DfEE Green Paper - Foreword

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Excellence for all Children Meeting Special Educational Needs

Foreword

by the Secretary of State for Education and Employment, the Rt Hon David Blunkett MP

There is nothing more important to the Government than raising the standards children achieve in our schools. The White Paper Excellence in schools committed us to exacting targets, and proposed a challenging programme to achieve them.

Our vision is of excellence for all. This inclusive vision encompasses children with special educational needs (SEN). Schools currently identify 18% of children as having special educational needs of differing kinds. Almost 3% have individual statements showing the additional special educational provision they require. This Green Paper asks some questions about these figures. What is not in question is the case for setting our sights high for all these children.

Good provision for SEN does not mean a sympathetic acceptance of low achievement. It means a tough-minded determination to show that children with SEN are capable of excellence. Where schools respond in this way, teachers sharpen their ability to set high standards for all pupils.

The great majority of children with SEN will, as adults, contribute economically; all will contribute as members of society. Schools have to prepare all children for these roles. That is a strong reason for educating children with SEN, as far as possible, with their peers. Where all children are included as equal partners in the school community, the benefits are felt by all. That is why we are committed to comprehensive and enforceable civil rights for disabled people. Our aspirations as a nation must be for all our people.

Our approach to improving the achievement of children with special educational needs has six themes:

our high expectations for all children include high expectations for children with SEN. All our programmes for raising standards will reflect this, starting from pre-school provision, building on the information provided by the new arrangements for baseline assessment when children start in primary school, and leading to improved ways of tackling problems with early literacy and numerary;
while recognising the paramount importance of meeting the needs of individual children, and the necessity of specialist provision for some, we shall promote the inclusion of children with SEN within mainstream schooling wherever possible. We shall remove barriers which get in the way of meeting the needs of all children and redefine the role of special schools to develop a network of specialist support. We attach high priority to the development of new regional arrangements for improving the effectiveness of SEN provision;
we want all parents of children with SEN to get effective support from the full range of local services and voluntary agencies, to have a real say in decisions about their child's education, and to be empowered to contribute themselves to their child's development. Some parents need to be helped to gain access to these opportunities;
we want good value for money from the one-seventh of their budget - £2.5 billion - which local education authorities (LEAs) currently spend on special educational needs. This is not about cost-cutting. It is about ensuring that this provision leads to achievement at school, and success in adult life. We want to look at ways of shifting resources from expensive remediation to cost-effective prevention and early intervention; to shift the emphasis from procedures to practical support; and to see whether changes should be made to any aspects of statements of SEN;
we shall boost opportunities for staff development in SEN, and see that good practice is widely disseminated, so that the principles of this Green Paper can be put into practice;
we know that positive approaches to special needs make a difference. We shall work in co-operation with all who share our objective of high standards for children with SEN; and we shall expect provision locally to be based on a partnership of all those with a contribution to make.

The Green Paper is the first step in a fundamental reappraisal of the way we meet special educational needs. It explains our approach. It challenges some widespread assumptions. Above all, it seeks the views of all those with an interest in special educational needs on how to make a reality of our vision. The Paper includes examples to show what is currently being achieved. These are not intended as benchmarks of best practice but to demonstrate good practice on which we can build.

We have set up a National Advisory Group on SEN, chaired by the Minister responsible for SEN, Estelle Morris MP. This Group, whose membership is listed in Appendix 1, has been influential in the preparation of this Green paper. It will work closely with our Standards Task Force. Members of the Group will play an important part in the arrangements for consultation on the Green Paper.

This consultation process will include conferences, meetings and discussions throughout the country. Many organisations have already announced their intention to contribute actively to this debate. I hope that there will be much local discussion. A copy of the Green Paper is being sent to all headteachers, chairs of governing bodies, SEN co-ordinators and LEAs. A summary leaflet will also be made available.

Early in 1998, the National Advisory Group on SEN will consider the results of this consultation, and will advise the Government on a programme to drive forward improvements. After that, if there is a need to change the law, we will seek an early opportunity to do so. While there is much scope for more effective targeting of expenditure within the large SEN budget, we know that there will be transitional costs in implementing our programme. The pace of change will be linked to the availability of resources. Action will be carefully phased, bearing in mind everything that is being asked of schools and LEAs. Our objective is a programme for this Parliament and beyond, sustaining high quality provision for children with special educational needs well into the twenty first century.

David Blunkett

31/08/2000