SEN: The Truth about Inclusion

The Special Educational Needs debate has long been dominated by the inclusion -exclusion debate. This paper recognises that inclusion in mainstream school is good for many children with SEN and does not seek to enter into a debate of ideology, but simply to reveal the facts: Since the Labour Government came into power in 1997 and began to implement its policy of inclusion we find that:

On Statements and Special School Places:

• Around 9000 places at special schools have been lost
• The number of statements and assessments issued for children with SEN have fallen by over a third

On Truancy:

• Children on 'School Action Plus' schemes, which are replacing statements are twice as likely as other children with SEN to truant.
• A fifth of all children of School Action Plus are persistent Truants.

On Exclusions:

• Special Educational Needs pupils make up the majority of pupils expelled from school at 67%, though they comprise only 17% of the school population
• SEN pupils are more likely to be suspended more than once in a year. Out of the 78,600 pupils who were excluded more than once in a single year, half (49.7%) were SEN pupils.
• For the first time, this year over half of all suspensions from secondary school are pupils with Special Educational Needs (55%)

On SEN and Pupil Referral Units (PRUs):

• Over half of pupils are suspended from PRUs -nearly three quarters have Special Educational Needs
• Two thirds (66%) of all SEN pupils at PRUs end up being suspended
• Special Educational Needs pupils in Pupil Referral Units has risen by 70% since 1997

On Parental choice:

• Around 83% of the increase in Independent School numbers over the last ten years are children with SEN.
• Over half all appeals are against a local authority's decision not to assess or statement a child.