MPs highlight impact of Education Bill on children with autism

Yesterday, the Education Bill was debated for the first time in Parliament. The Bill will implement some sections of the education white paper, published in December.

We briefed MPs on the Bill, before it was debated and as a result, the impact of the Bill on children with autism was raised a number of times during the debate.

Exclusions

In particular, we had expressed concerns about the replacement of Independent Appeal Panels for exclusions with Review Panels, which would not have the power to reinstate children who had been permanently excluded.

A number of MPs highlighted the disproportionate number of children with autism who have been excluded. Conservative MP Richard Fuller said that the high number of exclusions of children with autism needed more attention.

Shadow Education Secretary Andy Burnham said, “Parents of children with disabilities and special needs already face a battle to get them a good education. With changes to admissions and exclusions, which will see schools become judge and jury, the Bill stacks the odds against those children even further”.

Education Minister Nick Gibb responded that parents would still have the right of appeal on exclusions.

Joined-up working

The NAS are also particularly concerned that the Bill removes the duty on schools to co-operate with other local agencies.

We also oppose the Government’s earlier decision to remove the duty on local authorities to develop a Children and Young People’s Plan.

Liberal Democrat MP Annette Brooke stressed the importance of these plans and of joined up working between education, health and social care, particularly for those with complex needs, such as autism.

We look forward to the imminent publication of the Special Educational Needs (SEN) Green Paper to determine further how the Government intends its educational reforms to impact on children with SEN.

The Importance of Teaching – Education White Paper

As reported earlier on this site, the Government has published its plans for reform of the education system in a “White Paper” called The Importance of Teaching.

More details on reform to the system for children with Special Educational Needs (SEN) will be available in the SEN Green Paper expected later this year or early next year.

However, the following proposals in the White Paper also have implications for children with autism:

·        Reforms to teacher training

·        Proposals on discipline, behaviour and bullying

·        Changes to exclusion policies and Independent Appeal Panels

·        Admissions and the role of local authorities

·        Special school academies

Teacher training

As the name of the White Paper suggests, the Government places high importance on getting teacher training right. The White Paper highlights the importance of ensuring teachers know how to support children with SEN and says that more details will be in the forthcoming Green Paper.

The National Autistic Society is campaigning for every teacher to have training in autism. We also believe that teachers should be able to access expertise and advice from autism specialists when they need it.

Discipline, behaviour and bullying

The Government is intending to produce shorter and clearer guidance on the ability of teachers to use force and discipline children outside of school. Teachers will be given greater discretion in these areas.

The National Autistic Society will be working to make sure that the needs of children with autism are looked at carefully in that guidance.

Addressing bullying, and particularly prejudiced based bullying, is to become a Government priority. To address this, Government guidance will be simplified and Ofsted will be asked to report on successful approaches to tackling bullying.

We are pleased that the Government wants to focus on prejudiced based bullying, as we know that children with autism are often targeted by bullies. We will be working with Government on bullying guidance.

Exclusions

We have previously expressed concerns about the Conservative Party’s proposals to get rid of Independent Appeal Panels for exclusions. We welcome the White Paper’s recognition that it is important that these Panels remain independent.

However, we note that the Government intends to take away the power from these panels to reinstate an excluded pupil from a school. We would welcome wider views on this. Please comment below.

We welcome the Government’s plans to pilot a new approach to exclusions where a school is responsible for arranging and funding alternative provision for an excluded child.

27% of children with autism are excluded from school at least once, compared with 4% of other children. It is essential that alternative and appropriate provision is found for children with autism, following exclusion.

Admissions and the role of local authorities

Local authorities and the School Adjudicator will continue to have a role in ensuring the coordination of admissions arrangements and fairness, including for academies. The Government will also simplify the Admissions Code, but will continue to apply the principle of fair admissions for Looked After Children and pupils with a statement of SEN.

The National Autistic Society will be watching reforms to the Admissions Code with interest. We have particular concerns about admissions for those without a Statement.

Local Authorities  will continue to have responsibility for disabled children and those with SEN. However, as funding is increasingly delegated to academies, they will increasingly move to a strategic commissioning and oversight role. They will of course continue to fund provision for pupils with a statement of SEN.

Where a local authority has significant concerns about an Academy or Free School in relation to these issues, it will be able to ask Ofsted to inspect the school.

Special school academies

The academies programme will be expanded to include special schools, with the application process open in January 2011 and the potential for special school academies to open from September 2011. The Green Paper on SEN and Disability will consider the issues raised specifically around special schools academies in more detail.

If you have any comments about these proposals, do comment below.

White Paper sets out importance of teacher training in SEN

The Government published their White Paper on the future of education in England today.

We are particularly pleased that it proposes that initial teacher training includes how to support children with special educational needs (SEN).

The NAS has long been calling for initial teacher training to include autism and this was a key demand of the Make School, Make Sense campaign.

In the run up to the publication of the Green Paper on SEN, expected next month, and in response to the Green Paper we will be putting pressure on the Government to make sure that autism is included within this training.

We also believe that specialist teachers in autism, working across clusters of schools are vital to build capacity and help teachers to teach and support children with autism.

Check back later this week for more details on the White Paper and its implications for children with autism!

Education White Paper to be launched on Wednesday

The Government is widely expected to publish its White Paper on education on Wednesday of this week.

A White Paper is a document in which the Government outlines its intentions in a certain policy area. Once we have seen the document we will publish more details on this site.

Any proposals set out in the White Paper that will need legislation to bring about change are likely to be included in the Education Bill, expected in December. The Bill is intended to give schools more control over curricula, and will introduce the pupil premium to target funding for disadvantaged students, as well as new reading tests for all six-year-olds.

A few weeks ago, the media reported that the Government was proposing that funding be directed straight to schools, thus by-passing local authorities.  The National Autistic Society is keeping a close eye on this potential proposal and impact it could have on specialist services (such as autism outreach teams) run by Local Authorities, were it to be implemented.

Other rumours in the press include a proposal to abolish the current GCSE structure of frequent modular exams, replacing them with a single exam at the end of the study period.

We do know for sure that the White Paper and Bill won’t deal in depth with Special Educational Needs, which will be covered by a separate Green Paper, also due in December. See previous entries for more information on the Green Paper.