Government Response

The Government responded to this petition on Tuesday 13th July 2021

To achieve Qualified Teacher Status, teachers must demonstrate in their training that they have a clear understanding of the needs of all pupils, including those with special educational needs.

The quality of teaching is key to ensuring that pupils with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) are given the best possible opportunity to achieve at school.

In support of this aim we are already implementing a range of reforms to teacher training, whilst also supporting school leaders in their duty to ensure their provision meets the special educational needs of children and young people.

Reforms to teacher training

All teachers are teachers of SEND. The Teachers’ Standards define the minimum expectations of teachers’ professional practice and personal conduct here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/teachers-standards.-

These standards set clear expectations that teachers must have an understanding of the needs of all pupils, including those with SEND.

All trainees who achieve Qualified Teacher Status must demonstrate that they can adapt teaching to respond to the strengths and needs of all pupils and show they have a clear understanding of the needs of all pupils, including those with special educational needs, and be able to use and evaluate distinctive teaching approaches to engage and support them.

It is for initial teacher training providers to tailor their curriculum to suit the subject, phase and age range that trainees will be teaching.
To support all teachers to meet these standards, we are implementing a ‘golden thread’ of high-quality teacher training reforms which begins with initial teacher training and continues into early career teaching, through to middle and senior leadership.

These reforms are designed to emphasise the importance of high-quality teaching and to ensure teachers have the skills to support all pupils to succeed. This includes those pupils identified within the four areas of need set out in the SEND Code of Practice: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/send-code-of-practice-0-to-25) and children in need of help and protection as identified in the Children in Need Review: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/review-of-children-in-need/review-of-children-in-need.

As part of our recently announced package to support Education Recovery we will be investing over £250 million of additional funding to help provide 500,000 training opportunities for teachers so they can access this world-leading training appropriate for whatever point they are at in their career.


Further support for the workforce

Once teachers qualify and are employed in schools, headteachers use their professional judgement to identify any further training, including specific specialisms, for individual staff that is relevant to them, the school and its pupils.

Special Educational Needs Co-ordinators (SENCOs) play an essential role in schools, supporting teaching staff to meet the needs of pupils with SEN and ensuring that schools have a clear and effective approach to inclusive education. Every maintained nursery, maintained mainstream school and mainstream academy must have a qualified teacher designated as SENCO.

The Department also recognises that schools may need further support in ensuring the workforce is confident in meeting the needs of all pupils. This is why we have provided funding to the Whole School SEND consortium since 2018.

Whole School SEND have provided training and resources for the school workforce on a range of specific conditions, including in relation to autism, dyslexia, speech, language and communication needs, sensory impairments, and physical disabilities. Funding in 2021-22 will bring the total funding for this contract to over £8 million since 2018. We have also funded the Autism Education Trust (AET) since 2011 to deliver autism awareness training to education staff in early years, schools and further education settings. It has so far reached more than 305,000 people including teachers and teaching assistants, but also support staff such as receptionists, dining hall staff and caretakers, encouraging a 'whole school' approach to supporting autistic pupils.

Department for Education