The new (0-25) Special Educational Needs Code of Practice Implementing ‘Additional SEN Support’

The current SEN Code of Practice The current Special Educational Needs (SEN) Code of Practice is statutory guidance that provides advice to: local authorities, schools, early education settings and other professionals (including health and social care) on the legislation surrounding the educational provision for children and young people with special educational needs. These bodies have a legal duty to have regard to the Code. The current Code of Practice is in its 2nd edition and was last revised in 2001. The current Code of Practice covers education for children and young people with SEN in school settings. Post-16 is currently covered by statutory guidance to local authorities on Learning Difficulties Assessments (LDAs).

The new (0-25) SEN Code of Practice The new Code will be a single piece of statutory guidance to replace the current Code of Practice, the Learning Difficulties Assessment guidance and the DfE’s Inclusive Schooling guidance. It will cover 0-25 The following bodies will have to have regard to it: Schools Academies Colleges Early years settings Local authorities Pupil Referral Units ISPs (pre and post-16) Health Bodies – including the NHS Commissioning Board; clinical commissioning groups; NHS trusts; NHS foundation trusts and Local Health Boards.

Timetable for the new Code The timetable for developing the new Code of Practice is set out below: September to December 2012 Stakeholder engagement New Year 2013 Initial Drafting Committee Stage Spring 2013 Publish indicative draft of Code to support Parliamentary progress of the Children and Families Bill Autumn 2013 Public consultation on draft Code Spring 2014 Code of Practice laid before Parliament Final Code of Practice published This means that there will be opportunities throughout the process to be involved in commenting on the new Code.

What are the headline changes to the Code? The most significant change in the new Code is that it will be a new single piece of statutory guidance on SEN that reflects the new 0-25 SEN system, bringing together what are currently two different systems (the pre-16 SEN system and post-16 system) into one consistent system. The new Code will be significantly shorter, clearer and more concise. It will include information on the provisions set out in the Children and Families Bill such as the Local Offer, Personal Budgets, Joint Commissioning, Assessments and Education Health and Care Plans.   

What are the headline changes to the Code? For the first time the FE sector will be included in the list of organisations that must have regard to the Code when carrying out their duties in relation to young people with special educational needs. Additional SEN Support (also known as the ‘Single Category’) will replace School Action and School Action Plus as the new school and early years based category for additional support for children with special educational needs.

Why change School Action & School Action Plus? The current system focuses too much on who provides support at the expense of clear outcomes and judging the effectiveness of that support. SEN ‘unhelpfully conflated with falling behind’ and a ‘risk that the SEN label leads to lower expectations or less vigorous intervention’ (Lamb Review) Too many pupils identified as having SEN without a clear, effective response. Nearly one fifth of the schools visited by Ofsted suggested that they provided additional SEN support when, in other schools, such provision was regarded as the norm.

What will Additional SEN Support mean? Legal definitions and duties remain the same! SEN defined as a learning difficulty or disability requiring special educational provision (additional to or different from that generally available – including a school’s differentiated curriculum and teaching) Quality-first teaching as foundation Where pupil not progressing despite teaching targeted at areas of weakness – additional support in place with clear outcomes and review of progress built-in. Graduated response based on response to intervention School or LA-funded depending on the extent of budget delegation, local criteria and arrangements. Transparency through ‘local offer’

What Additional SEN Support will NOT mean Lower levels of support for pupils identified with SEN. Support should be tied to need. Automatic reductions in the number of pupils with SEN. There is no target for the ‘right’ number of pupils with SEN. A reduction in funding tied to the changes. Funding is not determined by the numbers identified with SEN. Additional SEN support will not be defined by £10,000 SEN funding per pupil

Over to you What works well about the current approach to School Action/School Action Plus that you would like to keep in the Code? Is a lack of progress, despite quality teaching the right ‘trigger’? How would you apply this with teachers in practice? What systems do schools need to have in place to identify and monitor progress on this model? How different are they to current approaches?