Rebuilding an inclusive education system

The Public Accounts Committee report on support for children and young people with special educational needs adds to a chorus of voices calling for urgent action to reform the systems.

Like the National Audit Office value for money report in October 2024, it illustrates both the magnitude of the problem and the lack of progress.

The picture is bleak; 1.9 million children and their families directly affected, over 40% of local authorities on a course for bankruptcy by March 2026 and little visible progress to set a new course.

That said, here at NDTi we feel there is cause for cautious optimism.

Firstly, it is never a bad thing when more people gain greater understanding of the nature and scale of a problem, these reports strengthen the case for action.

Secondly, while these reports catalogue a systemic failure of local and national government to support children and young people, they are reflections of the previous administration’s educational policy. The current administration, while yet unproven, has set out its desire for a different approach to inclusive education.

These are building blocks for change. As you might have guessed we are big fans of inclusion. Who isn’t? It's one of those concepts that is a bit like motherhood and apple pie, everyone’s a fan, it’s no surprise that government wants inclusive education but what does that mean in practice?

For us inclusion is not something that is done to you. The current narrow educational drive for academic achievement is a case in point. This is the opposite of an inclusive approach.

Boiling education down to the achievement of grades and incentivising schools to compete has not produced the desired outcomes.

Since 2014 grade attainment has shown little or no improvement, the attainment gaps have not closed and pupils, if you ask them, are less satisfied with their school experience.

In 2006 the Next Step Survey found that 84% of pupils said that “on the whole I like being at school”. By 2022 that number had dropped to 55%.

The Schools for All Report 2023 drawing on data from over 10,000 young people concluded:

• Many secondary schools have adopted teaching methods that many young people experience as alienating and stressful, particularly those with creative and practical interests and those who have special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).

Given that much of the increase in Special Educational Needs relates to an increase in social, emotional and mental health we would do well to listen these voices.

Many parents are increasingly concerned with the focus of the education system. The Parent Voice Survey in 2021 found 88% of parents deem mental health development as an important focus within the curriculum.

The Parson Survey of 7000 teachers found that 80% of all teachers believe that social and emotional development is as important as academic achievement.

There are no easy fixes to the current crisis but at NDTi we believe that building an inclusive education is the right approach.

Inclusion is an ongoing process not a destination. Given the years of division, disillusionment, the perverse incentives and conflict between stakeholders we will all have to work hard to create places and spaces to enable dialogue and finds solution that heals these rifts.

It’s time to rebalance who decides what the purpose of education is, it’s time that children and young people had their say.