Our position statements outline Natspec’s stance on key issues affecting specialist further education. They underpin our policy asks and inform our lobbying work.
Table of contents
Overall policy direction of UK and Welsh government in relation to SEND/ALN
▼ SEND reform in England
If Further Education (FE) students with SEND are to reach their potential, we need holistic, inclusive policies and practice for FE and skills which fully embrace
- all FE students, including those with SEND – from moderate to the most complex needs
- mainstream and specialist settings working collaboratively within a single system.
Currently, the system is characterised by a disjointedness that works against this principle, for example: FE and Skills policy gives little consideration to students with SEND; funding and commissioning arrangements for high needs students in FE are distinctly different from those for other FE students, specialist FE colleges are treated differently from general FE colleges by the Department of Education (DfE) with the latter considered to be part of the statutory FE sector and the former outside it.
While children and young people need a coherent experience of the 0–25 SEND system meaning that some common features, such as EHCPs, are required across phases, SEND in FE should not simply be seen as a continuation of the schools approach.
Reform of post-school SEND must therefore focus on integrating SEND into wider FE and skills policy and on addressing the challenges that are distinct to 16–25 year olds and the providers who support them.
▼ Additional learning needs (ALN) and tertiary education reform in Wales
Welsh Government’s recognition of specialist colleges as part of a post-16 landscape is weak in key legislation.
The ALN Code is at odds with the intentions of the Additional Learning Needs and Education Tribunal Act (Wales) 2018. Young people with complex ALN whose needs cannot be met by a regional Further Education Institution (FEI) are at risk of Individual Development Plans (IDPs) being ended rather than specialist FE secured.
Welsh Government is overhauling governance and regulation of further and higher education. However, specialist FE colleges and the learners who attend them will not fall under the auspices of the newly created Commission for Tertiary Education and Research the strategic authority for overseeing post-compulsory education and research in Wales.
Estyn has identified that local authorities are not able to make informed decisions about the full range of post-16 additional learning provision when they know so little about the sector and what it provides.
▼ The need for specialist FE settings
While the vast majority of young people with SEND should be able to have their needs met in a mainstream setting, it is not reasonable to expect all providers to be able to meet all needs. Specialist FE settings are one key provider type that should be represented in the mix and balance of providers needed for a healthy FE system.
Specialist FE settings benefit learners:
- who need access to specialist facilities, resources or expertise beyond those that can be reasonably expected in a mainstream setting
- who need an individualised, holistic programme combining elements of education, health and/or social care
- for whom a mainstream environment cannot be reasonably adjusted to accommodate their needs
- who will benefit from and have a strong preference for being educated alongside a peer group with similar needs/impairments
- whose planned outcomes, such as employment or increased autonomy, are more likely to be achieved and sustained post-college as a result of a specialist education.
▼ Access to FE for learners with more complex needs
Young people who may need continuing support from adult social care post-college should have not their access to FE restricted on the basis of their ability to achieve qualifications or of likelihood of gaining paid employment post-college.
These learners actively benefit from focused, time-limited, target-driven, coordinated packages of learning designed to lead to measurable progress relevant to the individual and the achievement of a personalised set of end goals. FE provides them with the opportunity to make a stepped progression from the highly supported environment of (special) school to adult life. Their progress and achievements should not be undervalued because the steps are small in comparison with those of their peers without SEND or with a lower level of need.
Further education for this learner group is distinguishable from social care on account of:
- its strong focus on helping learners to develop knowledge, skills, attitudes and behaviours that will enable them to achieve an agreed set of challenging outcomes
- the planned nature of the learning
- the formal monitoring and recording of progress and achievement, including baseline assessment and regular target-setting and review.
The skills, attitudes and behaviours developed through FE enable young people to develop increased agency, contribute to their communities and lead fulfilling adult lives. There are likely to be savings to the public purse as a result in terms of reduced support needs and need for health interventions.
▼ CEIAG relating to post-16 options
▼ Increasing number of special post-16 institutions
▼ Post-16 alternative provision
While government does not officially recognise post-16 AP as a category of provision, provision of this nature exists and appears to be growing. New providers are setting up as SPIs, some unregulated, in order to meet demand for post-16 AP, primarily for learners with SEMH needs.For some learners, particularly those with more acute SEMH needs, specialist colleges offer the best environment in which to access further education alongside the support they need to progress successfully onto their next step and into an included adult life. Where appropriate, particularly for the more cognitively able, specialist providers should work in partnership with a mainstream FE and skills setting so that learners can access a wider range of academic and vocational options, including apprenticeships. For some learners, specialist provision can act as a short-term stepping-stone into mainstream FE and skills provision.
Government should support and fund mainstream FE and skills settings to offer provision that enables more young people to access mainstream education and training, in smaller groups and in fit-for-purpose environments, supported by staff with appropriate expertise and with access to appropriate mental health services. This provision should provide a route back into mainstream vocational or academic pathways so that young people are enabled to achieve recognised qualifications at an appropriately challenging level – and hence fulfil their potential.
