With its education white paper, the key section of which concerns support for children with special educational needs and disabilities (Send), the government is returning to a more holistic view of schools. High standards and inclusion should be “two sides of the same coin”, the document states. The narrowing of the Department for Education’s focus under Michael Gove is being reversed – even if the New Labour name for the Department for Children, Schools and Families is not coming back.
Ambitious targets on attendance and a halving of the attainment gap between richer and poorer pupils are meant to boost wellbeing as well as standards. But the overall package’s success or failure will depend on whether Bridget Phillipson, the education secretary, can win support for her Send reforms and implement them so that children do not lose out. Stricter criteria for the education, health and care plans (EHCPs) that oblige councils to provide individual support are dreaded by some parents and charities. The processes surrounding the new individual support plans, which will address less complex needs in future, must be robust and open to challenge. Schools must be resourced to play the bigger role that ministers envision for them – not handed extra responsibilities with no means of carrying them out.
