Make SEND training mandatory for all teaching staff

Before the launch of the Institute of Teaching and the publication of the SEND Review, the Government must commit to making knowledge of SEND essential for all teaching staff. This should be reflected in ITT CCF, the ECF and all NPQs.

Failing to require SEND training could result in more children with SEND excluded from education, hindering their preparation for adulthood.

There are over 400,000 children and young people in England with an educational health care plan (ECHP) and over 1,000,000 requiring SEN support.

The SEND Code of Practice (2014) states, ‘Special educational provision is underpinned by high quality teaching and is compromised by anything less.’ Teaching staff and leaders must be equipped with condition specific knowledge in order to meet the individual needs of their learners, thereby, improving their personal and academic outcomes.

The quality of teaching is key to ensuring that pupils with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) are given the best possible opportunity to achieve at school.

In support of this aim we are already implementing a range of reforms to teacher training, whilst also supporting school leaders in their duty to ensure their provision meets the special educational needs of children and young people.

Reforms to teacher training

All teachers are teachers of SEND and we are committed to ensuring that all children and young people receive high quality teaching. The revised Initial Teacher Training (ITT) Core Content Framework (CCF) – which all new entrants to the profession benefit from – has been designed around how to support all pupils to succeed, including those pupils identified within the four areas of need set out in the SEND code of practice.

In addition to the mandated minimum set out in the ITT CCF, we expect ITT providers and their partners to continue to tailor their curricula to the needs of their trainees and the children in the schools where they train and will work. ITT courses must be designed so that trainee teachers can demonstrate that they meet the Teachers’ Standards at the appropriate level (including the requirement in Standard 5, that all teachers must have a clear understanding of the needs of all pupils, including those with SEND).

The ‘golden thread’ of evidence-informed training, support and professional development, which begins with ITT and continues into early career teaching, through to the reformed suite of leadership and specialist NPQs, ensures that teachers have the skills to support all pupils to succeed, including those with SEND. All teachers and leaders employed in state-funded schools and state-funded organisations that offer 16-19 places in England have been able to access scholarships to undertake fully-funded NPQs since autumn 2021. Funding will continue at this level to the end of this parliament.