Alliance for Inclusive Education’s Briefing – March 2011
Hello Friends
The Minister for State for Children and Families Sarah
Teather has accepted an invitation to meet the All-Party
Parliamentary Group on Learning Disabilities in the third
week of March. She has also agreed to meet with ALLFIE
two days later.
We are hoping that the Special Educational Needs
Green Paper will have been published by then, so
that we can question her on the Government’s SEN
proposals. Further details of the meeting are in
this briefing. The Government has now published
the Education Bill, which continues the rights of
disabled children and their parents to supportive
mainstream education provision, although it does offer opportunities to
have a positive debate about education and training for young people aged
16 and over.
The Equality & Human Rights Commission has published its Draft Code of
Practice for Schools for consultation. The code is intended to offer guidance
to schools on their equality duties.
One very good piece of news is that several local
authorities have won a victory against the
Government over the Coalition’s withdrawal of
funding for the Building Schools for the Future
programme.
In solidarity
Simone Aspis (Campaigns and Policy Co-ordinator)
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Alliance for Inclusive Education’s Briefing – March 2011
CONTENTS
All-Party Parliamentary Group meeting with Sarah Teather
Page 2
Education Bill
Page 3
Building Schools for the Future Court Case
Page 8
Equality and Human Rights Commission Consultation
Page 9
Government Consultation Notices
Page 10
Jargon Buster
Page 10
All-Party Parliamentary Group meeting with Sarah Teather
Sarah Teather is expected to meet with the AllParty Parliamentary Group on Learning
Disabilities to speak on the proposals published
in the Special Educational Needs (SEN) Green
Paper. During these meetings Ministers are put
through their paces by Group members and by
members of the public, time permitting. This is
your opportunity to raise issues and proposals
that we believe should be included in any special
educational needs reform.
Date for your diary: Monday 21st March 2011
Time
: 4.30 pm – 6.00 pm
Venue
: Committee Room 9,
House of Commons, Westminster
It would be great if you are able to attend this meeting. We will
put together a very short briefing of issues that we want the
MPs and Peers attending this meeting to raise on our behalf
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Alliance for Inclusive Education’s Briefing – March 2011
and it will be available to ALLFIE members. Please let me know if you intend to
be at this meeting.
simone.aspis@allfie.org.uk or Telephone: 0207 737 6030
Two days later, on the 23rd March, ALLFIE will have a separate meeting with
Sarah Teather at the Department for Education. We will report back on these
two meetings with a full briefing on the SEN Green Paper once it is published.
EDUCATION BILL
The Education Bill consists of the following proposals
 School Admissions
 School Exclusions
 School Inspection Standards
 Teacher Training
 Qualifications and Curriculum
 Careers Education and Guidance
 Post-16 Education And Training
ALLFIE SAYS
There are some very worrying proposals that will weaken current protections
against discrimination and unfair treatment of disabled children in schools.
At the All-Party Parliamentary meeting, ALLFIE will seize the opportunity to
raise a number of important, inclusion-related issues, such as funding
policies, exclusions and teaching training.
The Education Bill has now passed its second reading and is due for debate
during the Committee stage during March and April. We have had a positive
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Alliance for Inclusive Education’s Briefing – March 2011
meeting with Kevin Brennan and Julie Hilling from the Labour Opposition, who
are keen to table our amendments. We are still waiting to hear whether
Government backbenchers are willing to meet us during the first week of
March.
SCHOOL ADMISSIONS
The Education Bill will do away with Admissions Forums.
These forums were established in 1999 to monitor school
admissions across their area and have a membership
comprising parents, school heads, local community
representatives. The Forums give parents an opportunity to
raise problems related to local schools’ admissions policies.
If schools are not taking their fair share of children with
special educational needs (SEN) then the Forum would be
the place to raise this issue.
