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How is our work influencing life in Northern Ireland and delivering equality? Learn more about our policy, legal and research work.
 
 

Special Educational Needs

What you need to know

 

Advancing Equality for Children with Special Educational Needs


Children with Special Educational Needs (SEN) leave school with poorer educational outcomes, have poorer attendance, and experience more bullying than other school children. Experience of SEN also differs by equality group and socio-economic status.

Delayed placements for children with SEN cause worry for children, and exhaustion for parents and carers as they seek to ensure access to appropriate education and support for their children.

While attention is often focussed on ensuring children with SEN secure appropriate school places, children with SEN face a range of inequalities spanning attainment, access, stereotypes and bullying.

Every child deserves an equal chance to thrive.  Decision makers must deliver actions which tackle the range of inequalities faced by children with Special Educational Needs.



Key Barriers


46%25 of young people with SEN Stages 1 and 2, and 36%25 with Stage 3 left school with 5 GCSE grades A*-C (including English /Maths) compared to 84%25 without SENChildren with SEN face a range of barriers and challenges.

There are persistent challenges in identifying specific needs and supports (assessment and statementing).  There are also challenges in ensuring children are enrolled in a suitable school in a timely manner, and in communicating with families.

Once in school, children with SEN experience higher levels of bullying and stereotyping.  There is also a lack of support when moving between schools and into adult life.

Children with SEN and disabilities have weaker legal protections should they need specialist equipment, or if they experience discrimination.

Schools often not sufficiently supported or resourced to respond effectively to the specific and complex needs of children.

Children with SEN, according to the Department of Education’s own analysis, have been negatively impacted by recent budget cuts to dedicated school support staff and to the SEN Transformation Budget.


 

Priority Areas for Action 


The Commission recommends 5 key areas of action.  These will deliver improvements for children and their families, and for wider providers:

Ensure timely access to high-quality education

  • Ensure that all children with SEN access and receive high-quality education
 
All Educational Bodies must identify and tackle barriers to participation, progression and attainment – including issues of statementing, attendance, and transition from primary to post-primary.  The Education and Training Inspectorate (ETI) should also monitor the compliance of School Boards with their duty to prepare accessibility plans.
 
  • Tailor SEN provision to meet the specific needs of different equality groups
 
Specific and appropriate support (e.g. support materials and translation services) is required for children with SEN who speak English as an additional language, and targeted support may be required for groups such as Travellers and children from most deprived areas.
 
  • School places for children with SEN should be allocated and communicated to families at the same time as children without SEN.
 
It is essential that the Education Authority use data from across health and early education to effectively forward plan and ensure children with SEN are placed in schools at the same time as children without SEN.
 
  • Children and young people must be effectively supported when moving to a new school, progressing through education, and transitioning into adult life.
 
It is essential to support young people with SEN to transition into adult life including assistance to pursue opportunities in further / higher education and employment, alongside other young adults without SEN. Consideration should be given to the merits of extending the statutory duty to support young adults with SEN and Disability beyond the age of 19.
 
  • Action is required to stop prejudice-based bullying and negative stereotyping of children with SEN.
 
Strong and visible leadership from the School Principal, senior management team and Board of Governors is needed to promote an anti-bullying culture within every school, and to monitor and address incidences of bullying. It is essential that, among other measures, the Department of Education undertakes updated and comprehensive research to establish, and track over time, the prevalence and nature of prejudice-based bullying across the equality categories, including that which is perpetuated against children with SEN, and to assess school compliance with the Addressing Bullying in Schools Act.


Why this is important: Children with SEN have lower levels of attendance and attainment in education than children without SEN. They experience higher levels of bullying and stereotyping, and experience challenges across their educational journey including delays in assessment and statementing, challenges in securing a timely school place, and a lack of support when transitioning to adult life. Some groups also have higher rates of SEN than others and need targeted support.
 

Reform the law to enhance protections

  • Schools should be required by law to provide special equipment and services for disabled pupils, and there should be stronger protections against discrimination and harassment in schools.    
 
Changes are required to place an additional duty on schools to provide auxiliary aids and services for disabled pupils, where reasonable, along with changes to legislation so that disabled people, including children and young people, have protection against indirect disability discrimination and discrimination arising from disability.
 
  • Consideration should be given to empowering the special educational needs and disability tribunal (SENDIST) to award compensation if a disabled child experiences discrimination.
 
Unlike discrimination experienced on other grounds, or discrimination experienced by adults with disability, young people experiencing discrimination in schools have no recourse to financial compensation through the Special Educational Needs and Disability Tribunal.


Why this is important: Children with SEN and disabilities have weaker legal protections available to them should they require specialist equipment, or if they experience discrimination. Disabled children without an identified special educational need, currently have no right to auxiliary aids or services even if they experience substantial disadvantage at school. There is no free-standing protection for disabled people against harassment related to their disability outside employment and the provision of further and higher education. And, unlike discrimination experienced on other grounds or discrimination experienced by adults with disability, young people experiencing discrimination in schools have no recourse to financial compensation through the Special Educational Needs and Disability Tribunal.
 

Limit and control the use of restrictive practices in schools

  • Schools should only ever use restrictive practices as a last resort, in line with clear guidance and supported by comprehensive training.
 
