Commenting on the Policy Exchange report Special Educational Needs: Reforming provision in English schools, Chris Keates, General Secretary of the NASUWT, the largest teachers’ union, said:
“This badly conceived proposal from the Policy Exchange would subject the most vulnerable children to policy experimentation and private profiteering.
“It is important to remember that the Policy Exchange is a think-tank with close links to Conservative Party ministers. We can expect to see much of their ideological thinking appearing in the Coalition Government’s forthcoming SEN Green Paper.
“Special needs provision will never be addressed satisfactorily until there is an acceptance by the Coalition Government that there needs to be a national framework of special needs entitlement to put an end to the postcode lottery of current provision.
“Unless this nettle is grasped and the necessary resources are made available to support local authorities and schools to make it happen, the forthcoming Green Paper from the Coalition Government is likely to be nothing more than pious statements and platitudes.
“There is excellent practice to be found in the current system, where local authorities have developed a network of special schools and units and appropriate placement with support in mainstream schools.
“It is this model of provision that needs to be rolled out, not the promotion of private provision that leaves vulnerable children and young people to the mercy of the market.”
How it can work - leaflet Txt
