We welcome the ‘House of Commons Education Committee Report’ and were grateful to have been asked to provide evidence for this process, which has clearly been acknowledged within the recommendations. The report recognises that ‘there needs to be that value and recognition of the early years’ and aligns closely with the recommendations Dingley’s Promise made when giving evidence to the Committee to improve funding, access and workforce capacity in the early years. We are pleased to see repeated emphasis on early identification, which is especially vital for the growing numbers of children with SEND.
The report identifies the need to ‘undertake further work to understand where the balance of resource should sit between early years and reception’ and we would strongly recommend the focus on a needs led approach in the early years and increased resource and investment to enable effective and smooth transitions between the two stages of education.
The report addresses the current ineffectiveness of the funding in early years and the ‘inconsistency in the delivery of early years provision and (SENIF)’, and encourages the Department for Education to ‘establish a ‘set of national inclusivity requirements for early years settings’. We welcome this in principle but are clear that funding must be directed to both children with ‘High Needs’ and those with ‘Low and Emerging’ needs. Funding must be sufficient and sustainable to enable educators to respond effectively to meet a range of needs regardless of whether there is an EHCP, diagnosis or specialist input. This requires the ringfencing of the High Needs Block to support children in the early years and for SENIF funding to be available and sufficient for those with low and emerging needs. We also support the recommendation to delink Disability Living Allowance (DLA) and Disability Access Funding (DAF).
We are pleased to see the report acknowledge the role of Best Start Family Hubs in ‘presenting a valuable opportunity to engage with families earlier and identify SEND needs at the earliest possible stage’. The need for greater integration of specialist services, early years teams and early years settings to provide holistic early support to families is unquestionable. To be effective, family hubs should support early identification of need and leadership of local support services for families of children with SEND. All staff need to have inclusion training, and the SEND staff should be skilled and experienced in supporting families of children with SEND.
Upskilling the workforce to support inclusive practice is key to the success of any funding measures and we are pleased to see the report acknowledge the opportunity through the Best Start in Life strategy to ‘ensure that there is a ‘strong and consistent framework for building SEND capacity and good practice in early years settings’. It is vital that a whole setting approach to inclusion is taken in every setting, underpinned by high quality inclusive practice, accessible environments and inclusive curriculum. Without mandatory SEND Inclusion training across the sector for new and existing educators, we can not hope to achieve inclusion and give every child an equitable early years education, which improves children’s longer term outcomes and supports the government’s aims to improve child development levels.
We encourage the government to factor in these clear recommendations to the forthcoming White Paper reforms and are keen to work with them to support reforms that ensure necessary system change in the early years and greater opportunity, access, support and funding for children with SEND and their families.
Read the full report here Solving the SEND Crisis