with Philippa Stobbs OBE
Pens down! And breathe. The chaos of the SEND consultation period is over. Unless, of course, the judicial review that’s still pending orders it to be reopened.
The King’s speech last week unveiled a prospective “Education for All” Bill. It’s this, presumably, that will be the vehicle for any new SEND legislation that aims (at present) to weaken children and families’ rights dramatically. We will keep discussing these proposals, for which millions of words have been submitted, along with our 120+ page consultation response.
But before we get into today’s article, from SEND luminary, Philippa Stobbs OBE, we must mention some rather surprising news… In the consultation’s waning hours, the Education Secretary made it clear her ambitions extended beyond England. In a conference speech, Bridget Philippson called on countries to join a new “international alliance to support children with SEND.” Given the UK’s record on its UNCRPD obligations, and how the proposals to weaken disabled children’s rights have been received, this will be interesting to watch.
Philippa Stobbs is no stranger to special educational needs provision in other countries. Until relatively recently, she was led the Council for Disabled Children’s SEND policy, including being the delegate for the European Agency for Special Needs and Inclusive Education. Since her retirement, she has been busier than ever.
In this article, Philippa raises her concerns about some less highlighted areas of the proposals. Although the consultation has just closed, if the points Philippa makes here resonate, don’t forget you can—and should—still make representations to your MP. After all, they are the ones who will be voting on any Bills that emerge, and our joint #SaveOurChildrensRights coalition has a form you can use.
A letter on plans for reforming SEND from Philippa Stobbs OBE
Dear Colleagues and Friends,
I’ve set out below a few thoughts on some of the issues that have attracted less discussion during the consultation period, but may hold the key to a better future for children and young people with SEN and disabilities. In fact, potentially for all our children.
I need to explain:
Since 2014, so many things have gone in the wrong direction for children and young people with SEN and disabilities:
- We have seen poorer outcomes and widening gaps in progress and attainment for them during the school years
- They are more likely to be absent, persistently absent, excluded or suspended from school
- They are more likely to be NEET (not in education, employment or training) when they leave school, and more likely to experience social isolation as adults;
- Their parents are more likely to experience family breakdown and more likely to lose their job or have to stop working to support their child; and
- Local authorities are less likely to meet their obligations to them and more likely to go bankrupt.
Why?
The Children and Families Act was the right way forward
The timing of this deterioration coincides with the Children and Families Act (CFA).
Yet so many of us were very clear that, with a set of principles set in legislation, and a clear focus on outcomes, the CFA was the right way forward. In consequence, we have blamed the implementation of the CFA rather than its content.
I start from a different standpoint. In 2014, I was working with a group of primary schools in West London. It was during the implementation of the 2014 national curriculum, and each of the schools said, in their own different way, how much harder it was to teach inclusively with the new curriculum.
With its heavy content mapped over the year groups, it was so much more difficult to take proper account of where children were in their learning and development, and their different starting points. Reception class teachers faced a cliff edge of content, akin to the North Face of the Eiger, as children moved towards Year 1. Exclusions of our youngest children increased as teachers sought to cover the content and move each cohort on to being ready for the content of the following year.
The number of children identified as having SEN started to increase as schools’ core provision failed a growing number of children. The assessment system took no account of children who were at the earliest stages of their learning and development. The Rochford Review led to the removal of the obligation to report on their progress and attainment. The attainment of young people at the end of compulsory schooling was focused primarily on GCSEs—on particular GCSEs—and similarly, the progress measures. So schools got little or, for some pupils, no recognition of the work they had done with them and the progress they had made.
Teachers’ confidence and ability to work with the growing number of children and young people with SEN and disabilities were reducing. Schools, with budgets being cut by austerity, approached local authorities for more and more EHCPs.
How will the proposals help?
How will the current proposals turn this around? My own test for each of the proposals is whether it will improve outcomes for children and young people with SEN and disabilities.
Before the publication of the Schools White Paper, a lot of work was already underway around the education system. Changes were already underway to teacher training, to the Ofsted framework, and the review of the national curriculum and assessment system. So my next test for each of these areas of development is whether the work done to date, and each of the new proposals, is going to be sufficient to improve outcomes?
For example,
- Is Ofsted’s focus on inclusion well-designed? Or is it unduly focused on the SEN processes and insufficiently on outcomes, as some of the most recent discussions suggest?
- Is teacher training appropriately targeting ‘adaptive teaching’? Is it well enough embedded in a curriculum-based approach (adaptive teaching should be a matter for curriculum leaders first, and only then, the SENCO)?
- Does ‘belonging’ look beyond attendance to consider whether children and young people with SEN and disabilities are welcome in school? Are adjustments made to make them feel they are expected?
