Inclusion is not about ‘dumbing down’, says DfE adviser

The government’s new inclusion adviser will warn against the term special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) being used to suggest that some pupils are “different from the norm”.
Tom Rees, chair of the government’s expert advisory group, will also tell the Schools North East Academies Conference in Newcastle today that inclusion “is not about dumbing down the curriculum or lowering expectations”.
The chief executive of Ormiston Academies Trust will tell the event that inclusion must be at the heart of the mainstream school system, rather than being seen as separate.
And he will also call for the conversation about SEND to be focused on finding solutions.
Reforming the SEND support system
Mr Rees is expected to say: “SEND is an umbrella term used to identify and describe children who require extra help and support to be successful in school. Under the umbrella sit those with physical disabilities, those with identified learning difficulties and disabilities, and many others without a formally identified condition who find education a struggle.
“However, the term ‘SEND’ implies a binary between children, and suggests children assigned this label are fundamentally different from the norm and that their struggles are a product of these differences rather than the systems and structures around them.
“It also implies a commonality of experience [among children with SEND], which is misleading and obscures individual identities, leading to generic policy and strategy, which can expose children to inappropriate practice.”
Mr Rees was appointed to his new role last year as part of a series of government announcements aimed at promoting inclusion in mainstream schools.
At the conference he will say: “For a long time we’ve known that reforming the SEND system is the most important priority for the next five to 10 years in our school system. But we also know this is one of the hardest and most complex reforms for government to do.
“However, we have a window of opportunity to tackle this at national policy level, and there is a huge opportunity for schools across the country, and in particular school trusts, to rise to this challenge.”
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Mr Rees will also call for a change in the narrative around SEND towards looking for solutions.
“For years, we have heard that ‘the SEND system is broken’ - I want to lead a conversation that takes us forward and looks at what is possible,” he will say.
His speech will warn that SEND has become a separate system ”and something that is considered after areas such as the curriculum and qualifications, teacher training or behaviour”.
He will tell trust leaders that inclusion must be seen as “a fundamental design principle of the main education system”.
His speech will cover the importance of high expectations, ”with a high-quality academic curriculum, taught expertly”.
“Inclusion is not about dumbing down the curriculum or lowering expectations” but about “an aspiration for a really high-quality education for everyone”, he will say.
And Mr Rees will add that the system should know where every child is in a local area and ensure that they are safe and in a registered provision.
‘Over-medicalisation’
The SEND system was also discussed at the Bett edtech show in London yesterday, during a panel event involving Baroness Bousted, a former joint general secretary of the NEU teaching union.
Lady Bousted told audience members that one problem with SEND “is we have over-medicalised the diagnosis”.
Parents of children with SEND who are not getting the right support apply for education, health and care plans (EHCPs), which local authorities are “reluctant” to grant because they are “so in debt because of the high cost of SEND”, resulting in tribunals, she added.
The SEND system has become “built on collision, rather than cooperation and collaboration”, Lady Bousted warned.
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