Dispute Resolution and Avoidance in Education: An overview of the statistics on SEN in England and ASN in Scotland Elisabet Weedon, Sheila Riddell and Michalis Kakos, Centre for Research in Education Inclusion and Diversity, University of Edinburgh Working Paper 2 Introduction The aim of this paper is to provide statistical information on children who have been identified as having special educational needs (SEN) (England) or additional support needs (ASN) (Scotland). The term used in Scotland, ‘additional support needs’, is defined within the Education (Additional Support for Learning) (Scotland) Act 2004 and covers children who have difficulty in learning for whatever reasons, including adverse social circumstances. More detailed definitions and guidance of interpretation of the act is included in the Supporting Children’s Learning Code of Practice (Scottish Executive, 2005). In England the term ‘special educational needs’ is defined by the Code of Practice on the Identification and Assessment of Special Educational Needs (DfE, 1994), and has a somewhat narrower ambit, referring specifically to children with learning difficulties and disabilities. The Scottish data are drawn from the statistical bulletin Pupils in Scotland, 2007 (Scottish Government, 2008b). The English data are derived from the equivalent statistical bulletin for England, entitled Special Educational Needs in England, January 2007 (DfES, 2007). In addition, data are drawn from the annual reports of the Additional Support Needs Tribunals for Scotland and the Special Educational Needs and Disability Tribunal (England). The paper is structured thus: 1. An overview of the total number of pupils with additional support needs/special needs in all publicly funded schools; 2. An examination of English region/local authority and Scottish local authorities data on SEN/ASN; 3. An overview the nature of the difficulty of children with ASN/SEN in publicly funded schools in Scotland and England; 4. An examination of the relationship between SEN/ASN and key social variables (gender, ethnicity, poverty and looked after status); 5. An overview the number of pupils in independent schools with additional support needs/special needs 6. An examination of the data from the Special Educational Needs and Disability Tribunal (SENDIST) in England and the Additional Support Needs Tribunals in Scotland. Definitions Scottish data Prior to the passage of the Education (Additional Support for Learning) (Scotland) (ASN) Act 2004, categories of special educational needs were defined within the Education (Scotland) Act 1980. Before this, medical categories of difficulty had been in use (see Riddell, 2006) for full discussion. The ASN Act of 2004 introduced a set of broader categories (for an overview see Working Paper 1). Under the terms of the1980 Act, local authorities were required to summarise a child’s difficulties, the measures proposed and the nominated school within a Record of Need (RoN). Under the new legislation, the local authority is obliged to assess the needs of any child requiring additional support in order to learn. If the child requires significant, multi-agency support then the local authority has a duty to consider the provision of a Coordinated Support Plan (CSP). If the child’s needs are less extensive and/or short 1 term then a school/local authority can provide an Individualised Educational Programme (IEP) for that child. During a transitional phase, from December 2005 to November 2007, local authorities were obliged to determine whether children who had previously had a RoN required a CSP. Individualised Educational Programmes (IEPs) are written plans setting targets that a child with special educational needs is expected to achieve but do not carry any legal status. The new legislation also accorded new rights to parents and young people. English data The Education Act 1993 was intended to ensure that children’s special educational needs would be properly identified and met. The Code of Practice on the Identification of Special Needs (DfE, 1994) came into force in September 1994. Children identified as having special educational needs were split into two categories, those whose needs were such that they required multi-disciplinary support and regular review, and those whose needs were such that they could be met through additional support within the school. The former group were deemed to qualify for a Statement of Need and/or an Individual Education Plan, whilst the latter would have their needs recorded in an IEP or some other school based document. The needs of children without statements were to be met from the school's own resources, defined as School Action (exclusively school-based support) or School Action Plus (school-based but with some external specialist support from outside). A statement is made where neither of these is sufficient and extra resources are needed. The law requires a child with SEN but