Children with special education needs are calling for the government to act on the rampant marginalization they are getting from prominent schools in England.
Recent data showed that there was an increase in the number of enrolling pupils for special educational needs and disabilities (Send) for the past decade. At this rate, several mainstream schools resorted to off-rolling and send exclusions from their schools. Mainstream schools are business inclined facilities. They know at their end that if they continue to accept enrollees they will have to also allot more budgets for facilities that can cater to pupils.
Mainstream schools are asked to subsidize the first £6000 as support for a pupil for all-around expenses when enrolled. This subsidy has become a financial issue for several mainstream schools that still cater to special education pupils.
Another concern also for schools that allow a high number of special education pupils is the low averages on their schools’ performance metrics.
As a response by the Department for Education (DFE), they are committing an extra £700million budget for next year to help in the education for children with (Send). This budget is expected to fund individual schools specially built for special education children. This way, children with (Send) don’t have to deal with the segregation they experience from mainstream setup. It will also save the families from the pressure from off-rolling due to having children with (Send).
Off-rolling devastates children with special education needs
A (DFE)statement goes this way:
We have improved the special education support to put families at the heart of the system and provide them with a better choice for their children’s education.
Gareth Davies, head of the National Audit Office (NAO), responded that while there are a lot of prominent schools, both special and mainstream gives high-quality education for students with (Send), it cannot be denied that a lot of needs for special education pupils that are not met.
There is also strong evidence of students and parents being mentally pressured with the off-rolling process that some mainstream schools do to them.
Tim Nicholls, head of policy for the National Autistic Society, felt bad to hear awful stories every day of autistic children who are being held back from getting the education they deserve because schools don’t understand or can’t meet their needs. He agreed that this arrangement can be devastating for them and their families, and mean they lose all faith in the system.