- Is the proposed research and evidence gathering going to reflect the knowledge we already have? Will it recognise the evidence about children with SEN spending less time with teachers than their peers? And the evidence of how the unplanned use of teaching assistant time can distance pupils from their teacher, their peers and the curriculum? And the evidence of the benefit of individual tuition, pioneered by the government in the noughties?
- Is the proposed funding going to be sufficient to fund the approaches we know work well?
Much of the focus in the Schools’ White Paper is on these issues, whereas the SEN and disability reform proposals are more focused on process issues. Will the process proposals improve progress and outcomes?
How will they play with the Equality Act?
Another important question is, where are the proposals to increase and enhance the impact of requirements that are already in place? Two of these are areas where I have had significant involvement, so you may say my views are biased, but:
- On the Equality Act responsibilities, there are proposals to document reasonable adjustments. Do we secure the most effective reasonable adjustments by consulting a list? Or do we need a more creative approach to identifying the best reasonable adjustment for a particular child in a particular setting at a particular time?
- On what has come to be called ‘ordinarily available provision,’ where is the plan to review different approaches to meeting the requirements in the Regulations? Is there recognition of the benefit of approaches that engage the local community, teachers, parents, support services, and different agencies to agree on what is reasonable for all schools to provide, from their own budget? Including the benefit of the high levels of accountability associated with this level of engagement?
Successive rounds of legislation over the last 45 years have failed to improve outcomes for children and young people with SEN and disabilities. Yet each round of legislation was intended to do just that, and particularly the CFA 2014. So, even if you responded to the consultation, don’t let that be the end. Consider reviewing the proposals as to whether each proposal is going to improve outcomes for children with SEN and disabilities, and let your local representative know your thoughts. This process is far from over; it’s really only just begun.
The consultation was clear that children with SEN and disabilities have been failed over the years. All the proposals for reforming the system should have a clear line of sight between children and young people and better outcomes.
Philippa Stobbs OBE
Philippa is the author of the guide to Disabled children & the Equality Act 2010 that tells teachers and schools what they must do to prevent and address inequalities, & avoid discriminating against disabled pupils. Share it with your/your child’s school. Philippa also wrote a two-part series on Ordinarily Available Provision, and discussed the CFA with us in a podcast, linked below.
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Also read:
- Beyond EHCPs: Why Inclusion Needs More Than a Document
- The Unacceptable Truth: 20 SEND legal rights at risk from the Government’s SEND reforms
- How health and family support systems are failing children starting school
- WEBINAR RECORDING! The implications for children’s legal rights to EHCPs and EOTAS of the Government’s SEND proposals
- When things go right: Shining a light on SEND Practitioners making a positive impact [Giveaway!]
- From suspicion to support: why the Government’s child protection reforms matter for disabled children
- Have your say on the future of transport for disabled children and young people
- Unison voices major concerns over SEND reform health plans for sick and disabled children out of school in the EOTAS consultation
- Top Tips for the EOTAS & EHCP consultation: Protect your child’s rights to statutory SEND support
- Navigating constraints: Why a former PCF chair thinks the current model is missing the mark for families
- Dear Secretary of State for Education, Lucy Powell: an Open Letter from Special Needs Jungle and SEND legal charity SOS!SEN
- Research: Disabled young people define inclusive education as “learning in the place that’s right for them”
- Beyond EHCPs: Why Inclusion Needs More Than a Document
- Research: Disabled young people define inclusive education as “learning in the place that’s right for them”
- Philippa Stobbs OBE: Reform plans must have a clear line of sight from children and young people with SEND to better outcomes.
- Inclusion bases: Can they help solve the SEND crisis?
- Shutting down debate: The Government’s use of ‘Experts’ for SEND reform
- Inclusion bases: a new label, a big ambition, same unanswered questions
- Inclusion doesn’t just happen in mainstream school: being included in education and in life should be the goal
- The complex SEND needs teacher training gap in mainstream schools and how to fix it
- Government must act on the “double disadvantage” of poverty and SEND policies says new report
- Consultation with parents and carers: What can the Government learn from the SEND Review?
- The Ontario system: Are politicians considering a Canadian province’s SEND structure for England?
- Supporting secondary pupils with additional needs: Top Tips learned as a SENCO and a SEND parent.
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- The Unacceptable Truth: 20 SEND legal rights at risk from the Government’s SEND reforms - September 9, 2026
- WEBINAR RECORDING! The implications for children’s legal rights to EHCPs and EOTAS of the Government’s SEND proposals - September 3, 2026
- From suspicion to support: why the Government’s child protection reforms matter for disabled children - August 28, 2026
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