The Government also intends to remove the power that
School Adjudicators have to modify a school’s admissions
policy if it does not comply with the schools admissions code
ALLFIE is opposed to any reduction in parents’ rights to
challenge mainstream schools admissions policies that
attempt to are not fair for disabled pupils. One strength
of using the school adjudicator route is that adjudicators
have the power to modify a school’s admissions policy at
a strategic level, thus benefiting many disabled pupils.
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Alliance for Inclusive Education’s Briefing – March 2011
SCHOOL EXCLUSIONS
The Bill will also remove the power of independent exclusions
panels to order a school to reinstate a child if the exclusion is not
upheld. The Government’s proposal is that the panel has the power
only to recommend that the school reconsiders its decision not to
reinstate a child. Failure to do this may result in the school being
required to pay towards the child’s next placement.
ALLFIE believes that independent exclusions panels
should keep their powers to order schools to reinstate a
child if the exclusion decision is not upheld.
Special Educational Needs and Disability Tribunals
currently have the power to order a school to reinstate a
pupil if the exclusion is due to disability discrimination.
However, reinstatement will no longer be available for the overwhelming
majority of children on the special educational needs register.
SCHOOL INSPECTION STANDARDS
Under the Bill, OFSTED school inspectors will no longer be
required to inspect the performance of disabled children or
their inclusion in mainstream school settings. This
important duty was part of the Children, Schools and
Families Act, which was passed just before the last
Parliament was dissolved.
ALLFIE believes that OFSTED must continue to inspect
inclusive education practice and Equality Act compliance
in schools.
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Alliance for Inclusive Education’s Briefing – March 2011
TEACHER TRAINING
The General Teaching Council is to be abolished and oversight of
teacher training will come under the Department for Education.
ALLFIE wants a Government commitment that all trainee teachers
have a clear understanding of what inclusive education is, as well as
the opportunity to teach disabled children within mainstream
school settings.
QUALIFICATIONS AND CURRICULUM
The Qualifications and Curriculum Development Agency, which
oversees the development of the national curriculum, is to be
abolished. See the Government consultations section at the end of
this briefing for further information on the National Curriculum
Review.
The Government wants to raise educational standards by comparing
the performance of pupils in the UK with that of their peers around
the world. To achieve this, State-funded schools will have to
participate in international surveys and Ofqual, the qualifications
regulator, will have a duty to make comparisons of standards in
qualifications. Ofqual will also have to take international standards
into account when setting standards for UK qualifications.
ALLFIE wants the UK to be the world leader in providing high-quality
inclusive schooling for all children. There is a danger that U K
schools will be labelled as failing if they are compared with schools
around the world which do not have an intake of disabled pupils.
Our schools should therefore be compared with the best
mainstream schools that provide a great educational experience for
both disabled and non-disabled pupils.
Similarly, UK qualifications need to be compared with those in other
countries which use different assessment methods and are taken by
both disabled and non-disabled learners.
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Alliance for Inclusive Education’s Briefing – March 2011
CAREERS EDUCATION AND GUIDANCE IN SCHOOLS
All state-funded schools will be under a duty to arrange independent
and impartial careers education and guidance. Careers guidance
officers will be required to inform school leavers about all education
and training opportunities (including apprenticeships).
ALLFIE welcomes this initiative and we are seeking confirmation
that all careers guidance officers will be required to inform
disabled school leavers of all the mainstream opportunities that
are available to their non-disabled peers. We hope that they will
no longer be permitted to only inform disabled children about
segregated courses that are on offer.
Post-16 EDUCATION AND TRAINING
The Government wants to abolish the Young People’s Learning
Agency (YPLA) which oversees the funding of further education
courses for young people aged 16-18 years and for young people
with a ‘statutory’ learning difficulties assessment aged up to 25.
ALLFIE sees this as a real opportunity to influence Government’s
funding policies, so that education providers will be encouraged
to enrol disabled young people on mainstream courses. At the
moment the YPLA’s funding arrangements discourage education
providers from enrolling disabled young people onto mainstream
courses, out of fears that funding may be lost due to their failure
to pass the qualifications.
