via privatised pathways. Again, the call was made for fair access to services across the country, including set prices to ensure that services are not overcharged to some standalone schools that have no central team of experts to help.

One colleague felt that the current system provides no incentive for schools to take on students with SEND and, in fact, the accountability and financial penalties mean that those schools who are inclusive are often penalised. This was illustrated when we discussed training and the fact that a lack of centralised training for SEND meant that some schools had to use their whole CPD budget for SEND training support, leaving other areas of school improvement under-resourced. 

Finally, colleagues reported on the growing disparity between parents who know the system and can fight for their children, and those who cannot. This can lead to support not necessarily being distributed to those most in need. Colleagues also referred to the growing litigious complexity of the system leading to parental frustration, with complaints about the system then being directed at school leaders. 

The actions we would like to see developed to support and improve the SEND system are as follows:

• Define the role of schools. It has moved beyond educating but boundaries need to be set to protect schools and staff
• Recognise and allow for curriculum design that is suitable to reach the needs of all learners
• Standardise paperwork and expectations across all authorities
• Develop a central bank of CPD, training and resources for all schools to access fairly
• Ensure SEND is a golden thread of ITT provision and ECT support
• Deliver funding that is fit for purpose and rises with at least the cost of living, acknowledging the rising costs to schools
• Create an inspection system that celebrates and incentivises inclusivity; including looking at the percentage of students with SEND being fairly distributed across all schools.