Only 5% of teachers say that the pupils they teach who have special needs and disabilities (SEND) always receive the educational support to which they are legally entitled and over half (51%) say the level of support for pupils with SEND has decreased in the last five years.
Just 3% of teachers who responded to a survey conducted by NASUWT-The Teachers’ Union said they always receive the support they need to teach pupils with SEND effectively. 38% said they rarely or never receive the support they need.
The survey, which received over 2,000 responses from teachers in England, found that nearly three-quarters of respondents (73%) said pupils remain in their school despite having an Education, Health and care Plan (EHCP) which names a specialist school for them because that setting is full.
More than three-quarters (76%) of respondents who said they worked in a specialist setting have experienced verbal abuse from pupils in the last year.
61% had been physically assaulted and 57% had experienced threats of physical assault.
More than half (53%) said they experienced such attacks on a daily basis or more than once a day. 55% said such attacks are increasing in severity, but only just over a third (35%) said that their workplace always takes appropriate action to address all incidents they report.
The survey also found:
- Nine in ten respondents said the number of pupils they teach who have special needs or disabilities has increased in the last five years;
- 95% said the needs of pupils they teach who have SEND have become more complex over the last five years;
- Four in ten said they were not always made aware of the specific support that each of the pupils with SEND they teach is statutorily entitled to;
- 83% said they amount of time they spend adapting lessons to meet the needs of pupils who have SEND has increased;
- 43% said the number of specialist support staff to work with pupils with SEND had decreased in their school over the last five years;
- 94% said the workload of staff has increased as a result of paperwork associated with having more pupils with SEND, 91% said workload has increased as a result of the underfunding of specialist services for SEND and 86% said workload has increased as a result of the number of pupils with school-based anxiety;
- Less than half (42%) said their local authority has an early intervention strategy to provide support to pupils who have SEN or disabilities.
- While 71% of respondents said they had received SEND specific training or CPD in the last two years, only 13% said the training fully meet their needs.
Dr Patrick Roach, General Secretary of the NASUWT, said:
“The government has inherited a SEND system on its knees.
“Our latest survey findings point to the major challenges that will need to be overcome if any reforms to SEND provision are to be successful.
“Any plan for rebuilding trust and confidence in the SEND system must be properly resourced and integral to wider reforms to curriculum and assessment, inspection, accountability and measures to tackle the teacher recruitment and retention crisis and the ambition to recruit 6,500 more teachers.
“We have seen more money spent on SEND at a time of rising need. However, too much of that money is being handed over to private providers making a profit from the most vulnerable children in the system whilst many more local authorities are facing the prospect of bankruptcy. This must be a priority for a government in the context of current public spending challenges.
“Essential services that were run into the ground under the previous government need to be part of the solution, instead of teachers being left to desperately plug the gaps in specialist support caused by long delays in accessing vital services.”
