Transcript DfE Template (Arial) v1.0 April 2012

Support and
Aspiration: Progress
and next steps
The vision for change
 Our vision is of a system in which:
– Children’s special educational needs are picked up early and
support is routinely put in place quickly;
– Staff have the knowledge, understanding and skills to provide the
right support for children and young people who have SEN or are
disabled wherever they are;
– Parents know what they can reasonably expect their local
school, local college, local authority and local services to provide,
without them having to fight for it;
– For more complex needs, an integrated assessment and a single
Education, Health and Care Plan from birth to 25; and
– Greater control for parents over the services they and their family
use.
Context for change

School and professional frameworks
– National Curriculum review
– New Early Years Foundation Stage framework published and Nutbrown
review on early education and childcare qualifications in progress
– Munro review recommendations accepted by Government

Health and adult social care system reforms
– Health and Social Care Act in place
– Children and Young People’s Health Outcomes Forum established Jan
2012 to make recommendations to Heath Secretary of State in summer
– Adult social care review underway

Change for children and families
– Queen’s Speech included range of measures to support children and
families
Green Paper commitments
 By 2014 we will introduce:
– A single assessment process which is more streamlined, better
involves children, young people and families and is completed
quickly;
– An Education, Health and Care Plan which brings services
together and is focused on improving outcomes; and
– An offer of a personal budget for families with an Education,
Health and Care Plan.
Timescales
We intend to introduce legislation through a Children and
Families Bill in this session of Parliament to implement the
changes to the law required for our Green Paper reforms.
Publish draft
Bill
Introduce Bill
in Parliament
Royal Assent
and
implementation
Consultation and
pre-legislative
scrutiny period
Summer 2012
Spring 2013
Spring 2014
onwards
Testing the best ways of achieving our
reforms
 In 2011 we set up a pathfinder programme. Twenty local
pathfinders involving thirty one local authorities and their health
sector partners are testing the key reforms.
 The pathfinders will help us to consider what else can be done to
support the reforms and enable us to share widely what works.
 This is about changes in the ways that education, health and social
care professionals work with children, young people and families
and in the ways they work with each other: not just legislation.
A better deal for children, young people
and families

The reforms are about strengthening protections, not taking them
away:
– Parents will not lose the legal protections offered by the current
statement of special educational needs in the new system; we plan to
extend those protections to young people over 16 in further education;
– Families of children with an Education, Health and Care Plan will have
the option of a personal budget for their support but will not be forced to
take up that option. The support in the Plan will be provided regardless
of how they choose to receive it;
– Our plans to move from two school-based categories of SEN to one will
not reduce the funds for schools to support children with SEN, and this
is not a number-cutting exercise.
Developing the expertise to support our
reforms


We are working with the Council for Disabled Children to build on and
share the expertise in the voluntary sector.
£6 million a year over two years is being provided to a range of different
organisations who will support local areas in putting into practice some of
the approaches we know work well. These include:
Short breaks
Parent
Partnership
Services
Early Support
Early Language
Development
Preparation for
Adulthood
Mental
health
Parent Carer
Forums
Making progress in taking forward the
Green Paper reforms
 In addition to setting up the pathfinder programme and funding
organisations to build expertise in supporting children and
young people and their families, we have taken forward many of
the specific commitments we gave in the Green Paper in each
of the following areas:
– Early Identification and assessment
– Giving parents control
– Learning and achieving
– Preparation for adulthood
– Services working together
Strengthening the workforce
 To equip teachers to identify and meet pupils’ needs we are:
– sharpening a focus on SEN in qualified teacher status;
– increasing the number of initial teacher training placements in
special schools – funding 900 places this year;
– providing significant scholarships, continuing professional
development and training opportunities in for teachers and
support staff; and
– funding a further 1000 SENCO training places this financial
year.
Sharper accountability
 OFSTED framework
 Specific measures in the performance tables from December 2011
(for Key Stage 2) and January 2012 (for Key Stage 4) on the lowest
20% of attainers
Supporting school-led improvement
 including through making the successful Achievement for All
programme, to improve outcomes in English and maths for pupils
with SEN, available to any school that wants it.
Freedom and flexibility


opportunity to convert to Academies and gain the freedom to innovate,
improve standards and raise the achievement of all pupils.
Parents, voluntary sector and other organisations able to come forward with
proposals for special Free Schools to increase the choices open to parents
of disabled children and children with SEN.
Funding Reform

proposals for funding provision for high needs pupils and students to bring
together funding for pupils and students under 16 and over-16 and provide a
clearer and more consistent basis for funding specialist provision
Purpose of the pathfinders
 The 20 SEND pathfinders (representing 31 LAs and their Health
partners) are working towards the following common objectives:
 To develop a new 0-25 assessment process and a single plan
which bring together the education, health and social care services
and focuses on improving outcomes;
 To explore how the voluntary and community sector can improve
access to specialist expertise and introduce greater independence;
 To ensure the full engagement of children, young people and their
parents and families, schools and colleges; and
 To improve choice and control for children, young people and their
families through the use of personal budgets and direct payments.
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Schools and colleges are essential to the
pathfinders
 Schools are the only universal service which every disabled
child/child with SEN has regular contact
 Important links between school-based outcomes, health-based
outcomes and wider wellbeing outcomes for all children
 Schools and colleges are vital to all elements of pathfinder
testing:
– local offer
– single assessment and plan
– personal budget and direct payments
– banded funding
– engaging with parents, carers, children and young people
 Involving head teachers on key advisory groups.
Statutory Frameworks
 Pathfinders are testing how to reform the system, but they are doing
so within the existing statutory frameworks.
 This means that:
– Pathfinders need to work creatively in partnership with parents,
schools/ colleges, voluntary sector partners etc to find new and
better ways to meet the needs of disabled children and those
with SEN;
– But parents retain their right to request an assessment and the
LA retains its duties in relation to assessments and statements.
 The existing frameworks now include the amendment made to the
1996 Education Act (through the 2011 Act) to enable pathfinders to
test the use of direct payments for special educational provision.
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The SEND pathfinder story…
Initial set up - Bids
approved, programme
launched (end Sept)
Recruitment of families and ongoing engagement Local governance in place; families recruited for single
assessments starting in Feb (all pathfinders by July)
Testing and learning - of assessment and planning
process; action learning networks including personal &
banded funding, assessment and plan (from March);
regular feedback on learning
New offer for children, young people &
families – including use of education direct
payments; EHC Plans in place; local offers in
action
Rollout phase - Final evaluation report
(spring 2013). Best practice shared.
Possible extension of pathfinders
By 2014 a new Education,
Health and Care Plan and
choice of personal budget
Sep 11
Jan 12
April 12
July 12
Oct 12
Jan 13
April 13
2014 onwards
What’s next?
 Pathfinders continue to develop, review and test new processes
with support from Mott MacDonald, including the use of education
and health direct payments
 New ‘food for thought’ section on the SEND Pathfinder website is
being developed further with pathfinder updates and learning –
www.sendpathfinder.co.uk
 Reports published from pathfinder evaluation (summer and
autumn)
 Pathfinders are developing their new local offers for the autumn –
schools will be a vital part of every offer
 Findings from the pathfinders will inform each stage of the
legislative process
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