Teachers have warned that government plans to reform support for special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) risk making the system worse.

In a survey of 1,023 teachers, 67 per cent said they were concerned about reforms leading to more pupils with SEND being taught in mainstream classrooms without sufficient support.

More than half of those surveyed by YouGov also said they expected the anticipated changes to have a negative impact on pupils with complex needs.

The survey findings come as mainstream schools are expected to be asked to educate more children with SEND as a result of the government’s reforms. Ministers are expected to announce plans for SEND reform as part of a schools White Paper due to be published later this year.

Teacher pessimism over SEND reforms

In the survey for Bett, which organises an annual education technology exhibition, 72 per cent of teachers said the SEND system was not working well for children. Only one in 10 said it was working effectively.

Although the full details of the government’s reforms have yet to be published, the teachers surveyed expressed “overwhelming pessimism”. Some 56 per cent predicted negative effects for pupils with complex needs, as well as for those with moderate learning difficulties (53 per cent) and social and emotional needs (57 per cent).

Last week an Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) report found that local authority high-needs spending for SEND had risen by 66 per cent in real terms since 2016, reaching £12 billion this year. The IFS predicted that this spending will grow by a further £3 billion by 2029.

Government grants have not fully covered this spending so councils have accumulated growing deficits, which the IFS forecasts will reach £8 billion by 2028.

These funding concerns were echoed by teachers in the Bett survey: half were worried that mainstream school funding would be reduced under the reforms, while 36 per cent said they doubted that staff would receive adequate training to take on expanded responsibilities.

When the teachers were asked what would help them to support pupils with SEND, 65 per cent cited additional teaching assistant support, while 58 per cent said smaller class sizes would make the biggest difference. Some 33 per cent pointed to improved school facilities and resources.

Some 64 per cent of the teachers said pupils with SEND benefitted socially from being taught alongside their peers without SEND, and 71 per cent said this improved empathy among children.

However, 53 per cent said the learning of pupils with SEND suffered in mainstream settings, and 49 per cent were concerned about a negative impact on other children. Some 80 per cent said they struggled to teach pupils with and without SEND in the same class.

Divide on diagnosis

The teachers surveyed were also split on diagnosis trends, with roughly equal numbers believing there is overdiagnosis of SEND (31 per cent) and underdiagnosis (33 per cent) in the current system.

Secondary teachers were more likely to believe that too many children were being labelled as having SEND, with 44 per cent saying this, compared with 24 per cent of primary teachers. Male teachers were also more likely to say SEND was overdiagnosed, with 42 per cent expressing this view compared with 28 per cent of female teachers.

Some 42 per cent of teachers said that disadvantaged pupils were more likely to be incorrectly labelled as having SEND, pointing to difficulties distinguishing between special educational needs and the effects of deprivation.

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