Like fashions, terms in education come around again, and right now it is “inclusion” that is the latest to be in vogue.
Historically, there have been many significant milestones in the development of provision for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities.
Examples include the Salamanca Statement (1994), the SEND Code of Practice 2001, the Equality Act 2010, the Children and Families Act 2014 and the SEND Code of Practice 2015.
Avoiding a binary SEND system
These whole-system reforms have often resulted in SEND provision being perceived as a binary system of mainstream versus special.
Even when specialist units are built on the same sites as mainstream schools, there is often a physical, cultural and provisional segregation.
In effect, the discourse has fluctuated between the constructs of inclusion and integration, instead of recognising a continuum of inclusive provision.
Most of the special schools we work with believe themselves to be inclusive on the basis of cultivating a sense of belonging, high-quality teaching with high adult ratios and a progressive curriculum. Many are rightly proud of their provision.
However, as the whole system changes, there is a danger in some schools that the focus remains limited to these elements, without consideration of the wider purpose of education and systemic preparation for adulthood (PfA).
With current policy thinking firmly focused on inclusion as inherently mainstream, does this leave special schools on the outside?
Inclusion in special schools
The incumbent government’s upcoming SEND reforms provide us all with an opportunity to define what inclusion means in a special school.
This requires practitioners in special schools to use the forthcoming schools White Paper to reflect on their approach to inclusion, embracing contextual definitions and looking more broadly than SEND.
For example, schools in ethnically diverse and/or socioeconomically deprived areas have a wider context of intersectionality that impacts on their students and their local community.
Ofsted now inspects schools against this wider definition of inclusion. We’d love to see all special schools seizing this opportunity by welcoming inspectors with three clear documents on arrival:
- A clearly thought-through and shared definition of inclusion.
- An analysis of community context, embracing where the school is located and the multiple areas from which it draws students.
- Clarity on provision in terms of the school’s baseline provision for all, reasonable adjustments, adaptive teaching and additionality.
Questioning assumptions
Critical moments of change also provide us with the chance to question assumptions.
For example, at recent National Association of Special Schools-accredited training, leaders in special schools were invited to reflect on the difference in practice between person-centred approaches and child-centred policy.
This distinction enables practitioners to intentionally think alongside students, as opposed to reactive sequencing of events, pulling in all directions.
The consistency of approach that a person-centred model provides can still be meaningfully personalised, as opposed to highly variable child-centred practice, where the rationale and progression impact is harder to discern and evidence.
In the coming days, weeks and months, there will be plenty of discussion and debate, and those working in special provision need to determine their agency by stepping up to be seen, heard and active.
No longer at the edge of the system
This is not a time to defend but to affirm the role and value of special schools. It is a time to recognise that special provision no longer sits at the edge of the education system.
We have a voice, we have expertise and we have a key role to play in wider education reforms. In light of this and to conclude, we are proposing three action points for consideration.
As the schools White Paper 2026 lands, special-school and alternative-provision practitioners should make sure their voices are heard, in three clear ways.
- Actively contribute to the debate by defining what inclusion means in your context and sharing this with others. This could be through a setting-specific inclusion statement.
- Use the vision defined through your inclusion statement to revisit and articulate your mission, and how you ensure that what you deliver has the highest possible impact. This will include specialist pedagogy, therapeutic interventions and broader purposeful education that drive strategic and systemic school improvement.
- Contribute to a commonwealth of rigorous knowledge that enables children to progress. This will ensure that special schools take in-house expertise beyond the school gate, creatively using a range of mechanisms to do so - from delivering training to editorials, facilitating-practice discussions and constructively challenging existing assumptions through research and/or evidence.
Claire Dorer is chief executive of the National Association for Special Schools
Dr Anita Devi is a former local authority SEND consultant
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