Is it really special educational needs? Approaches to the identification and assessment of pupils with special educational needs SENJIT

Background and Context

Draft Special Educational Needs (SEN) Code of Practice: for 0-25 years October 2013 For consultation – consultation closes 9 th December 2013

Definition of Special Educational Needs A child or young person has SEN if they have a learning difficulty or disability which calls for special educational provision to be made for them. A child of compulsory school age or a young person has a learning difficulty or disability if they: (a) have a significantly greater difficulty in learning than the majority of others of the same age; or (b) have a disability which prevents or hinders them from making use of educational facilities of a kind generally provided for others of the same age in mainstream schools or mainstream post- 16 institutions.

Definition of Special Educational Needs A child under compulsory school age has special educational needs if they fall within the definition at (a) or (b) above or would so do if special educational provision was not made for them (Clause 20 Children and Families Bill). This is a broad definition covering children and young people from years of age. Where a child or young person has a disability or health condition which requires special educational provision to be made, they will be covered by the SEN definition.

Identification and Assessment Where pupils continue to make inadequate progress, despite high-quality teaching targeted at their areas of weakness, the class teacher, working with the SENCO, should assess whether the child has a significant learning difficulty. Where this is the case, then there should be agreement about the SEN support that is required to support the child.

Identification and Assessment Identification should include the use of high quality formative assessment, as well as effective tools and early assessment materials. For higher levels of need, schools should have arrangements in place to draw on more specialised assessments from external agencies and professionals. These arrangements should be agreed and set out as part of the local offer. The school’s approach to identifying and assessing SEN should be published as part of the information under the Special Educational Needs (Information) Regulations

Identifying Needs in Schools The identification of SEN should be built into the overall approach to monitoring the progress and development of all pupils. Schools should assess each pupil’s current skills and levels of attainment on entry. Class and subject teachers, supported by the senior leadership team, should make regular assessments of progress for all pupils. Where pupils are falling behind or making inadequate progress given their age and starting point they should be given extra support.

Identifying Needs in Schools At this early stage teachers may suspect that a pupil has SEN. While informally gathering evidence (including the views of the pupil and their parents) schools should not delay putting general teaching support in place where required. The pupil’s response to such support can help identify their particular needs.

Adequate Progress Adequate progress can include progress which: is similar to that of peers starting from the same baseline; matches or betters the child’s previous rate of progress; closes the attainment gap between the child and their peers; prevents the attainment gap growing wider.

Adequate Progress Where pupils continue to make inadequate progress, despite high-quality teaching targeted at their areas of weakness, the class teacher, working with the SENCO, should assess whether the child has a significant learning difficulty. Where this is the case, then there should be agreement about the SEN support that is required to support the child.

SEN Information Report The governing bodies of maintained schools and maintained nursery schools and the proprietors of academy schools have a legal duty to publish information on their websites about the implementation of the governing body’s or the proprietor’s policy for pupils with SEN. The information published must be updated annually and any changes to the information occurring during the year must be updated as soon as possible. The information required is set out in the draft Special Educational Needs (Information) Regulations and reflects the information required for the local offer:

SEN Information Report identifying children and young people with SEN and assessing their needs; assessing and reviewing children and young people’s progress towards outcomes, including the opportunities available to work with parents and young people as part of this assessment and review; supporting children and young people in moving between phases of education and in preparing for adulthood. As young people prepare for adulthood outcomes should reflect their ambitions, which could include higher education, employment, independent living and participation in society;

SEN Information Report adaptations to curriculum, teaching and the learning environment and access to ancillary aids and assistive technology; securing expertise among teachers, lecturers or other professionals to support children and young people with SEN; assessing and evaluating the effectiveness of the provision they make for children and young people with SEN; enabling children and young people with SEN to have access to facilities and extra-curricular activity available to all children in the setting; supporting and improving emotional and social development, including extra pastoral support arrangements for listening to the views of children and young people with SEN and measures to prevent bullying.

The Local Offer The local authority must set out in their local offer a description in broad terms of the special educational provision early years providers, schools, and the full range of post-16 providers and other institutions are expected to provide from their own budgets to support children and young people with SEN, including information about the arrangements in place for: Identifying children and young people with SEN and assessing their needs

SEN Support in Schools Four types of Action: Assess Plan Do Review

Assess Before identifying a child as needing SEN support the class teacher, working with the SENCO, should establish a clear analysis of the pupil’s needs. This should draw on the teacher’s assessment and experience of the pupil, as well as information from the school’s core approach to pupil progress, attainment, and behaviour. It should also draw on the individual’s development in comparison to their peers, the views and experience of parents, the child’s own views and, if relevant, advice from external support services.

Why all the changes? The special educational needs and disability review: A statement is not enough Ofsted, September 2010

Inconsistency In some local areas, the identification of needs was well-managed and appropriate... What consistently worked well was rigorous monitoring of the progress of individual children and young people, with quick intervention and thorough evaluation of its impact. High aspirations and a determination to enable young people to be as independent as possible led most reliably to the best educational achievement. However, this combination of effective identification and good- quality provision was not common.

Equity The review team found that, despite extensive statutory guidance, the consistency of the identification of special educational needs varied widely, not only between different local areas but also within them. Children and young people with similar needs were not being treated equitably and appropriately: the parental perception of inconsistency in this respect is well-founded.

Indicators of SENs Around half the schools and early years provision visited used low attainment and relatively slow progress as their principal indicators of a special educational need.

Recommendations Schools should stop identifying pupils as having special educational needs when they simply need better teaching and pastoral support. When a child or young person is underachieving, the school or setting should begin by analysing the effectiveness of its generic teaching and systems for support before deciding that she or he has special educational needs.

Features of good practice in assessment and identification careful analysis of progress and development made by all children and young people accurate evaluation of the quality of provision, both academic and pastoral, offered to all children and young people staff who could identify frequently found learning difficulties clear thresholds and referral routes to different services with higher levels of specific expertise

Features of good practice in assessment and identification good understanding of the thresholds for referral used by different services assessments with partner services carried out swiftly and in a streamlined way, working within good local protocols assessments accessible for children, young people, parents and families trust in previous assessments, built upon in a formative way.

Support from Local Authorities Inspectors found that where local authorities provided clear guidance and challenged levels of identification, using a provision map or matrix of need, schools were more consistent when identifying pupils with special educational needs at all levels.

Low Expectations Some schools visited believed that identifying more pupils with special educational needs resulted in a positive influence on the school’s contextual value-added score. This provided an incentive for higher levels of pupils to be identified as having special educational needs. In some of the less effective schools visited, this over- identification contributed to lowering expectations for children and young people.

Does inconsistency matter? Yes, if the standard offer of education or care is insufficiently adapted for frequently found needs. Yes, if such identification is the only way parents and schools can gain access to expertise or support from a range of ‘in-house’ or external services. Yes, if special educational needs or disability are used as a reason for lower expectations and an excuse for poor outcomes. No, if the total package of services and support is appropriately customised to each pupil’s individual needs. No, if the provision that follows identification is, in any case, of poor quality and is not effective.

Over Identification Increased numbers Children and young people with a statement of SENs – very slight decrease from 3% in 2003 to 2.7% in Children and young people identified as having SENs without a statement – steady increase from 14% in 2003 to 18.2% in Particularly pronounced growth in secondary schools – increase from 13% in 2003 to 19.7% in 2010.