Skills Funding Agency
All young people under 24 will be entitled to attempt full Level 2
and Level 3 qualifications (GCSE and A level). If young people are
unable to take these or equivalent exams then they can still be
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Alliance for Inclusive Education’s Briefing – March 2011
entitled to other funded education and vocational training courses such as
basic numeracy and literacy skills courses.
ALLFIE welcomes these changes as they will allow young people
without a learning difficulties assessment to continue their
education until they are 25 if they are unable to gain a Level 2 or
Level 3 qualification. However, the upper age limit should be
removed for disabled learners, as many have experienced low
expectations or have been badly advised while at school.
The Government wants to impose a stronger duty on the Skills
Funding Agency to prioritise funding for apprenticeship training
for all young people aged between 16-18, and up to 24 for
those who are disabled, have learning difficulties or have been
in local authority care. The Skills Funding Agency will also be
responsible for securing sufficient number and variety of
apprenticeship places for young people who are eligible.
ALLFIE believes that young disabled people must have access
to apprenticeships that meet their career aspirations.
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Alliance for Inclusive Education’s Briefing – March 2011
Building Schools for the Future Court Case
NO
An important court case has challenged the Secretary of State for Education
Michael Gove’s decision to scrap the Building Schools for the Future funding
programme, which enabled local authorities to build new schools or refurbish
existing ones. Six local authorities (Luton, Nottingham, Waltham Forest,
Newham, Kent and Sandwell ) took Michael Gove to court because they said
the decision to scrap the programme was unlawful because he did not have
due regard for the equality duties under the Disability Discrimination Act. The
judge upheld the complaint and quashed the Government’s decision to
abandon the programme in its entirety.
Justice Holman said: “I am simply not satisfied that any regard was had to the
relevant (equality) duties at all, let alone rigorous regard… The Secretary of
State must, I stress must, reconsider the position of each of the claimants
(local authorities) with an open mind and paying due regard to whatever
representations they may respectively make.”
Mr Bell, a senior civil servant at the Department of Education told the hearing
that “The Secretary of State should have considered that newly built schools
would generally be likely to produce facilities which were made more
accessible for disabled pupils.”
There is an opportunity for disabled people to put pressure on
Michael Gove to reconsider his decision to end the programme in
the above-mentioned local authorities. If you live in one of these
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Yes
No
Alliance for Inclusive Education’s Briefing – March 2011
areas, contact your local authority’s legal department to find out how you can
be involved.
Equality and Human Rights Commission Consultation
The Equality and Human Rights Commission is consulting on its
draft code of practice to help schools comply with their
Equality Act duties.
The draft code of practice can be found at:
http://www.equalityhumanrights.com/uploaded_files/EqualityAct/draft_code
_of_practice_schools_eng_wales.pdf
Closing date is 22nd April 2011
Government consultations
National Curriculum Review - Call for Evidence
The Rt Hon Michael Gove MP, Secretary of State for Education,
has announced a review of the primary and secondary National
Curriculum in England. The National Curriculum was originally
intended as a guide for study in key subjects which would give
parents and teachers confidence that students were acquiring
the knowledge necessary at every level of study to make
appropriate progress. As it has developed, the National
Curriculum has come to cover more subjects, prescribe more
outcomes and take up more school time than originally
intended. We want to hear your opinions and evidence about the National
Curriculum and start a debate about what is taught in our schools. By
answering the questions in the Call for Evidence you can give your input to the
discussion at this early stage.
Consultation link:
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Alliance for Inclusive Education’s Briefing – March 2011
http://www.education.gov.uk/consultations/index.cfm?action=consultation
Details&consultationId=1730&external=no&menu=1
Launch Date: Thursday 20 January 2011
Closing Date: Thursday 14 April 2011
Jargon Buster
Schools Adjudicator
A person who makes a decision about various schools related issues including
school admissions policies.
Green Paper
The Government publishes proposals in a Green Paper as the first tentative
step towards changing the law.
Government’s consultation
This is when the Government asks us what we think about their ideas.
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