Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson warned that the current special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) system is ‘too adversarial’ and ‘too bureaucratic’
Bridget Phillipson has said she wants all teachers in mainstream education to have special educational needs and disabilities training.
The Education Secretary said “brilliant” work was already happening in this area that shows what can be delivered on a “bigger scale”. She wants training to be improved in mainstream schools so teachers can support students at the “earliest possible point”.
Asked by The Mirror whether she wants all teachers to have been trained in SEND provision, Ms Phillipson said: “Absolutely. From this September, training around SEND will be a big part of initial teacher training.
“But alongside that, we know that there is the need to provide more training and support for our teachers and support staff already working in our schools.”
She pointed to the partnerships for inclusion of neurodiversity in schools (PINS) programme, which brings specialist health and education professionals into mainstream primary schools to help shape whole-school SEND provision.
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The programme seeks to upskill school staff so they can provide early interventions to kids who might be showing signs of needing extra support. Ms Phillipson said such programmes were doing “really brilliant work that I think demonstrates the kind of change we can deliver on a bigger scale”. Around 1,650 schools were part of a local PINS project during the 2024 to 2025 financial year, with the programme to be expanded over the next year.
The Government plans to publish a white paper in the autumn detailing reforms to the SEND system. But it is shaping up to be a fresh battle between the Prime Minister and backbenchers, with fears raised that Education, Health and Care plans (EHCP) might be scrapped.
An EHCP is a legally binding document for children and young people aged up to 25 which sets out the support a child is entitled to.
While Ms Phillipson stopped short of backing EHCPS, she told The Mirror she will make sure parents “continue to retain legal rights, to make sure that all children get access to the support that they need”.
She said: “The reform that I am determined to deliver will be a better system for children. We know that too many parents wait far too long to get the support that their children need. It’s too adversarial, it’s too bureaucratic.
“This is about how we better support children at the earliest possible point. We’re investing more in the system to make that happen through more training for staff, particularly around neurodiversity.
“We’re putting more support into schools to create the places that are needed and to make the changes within mainstream schools to deliver a brilliant education for all of our children.”
She added: “But what matters most to me at the moment is listening to parents, to campaigners, to disability rights groups and teachers to make sure that any change that we bring forward is rooted in the challenges that they see at the moment, but also how we can deliver a much better system for children.”
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