Tuesday 10 June, 10:00,
Thatcher Room, Portcullis House
The Education Committee will question experts and school leaders
on ways the Government could improve special educational needs
and disabilities (SEND) provision in mainstream schools.
A first panel of academics and policy experts is likely to be
asked whether the Government should apply national standards for
SEN support, and whether the legal requirement for local
authorities and schools to provide for children with SEND should
go beyond just those pupils who have gained an Education Health
and Care Plan (EHCP).
MPs are also likely to ask about the effectiveness of how
professionals from health, education and local government work
together to provide for pupils with SEND, how teacher training
could be improved, and whether the system is adversarial and
unaccountable for parents of children who require support.
In part two of this session, the cross-party Committee will
question three school or multi-academy trust leaders for their
experiences of making SEND provision work well, as examples of
good practice.
MPs are likely to be interested in ways to speed up the process
of children being referred, assessed and receiving an EHCP, how
they maintain standards of education for all pupils while
providing for children with SEND, and how to support those pupils
in transitioning to post-16 education.
The second panel may also be asked how funding for SEND support
and EHCPs should be allocated, and how they believe the system of
SEND provision could be reformed and put on a sustainable
footing.
The next evidence session of this inquiry will be the final one,
and will see the Committee question a minister from the
Department for Education.
Witnesses from
10:00
- Dr Susana Castro-Kemp, Associate Professor in Psychology and
Special Needs
- Dr Peter Gray, Co-coordinator of the national SEN Policy
Research Forum
- Jo Hutchinson, Director for SEND and additional needs,
Education Policy Institute
Witnesses from
11:00
- Daniel Constable-Phelps, Executive Headteacher at St Mary's,
Primary and Nursery School, Southampton
- Conrad Bourne, Director for SEND at the Mercian Trust
- Nicole Dempsey, Trust Director of SEND and Safeguarding at
Dixons Trinity Secondary School
