Almost six years on from the 2014 Children and Families Bill, there is a strong sense that the ambitious plans outlined in the legislation have yet to translate into the sort of transformational change that was envisaged for young people with SEND.
In 2014 it was hard to find any education professionals who did not support the overarching aims and content of the legislation. Whilst there were some who felt the bill was not ambitious enough, rarely has a government policy been so widely welcomed across the education sector.
At the heart of the policy was a renewed emphasis on partnership working across different sectors for the benefit of pupils and young people with SEND. A lack of connection and co-ordination between education, health and social care had long been a source of frustration for both parents and professionals alike, and so a genuine attempt to tackle this issue was widely seen as a positive step.
Stronger Voice
Similarly, few disagreed with proposals to give young people and their families a stronger voice. Families had become immensely frustrated at the bureaucracy surrounding SEND provision and the need to repeatedly tell their story over and over again to different agencies. The government rightly identified this as a significant problem within the system and pledged to address it through the reforms.
The idea that every teacher should be responsible for the progress of pupils with SEND that they taught equally caused little controversy. Whilst not an entirely new concept, the important principle was reiterated that every teacher is a teacher of pupils with SEND. It was made clear that this responsibility and ultimate accountability could and should never be passed over to the Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator (SENCo) or outsourced to other professionals in the school.
Plans to extend provision to the age of 25, a clearer focus on pupil outcomes, and shorter timescales for Education and Healthcare Plans (formerly Statements of Special Educational Needs) all seemed sensible developments too.