SEN and selection of schools

The University of Northampton has recently issued a research report exploring the difficulties that parents face when seeking to secure a particular school for their child with a Statement of Special Educational Needs.

Who is covered?

This report focussed on one county in the South East and only managed to involve 380 families (not for want of trying). As such, the findings should be treated with some caution; however, the overall conclusions will no doubt echo the general feeling of many parents with children with special educational needs which are that:

1. There is little, if no, real ‘choice’ when looking for potential placements; and
2. Even when parents do decide on which placement they want (whether happily or reluctantly) they could face significant resistance from the local authority.

It is important to remember that this research paper covers only children with a Statement of SEN. The most recent figures indicated that 2.8% of all children of compulsory school age have a Statement. This means that less than 1 in 5 children with special educational needs have the additional support of a Statement.

What is the law?

The research paper highlights, but at times falls into, the common misunderstanding – that ‘choice’ and ‘preference’ are more or less interchangeable. This is not the case which is, understandably, difficult for parents to accept.

When it comes to selecting a placement for your child, with or without special educational needs, the most that any parent can do is to express a preference. The ultimate decision about whether the child will attend the school the parents prefer is down to the local authority, often in consultation with the school itself.

Parents with children with a Statement do have a slightly different position because the law expands on the considerations that should be taken when deciding whether parental preference should be complied with. The law varies according to the type of school that parents are looking at and, broadly, is affected by whether the school is mainstream, special and whether it is maintained or independent.

• Mainstream/special
  The research papers highlights that 53% of children with a Statement attend a mainstream school. This is likely because there is a heavy presumption that all children will be educated in mainstream school. That presumption has been in place for at least the last 18 years. A child should be educated in a mainstream school unless there is clear evidence that the child’s placement in a mainstream school would be negative to the education of other pupils already in the school. Equally, if a parent does not want their child educated in special school, this will be taken into consideration. However, parents will need to be able to demonstrate significant understanding and reasoning for their wishes to hold much weight.The difficulty with specials schools that the research papers highlights is that often there is not a suitable placement nearby. The paper notes that one child travelled 90 miles to get to their special school.

• Maintained/independent schools
  The law is far more supportive of children being educated in maintained schools rather than independent schools.Currently, if parents wish for their child to be educated in a maintained school then that should be complied with and the local authority must consider what adjustments it would have to make to that particular school in order to be able to accommodate the placement. The local authority can only refuse to place in a particular maintained school if that school is clearly inappropriate for the child’s needs and/or the adjustments that would be required in order to support the child would be so expensive as to be unreasonable.

   

  If a parent wishes to secure a place in an independent school, the ultimate question will be one of the costs. The relevant law sets out that children should be educated in line with parent’s wishes as long as that is in line with the efficient use of public resources. What this ultimately means is that if the costs of the independent school are higher than the costs of the mainstream school (plus any additional support that would be needed in the mainstream school) the parent will need to justify the additional costs. The justification does not need to be purely education-based. For example, social inclusion, peer groups, extra-curricular activities, embedded-therapies etc. are all relevant considerations.

Is anything going to change?

The research was conducted prior to the implementation of the Children and Families Act 2014. This is relevant because of two difficulties that it highlights which may soon be removed.

• Schools opposing placements
  Over the past few years Academies, grant-maintained, free schools and others have developed. A number of these schools are autonomous from the local authority and were able to refuse admission of pupils even when a local authority named the school within the Statement. This was particularly a problem in respect of Academies when you consider that last year there were in excess of 8,000 Academies in the country when compared with less than 4,000 state-funded secondary schools in 2014.The Children and Families Act 2014 removes this capacity to oppose school placement. This essentially means that all schools (apart from independent schools) can now be directed by a local authority to admit a child if that school is named in the child’s Education, Health and Social Care Plan.

• Best outcomes
  The previous law within the Education Act 1996, and a lot of cases that came out following it, reinforced the idea that children were entitled only to an ‘adequate’ education. This was often a difficulty when parents were seeking an independent school which, whilst perfectly suited a child’s needs, went beyond that which was simply ‘adequate’ and, therefore, the additional costs could not be justified.The Children and Families Act 2014 carries within it a number of basic principles. One of these (found within s19) is potentially revolutionary in that it requires that support and services are put into place for the child in order that they can achieve the best possible educational (and other) outcomes. It is entirely possible that this new provision may make securing independent schools with ‘better’ provision more possible.