In line with UNCRC recommendations, restrictive practices should only ever be used as a last resort and should never be used as a punitive or disciplinary measure.  Guidance on use of restrictive practice developed by the Department of Education must be coupled with comprehensive and mandatory training for Principals, Board of Governors, and school staff. It is essential that instances of use of restrictive practice are recorded, and that robust monitoring of schools’ processes for responding to and recording instances of restrictive practice are in place. It is essential that data is disaggregated across the equality grounds.
 

Why this is important: Behaviours considered challenging are often strongly associated with certain developmental difficulties and disabilities. Having a learning disability affects the way a person understands information and how they communicate. Research has suggested there is a disproportionately high use of restrictive practice on children with SEN. Furthermore, 72% of schools who responded to a survey in 2021 on restrictive practices in educational settings stated they had never received guidance on creating a policy on physical intervention.
 

Fund and monitor a targeted action plan to ensure key inequalities are tackled

  • SEN services should be resourced to meet objective need, with an action plan developed, implemented and monitored to ensure equality of opportunity for children with SEN.
 
SEN services, strategies and action plans should be resourced to meet objective need now and in the future. There is a need for SMART, outcome focussed, time-bound and resourced action plans as a basis for effective, on-time and prioritised delivery.  It is essential that actions are targeted and tracked across the equality grounds, with data collected and published as part of the monitoring of the Action Plan.
 
  • Inequalities experienced by children with SEN across the section 75 equality groups should be targeted and tracked.
 
All key measures should not only be tracked in aggregate but also for the impact on individuals from across the full range of equality grounds. Key datasets should contain comprehensive equality data to facilitate full equality analysis to underpin the targeting of interventions and tracking of equality impacts, including with regards to SEN.


Why this is important: Schools are often not sufficiently supported or resourced to respond effectively to specific and complex needs of children. Analysis of previous education budgets have indicated that children with SEN were adversely impacted by reductions to dedicated school staff to support children with SEN and reduction to the SEN Transformation Budget. The authors of the Independent Review of Education (2023) not only described a “system in crisis” but also highlighted that investment in SEN and early years “could provide a significant long-term saving as well as improving long-term outcomes for children”.
 

Ensure collaboration to deliver better outcomes and services.

  • Leadership and collaboration between the Department of Education, the Department of Health, and others, is essential to provide effective services and appropriate support for children with SEN.
 
It is essential that Departments demonstrate leadership and work together to progress equality of opportunity for children and young people with SEN. The Department of Finance should additionally consider creating guidance on how the Children’s Services Co-operation Act (Northern Ireland) 2015 may be used in practice, in order to provide officials with clear information on how resources may be shared and pooled between different Departments.
 
  • Routinely involve children, parents, carers, schools and other expert organisations in the planning, delivery and review of appropriate support for children with SEN.
 
It is essential that children with SEN, parents and carers, and teachers, amongst others, are fully involved in decision making across all stages of a child’s educational journey, for example during assessments and statementing, design of educational plans, and during regular reviews. It is essential also that the voices of young people with SEN are considered within the development, delivery and monitoring of any action plan(s) and in service design, delivery and monitoring.
 

Rationale: School leaders can promote positive attitudes, challenge stereotypes and discrimination, and ensure equality for children and young people with SEN. Departments should also demonstrate leadership and work together to progress equality of opportunity for children and young people with SEN. The Independent Review of SEN services and processes has highlighted that “Effective co-operation and collaboration between Health and Education is critical for the provision of services to schools and pupils and the timely completion of assessments”
 
 


Delivering for children, their families, education providers, and wider society 


High quality early-years and education, including Special Educational Needs provision, plays a key role in children’s development and will benefit children, their families, education providers and wider society.

36%25 of pupils with SEN and Disability experience bullying, compared to 25%25 of pupils without
  • For children and young people: ensuring children have high-quality education will advance equality and improve their opportunities now and in later life.
  • For Parents and Families: Ensuring children benefit from appropriate support throughout their educational journey, and that there is clear and timely communication regarding assessment, progress and transitions will assist families and reduce the anxiety and stress they often experience.
  • For Providers: Ensuring children with SEN are allocated a school place at the same time as children without SEN will not only remove stress for children and families but will also assist schools and providers to ensure appropriate provision and assist with transition and induction. Schools will benefit from being resourced and supported appropriately to respond to the specific of complex needs of children and young people with SEN. 
  • For Society: Investing so that all children achieve their full potential will improve long-term outcomes for children and will enable longer-term savings for society.



How you can help: Support our call for change


Every child deserves an equal chance to learn, grow, and succeed. Action must be taken to tackle the inequalities faced by children with Special Educational Needs.

We would welcome your engagement with colleagues, officials, and elected representatives to raise awareness of our positions, and to secure adoption of our recommendations.
Support needs to be targeted e.g. 32%25 of Traveller children have SEN compared to 19%25 of others

How you can help:

 

  • SHARE: Share this webpage – www.equalityni.org/SEN to raise awareness and inspire action.
  • SUPPORT: Engage with colleagues and use our recommendations to build support for change.
  • ADVOCATE: Call on key government officials and elected representatives (including the Ministers for Education, Health, and Economy, and related NI Assembly Committees) to implement our recommendations.
 


Further Information


Our full recommendations, along with key evidence and supporting arguments are available from these links:
 
If you would like to know more about this area of our work, please email: publicpolicy@equalityni.org


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