‘Complete shift in thinking’ needed on education of disabled children, says ALLFIE

Inclusive education campaigners have called for a “complete shift in thinking” on how disabled children and young people are educated, just as the government faces public uproar over reforms to the special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) system.

There were widespread reports of another threatened backbench Labour rebellion this week, over concerns that ministers will reveal plans to restrict access to education, health and care plans (EHCPs) when they release a schools white paper in the autumn.

After years of alarm at Conservative moves to push an ever-growing number of disabled children into segregated special schools – at least until the final years of the last Conservative government – Labour’s plans appear to be aimed at ensuring more disabled children can be educated in mainstream settings.

But there are concerns that this will come at the expense of the legal rights to support provided through EHCPs, with significant doubt that the government will invest enough in the education system to provide that support.

The Alliance for Inclusive Education (ALLFIE) called on the government this week to “stop playing games with our lives”, and to provide “legally enforceable rights” to inclusive education in mainstream settings.

The EHCP issue became particularly toxic for the government this week after a letter to the Guardian newspaper from charities, family organisations and public figures.

The letter warned that “every sign from the government” suggests the white paper will remove the right to an EHCP from children attending mainstream schools.

It added: “Local authorities want EHCPs drastically reduced, or removed altogether, to relieve them of duties they often find costly and troublesome.”

The letter said about 270,000 disabled children with EHCPs are currently educated in mainstream settings, providing them with “legally enforceable” documents describing the support they are entitled to.

Among those signing the letter were non-user-led disability charities such as the National Autistic Society, Mencap, and Sense, and parent-led groups such as SEND National Crisis and Special Needs Jungle, although the disabled people’s organisation Disability Rights UK also added its support.

But ALLFIE declined to sign the letter because it said it did not support the current EHCP system, which it said was “primarily premised on resources and support that are available”, although it also did not back the government’s plans to remove or restrict access to EHCPs.

The problem, it said, was that the current system relies on “bureaucratic evaluations, eligibility thresholds, and means-testing methods resulting in dehumanising experiences”.

Its position was backed by Disability Action Haringey, which said this week that it “stands in solidarity with ALLFIE and echoes their concerns”.

ALLFIE’s chair, Navin Kikabhai, said the current “gatekeeping” system was “broken and fragmented” and was “desperately requiring a radical rethink and shift in practice”, even though EHCPs have enabled some disabled children and young people to access mainstream education.

He said: “We know that the current system pitches family against family for resources, often favouring those families who have the financial means to pursue legal representation.

“Why should a disabled child or young person need a plan to go to their local school or college alongside non-disabled peers, their friends, siblings and neighbours?

“This is a social justice and human right issue.

“We need a complete shift in thinking and practice.

“We need an Inclusive Education Act that makes it illegal for mainstream schools and colleges to refuse admission to a disabled person on the basis of their identity.”

And, he said, the government needed to remove the reservation against article 24 of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities*, phase out all forms of segregated provision, and “commit to a fully inclusive education system”.

He added: “The government must stop playing games with our lives.

“The education of disabled children and young people must not depend on the goodwill or budgets of local authorities.

“Rights are not optional.”

Questioned about the government’s reforms in the Commons this week, education secretary Bridget Philippson said little about its plans, other than promising that children will “get better access to more and strengthened support with a much sharper focus on early intervention” and that Labour would be “investing more in support for children with SEND”.

She added: “The guiding principle of any reform to the SEND system that we will set out will be about better, strengthened and improved support for children both inside and outside special schools.

“We want improved inclusivity and more specialist provision in mainstream schools and absolutely to draw on the expertise of the specialist sector and create the places where we need them.

“There will always be a legal right to the additional support that children with SEND need.”

*This means the UK has reserved the right for disabled children to be educated outside their local community, while an “interpretive declaration” explains that the UK believes the convention allows it to continue to operate both mainstream and special schools

Picture of the Department for Education’s offices in Westminster by Google

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