It is vital that young people with disabilities can access the services they need for a good education. I am assured that the system for identifying and meeting the needs of children with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) is designed to deliver the right support where it is needed.
To be awarded teacher status, all trainees must satisfy the teachers’ standards, including a requirement that they have a clear understanding of the needs of SEND pupils and are able to support them. I am pleased that the Whole School SEND Consortium has been awarded a contract to embed SEND within approaches to school improvement and to equip the school workforce to deliver high quality teaching for all pupils with SEND. The programme of work includes building a Community of Practice with the involvement of 15,000 schools across the eight Regional School Commissioner regions.
It is a legal requirement for qualified teachers of classes of pupils with sensory impairments to hold the relevant Mandatory Qualification for Sensory Impairment (MQSI). To offer MQSIs, providers must be approved by the Department for Education (DfE). The Government has developed a new approval process to determine providers of MQSIs from the start of the 2023/24 academic year. The Government's aim is to ensure a steady supply of teachers of children with visual, hearing and multi-sensory impairments, in both specialist and mainstream settings.
In March 2022, the DfE announced High Needs Provision Capital Allocations (HNPCA) amounting to over £1.4 billion of new investment. Prior to this, the Government had also invested a total of £300 million HNPCA funding in the 2021/22 financial year and £365 million through the Special Provision Capital Fund from the 2018/19 financial year to the 2020/21 financial year.
The Government has also pledged to introduce a number of measures, including increasing the total investment in the schools' budget with an additional £1 billion during the 2022-23 academic year to support children and young people with the most complex needs. A further £2.6 billion will be invested over the next three years to deliver new places and improve existing provision for SEND pupils.
As you may be aware, the Government recently published its Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) and Alternative Provision (AP) Improvement Plan and I have been working with the Minister on the SEND Review. The Improvement Plan sets out that the Government will establish a single national system that delivers for every child and young person with special educational needs and disabilities from birth to age 25 so that they enjoy their childhood, achieve good outcomes, and are well prepared for their next step, whether that’s employment, higher education or adult services.
The plan included a number of commitments to train teachers of children and young people with sensory impairments. As part of this, the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education (IfATE) is developing an apprenticeship for teachers of sensory impairment. They are working with universities, local authorities and sector representatives, including the National Deaf Children’s Society, the Royal National Institute of Blind People and the British Association of Teachers of Deaf Children and Young People to develop the qualification. Subject to approval by IfATE, the apprenticeship will be published this year and will be delivered in 2025, allowing for providers to prepare the courses for delivery.
(February 2023)
