Commenting on the passing of Motion 35 at NEU Annual Conference in Brighton, Daniel Kebede, general secretary of the National Education Union, said:
“The SEND is in crisis and mired in confrontation. Although the government is absolutely right to act, the proposals need government to match their ambition with sufficient funding. To achieve the culture, staffing and right provision in mainstream schools, more investment will be needed than has been promised. This means investment in increased staffing, access to specialists at all stages of provision, including the Universal offer, and a meaningful training and CPD package for teachers and support staff.
"Schools need to know that they will have what they need to meet the expectations in the National Inclusion Standards and to ensure every child’s needs can genuinely be met.
"Parents want the assurance that their children’s rights will not be diluted and that access to EHCPs will still be available to those who need it. The local authority will need to continue to play a pivotal role and must have greater powers over all local admissions. Continuing to build up big national MATs is not the right plan to achieve a good local school for every child or better levels of equity and access."