no statement to be educated in a mainstream school, unless the LEA is not responsible for meeting the cost – i.e. the parents or a charity are paying. Section 1: An overview of the number of pupils with ASN/SEN in publicly funded schools in Scotland and England. Introduction This section examines the proportion of pupils with SEN in England and ASN in Scotland in relation to the pupil population in each country. There is a considerable difference in the total population as England has 8,111,560 pupils between the ages of 4 and 19 and 1,558,220 pupils categorised as having SEN (DfES, 2007). In Scotland there are 692,215 pupils in the same age range and 36,542 pupils identified as having additional support needs (Scottish Government, 2008). In both countries there has been a decrease in overall pupil numbers, especially noticeable in the primary sector, whilst the number of those with SEN/ASN has increased. England Figure 1 below shows that from 2003 there has been an increase in pupils with SEN. This is due mainly to an increase in pupils with SEN without a statement. Comparing the years 2003 and 2007 we can see that this number went up from 685,100 to 727,700 for primary schools and from 430,080 to 529,780 in secondary schools. There is no significant variation in the percentage of pupils with SEN between mainstream primary and secondary schools in England (see figure 2). The high percentage of pupils with SEN in pupil referral units (PRUs) is due to the high numbers of pupils with SEN without statements and particularly of pupils with behavioural, emotional and social difficulties. Data from special schools are not included in this figure since all of their pupils have SEN. 2 Figure 1: England – Pupils with SEN as a percentage of all pupils in publicly maintained primary and secondary schools Source: DfES, 2007 Figure 2: England – Pupils with SEN as a percentage of all pupils in publicly maintained schools by type of school1 Source: DfES, 2007 1. The total includes pupils in special schools 3 Scotland Figure 3 shows that there has been a slight increase in the percentage of pupils with ASN over the last four years. These figures include pupils who have a Record of Need or a Coordinated Support Plan and/or an Individualised Educational Programme (IEP). However, several local authorities have alternative support plans which are not included in the statistics. These figures are therefore unlikely to include the total population of pupils with additional support needs. Figure 3: Scotland – Pupils in all sectors with ASN as a percentage of all pupils Source: Scottish Government, 2008b Figure 4: Scotland – Pupils with ASN as a percentage of all pupils Source: Scottish Government, 2008b Figure 4 shows that the increase in ASN is mainly due to an increase in pupils with IEPs. According to the new legislation local authorities were charged with reassessing pupils with RoNs to determine whether they required a CSP by November 2007. In line with this requirement, the percentage of those with a RoN has decreased and the percentage of 4 pupils with a CSP has increased. However, overall the total percentage of pupils with RoN or CSP has decreased indicating that pupils who previously had a RoN are not necessarily seen as requiring a CSP. As can be seen from figure 5, the proportion of pupils with ASN in primary and secondary school are very similar. All pupils in special schools have additional support needs and this group is only included in the overall total. Figure 5: Scotland – Pupils in publicly maintained schools with ASN as a percentage of all pupils by type of school (2007)1 Source: Scottish Government, 2008b 1. The total includes pupils in special schools Comparison and summary The main similarities between the two countries in relation to pupils with SEN/ASN are: • there has been an increase in the proportion of pupils with SEN/ASN. • the increase is due to larger number of pupils receiving school based support through School Action Plus, School Action or IEPs. • there has been a decrease in the number of pupils with a Statement of Need or RoN/CSP. The most significant difference between the two countries is that the percentage of pupils identified with ASN is considerably lower in Scotland. In England the percentage of the total population is around 19%; in Scotland it is around 5%. As already noted, the figures for Scotland are likely to under-represent the ASN population as local authorities have adopted support plans that do not necessarily feature in the national statistics. 5 Figure 6: England & Scotland – Pupils with SEN (England) and ASN (Scotland) in publicly maintained schools as a percentage of all pupils by type of school (2007)1 Sour ce: DfES, 2007 and Scottish Government, 2008b 1. The total includes all pupils with SEN/ASN including those in special schools Section 2: An examination of English region/local authority and Scottish local authorities data on SEN/ASN.