▼ Residential specialist FE
Residential placements at specialist colleges are highly beneficial for learners:
- with low incidence needs requiring a high degree of expert support that cannot be met locally or within reasonable daily travelling distance
- whose home circumstances, social care needs and / or medical needs mean it is in their best interest to live and learn away from home, particularly where it is likely that they would not otherwise be engaged in education
- who need an extended experience of living away from home in order to develop the independent living skills they need to make their next step.
Learner preference for a residential education should be a factor in local authority decision-making about specialist FE placements.
Government should also consider how to make shorter residential educational experiences available to more young people with SEND needing to develop their independence and skills.
Moving away from home in order to take up an FE place should not be seen as undesirable for young people with SEND aged 16+ or 19+, in the same way as it is for younger children. Instead, it should be recognised as adding similar value as that experienced by non-disabled young people through living away from home while at university or at a land-based/drama college or while working / on an apprenticeship, which is generally acknowledged to be an important step towards independent adulthood and future employment.
A far more joined-up system (involving colleges, LA SEND teams, adult social care, health services) is needed to ensure that learners who wish to do so can make a successful return to their home local area after a residential education and benefit from the skills, knowledge, attitudes and behaviours developed at college.
Inclusion
▼ An inclusive system
Inclusion of learners with SEND means providing for them in a way in which they feel that they belong and are welcome and valued, and in which their needs are met as fully as those of their peers without SEND.A place-based interpretation of inclusion can lead to policies that are focused on accommodating learners in a setting rather than on achieving a sense of belonging and offering a high standard of provision.
We need a fully inclusive FE system, rather than requiring every provider to be able to meet all needs, in which every young person can access provision appropriate to their needs, interests and aspirations. This system should include both mainstream and specialist providers, with the majority of learners with SEND attending a mainstream setting.
Funding
▼ FE funding in general
▼ High needs funding
▼ Capital funding
▼ Funding for high-cost low-incidence SEND
▼ Wales
Employment
▼ Disability employment / employment support for disabled people
The disability employment gap is unacceptable; the very low rate of paid employment of people with a learning disability, and the fact that this has dropped in recent years, is particularly shocking. Government needs to do more to promote to employers the benefits of employing disabled people, including those with learning disabilities. It also needs to upskill Job Centre Plus staff in supported employment techniques and practices.
A dedicated funding stream for light-touch support for young disabled people in their first post-college job would lead to more sustained employment. Access to specialist CEIAG for learners with SEND/ALN would improve employment outcomes. Access to JCP employment support during the transition phase out of college would enable more disabled learners to move into employment on leaving college.
▼ Supported internships
Supported internships provide a good route into employment for some young people with SEND, but they are not the only effective pathway and not the right pathway for all learners. Government needs to focus its youth disability employment policies and funding/support more widely in order to enable more young people to benefit.
Government needs to clarify that there is a range of different, effective supported internship models, of which Project Search is just one.
Curriculum and qualifications
▼ Reform of technical qualifications at level 3 in England
Reform of vocational/technical qualifications at level 3, including the introduction of T levels, must result in an appropriate range of qualifications being available, including those with a proven track record of providing progression to higher education for learners with SEND.
Qualifications approved for public funding should be accessible by design, so that all learners with the cognitive ability to benefit from them are able to access them. Particular attention must be paid to ensuring that assessment tools and methods do not create unnecessary barriers to achievement.
▼ Reform of Entry and level 1 qualifications
▼ English and maths
English and maths or literacy/communication and number/numeracy are important parts of the curriculum for learners with SEND. Where learners would benefit from gaining qualifications in these subjects, they should be given the opportunity to do so.
Providers should be free to design their own delivery models and pedagogical approaches to enable learners with SEND to develop English and maths knowledge and skills.
▼ A non-accredited curriculum
Many learners with SEND will benefit from highly personalised programmes and it may therefore not be possible to meaningfully recognise their achievements through external accreditation. Current DfE and ESFA guidance in England does not make it explicit that this approach is permissible and hence discourages providers from what is likely to be more effective practice for some learners. Some LA commissioners in England also impose requirements for qualification use without understanding the benefits of non-accredited learning.
In Wales non-accredited curriculum is the norm in FEIs and specialist colleges but achievement data is not counted by Welsh Government. No post-college destination data is collected on learners attending Independent Living Skills programmes in FEIs and only very limited data on learners leaving specialist colleges.
More explicit guidance from DfE and Welsh Government is needed to ensure non-accredited provision is understood and valued.
Inspection
▼ The place of/need for inspection
There is a role for an external body providing an objective check on quality standards in schools and colleges, including as a means of providing information about a provider to learners, parents/carers and other stakeholders.However in England we would like to see Ofsted:
- playing a stronger and more collaborative role in supporting quality improvement than currently
- build the expertise of its inspectors so that they have a more developed understanding of some aspects of specialist provision, and develop more appropriate inspection methodologies, in particular for learners PMLD.
Across the UK we believe there should be greater parity in the way that high needs provision is inspected and reported on across general and specialist FE colleges (in particular in terms of degree of scrutiny), so that learners, parents/carers and other stakeholders can make better informed comparisons between the two
CEIAG relating to post-16 options
- Young people and their families need easier access to better quality and more timely IAG than they currently have when making decisions about post-16 options. IAG needs to be offered by a dedicated professional working independently of the local authority, acting in the young person’s best interests.
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