In December 2018 the Secretary of State announced the Government's intention to hold a call for evidence on the current funding arrangements for those with special educational needs, those with disabilities, and those who require alternative provision. This call for evidence is to help them understand how the current available funding is distributed, and what improvements to the financial arrangements could be made in future. The call for evidence can be accessed on the Government website and will be open until 31 July 2019.

The Department for Education has announced that from February 2019 it is ending the requirement for post-16 assessments for a specific learning difficulty (which includes dyslexia), if the student has previously been assessed. This means that learners with dyslexia can apply for support right through to higher education without the need to be undertake a furthe assessment. See the British Dyslexia Association website for more infomation..

New Reports

The Education and Training Foundation published a Training Needs Analysis report for people working in the Further Education and Training (FE) sector in England. A number of subsiduary reports for Mental Health training and Special Educational Needs training have also been published. The reports are available on the ETF website.

The Department for Education published a Work experience and vocational/technical provision for young people on SEN support: A rapid evidence assessment report. The aim of the rapid evidence assessment was to identify evidence on the benefits (or otherwise) of work experience for these young people as they prepare to enter paid employment. The report highlights a number of principles of good practice for post-16 providers in finding work experience/placements for young people with less complex special educational needs.

Revisits to local areas with a Written Statement of Action (WSoA) for SEND

The Department for Education (DfE) has announced a programme of revisits to those local areas which were asked to produce a WSoA following their SEND inspections. The revisits programme will run alongside the current programme of local area SEND inspections, which is in place until 2021. The revisits do not represent a re-inspection of SEN provision. Inspectors from Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission (CQC) will only revisit those areas which were asked to produce a WSoA and the focus of the visit will be on the progress made since the original inspection. Revisits will allow Ofsted and the CQC to assess the progress which local areas have made against each of the actions in their WSoA.  They will also provide additional reassurance to families on the progress local services are making, identify where further work is needed, and enable local areas to demonstrate the improvements they have made to SEND services and in delivering better outcomes for children and young people. 

Local areas will usually be revisited within 18 months of their WSoA having been accepted as fit for purpose by Ofsted and CQC. The local area will receive ten days’ notification of the revisit, which will last up to four days, depending on the number of actions in the WSoA. A report will be published on the Ofsted and CQC websites, usually 33 days after the inspectors have finished the revisit. It will set out whether the local area has made sufficient progress against each area of the WSoA.

For more information, visit the Government website. The inspections will be carried out in line with the Local Area SEND Inspection Framework and the newly updated (April 2019) Inspection Handbook.

In this space we'll highlight continual professional development (CPD) opportunities that may be of interest.

Are you providing the best support for learners with dyslexia, autism and hearing impairments?

We offer a range of courses to help practitioners and managers within the Further Education (FE) sector, and those responsible for post-16 learner programmes, increase their awareness and improve support for learners with dyslexia, autism and hearing impairments. Our full day training courses, have been designed to equip you with the knowledge and confidence to adapt your communication, teaching strategies and environments to enable your learners to achieve their full potential. Take a look at our Specific needs and wellbeing page to access our recent webinars and associated guidance documents.

Read Kath Wood's Neurodiversity: Unleashing potential in learners blog post. Kath, a Disability Training and Consultancy Specialist at Remploy Ltd, explains why thinking about conditions such as dyslexia, dyspraxia, ADHD and autism just as special educational needs or learning difficulties may prevent teachers and trainers recognising some learners’ potential and why, instead, looking at these as examples of neurodiversity can help teachers to recognise and unleash the potential in learners, with and without a diagnosed condition.

And don't forget the professional development opportunities available on Foundation Online Learning. Do take a look at the Education and Training Foundation's (ETF) wide range of courses, many of them relevant to those supporting learners with SEND, together with our bespoke SEND offer

Are you looking for specific training? As part of a mapping exercise of SEND CPD training and qualifications available from the ETF and a wide range of other organisations we have produced a SEND CPD Framework. The information is provided to raise awareness to the SEND workforce of the variety CPD opportunities available. The inclusion of information from other organisations does not indicate a recommendation by the ETF of this offer.

We cannot guarantee the quality of any events not organised by or on behalf of the Foundation.

The Gatsby Foundation, has published a new resource using the Gatsby Benchamrks with students with SEND. The resource, Good Career Guidance: Perspectives from the Special Educational Needs and Disabilities sector, can be downloaded from their website.

Make a big difference: working with learners with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) a guide to support anyone who is planning to start a career in the further education and training (FE) sector working with learners with  special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) or those already working with people with SEND who want to progress their career. 

Stepping up - quality standards for young deaf learners in further education the six standards, written by the National Deaf Children’s Society, are relevant to all providers across the FE sector. They aim to support further education providers to improve outcomes for deaf young people.

Using competition activity In the vocational curriculum with learners with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) this toolkit provides a range of resources that will help you to embed competition activity into your curriculum in a way that enthuses both staff and learners.