Evidence session
Solving the SEND crisis
Tuesday 10 June, 10:00, Thatcher Room, Portcullis House
Watch live on Parliamentlive.tv
The Education Committee will question experts and school leaders on ways the Government could improve special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) provision in mainstream schools.
A first panel of academics and policy experts is likely to be asked whether the Government should apply national standards for SEN support, and whether the legal requirement for local authorities and schools to provide for children with SEND should go beyond just those pupils who have gained an Education Health and Care Plan (EHCP).
MPs are also likely to ask about the effectiveness of how professionals from health, education and local government work together to provide for pupils with SEND, how teacher training could be improved, and whether the system is adversarial and unaccountable for parents of children who require support.
In part two of this session, the cross-party Committee will question three school or multi-academy trust leaders for their experiences of making SEND provision work well, as examples of good practice.
MPs are likely to be interested in ways to speed up the process of children being referred, assessed and receiving an EHCP, how they maintain standards of education for all pupils while providing for children with SEND, and how to support those pupils in transitioning to post-16 education.
The second panel may also be asked how funding for SEND support and EHCPs should be allocated, and how they believe the system of SEND provision could be reformed and put on a sustainable footing.
The next evidence session of this inquiry will be the final one, and will see the Committee question a minister from the Department for Education.
Witnesses from 10:00
- Dr Susana Castro-Kemp, Associate Professor in Psychology and Special Needs
- Dr Peter Gray, Co-coordinator of the national SEN Policy Research Forum
- Jo Hutchinson, Director for SEND and additional needs, Education Policy Institute
Witnesses from 11:00
- Daniel Constable-Phelps, Executive Headteacher at St Mary’s, Primary and Nursery School, Southampton
- Conrad Bourne, Director for SEND at the Mercian Trust
- Nicole Dempsey, Trust Director of SEND and Safeguarding at Dixons Trinity Secondary School
