NASUWT: Cuts hit the most vulnerable
Teachers fear that children with learning difficulties will be abandoned by the Coalition Government’s plans for Special Educational Needs.
The Coalition’s SEN Green Paper seeks to redefine special educational needs to identifying children with physical and medical SEN, leaving those whose needs relate to emotional, cognitive and social factors with little or no support. The findings are part of an interim research report, Reflection, Renewal and Reality: Teachers’ Experience of Special Educational Needs and Inclusion, commissioned by the NASUWT, the largest teachers’ union.
Chris Keates, General Secretary of the NASUWT, said:
“Children’s special needs don’t just disappear because a government decides to change the definition of who qualifies.
“Parents are likely to view this as a cynical and callous attempt to cut costs. “Teachers will once again be left to pick up the pieces.
“The views expressed by teachers in this interim report cast doubt on the effectiveness, appropriateness and viability of many of the other strategies proposed in the Coalition Government’s SEN Green Paper. “The cause of SEN cannot be advanced in the context of the Coalition’s austerity measures.
“Children and young people with special needs rely on schools being able to access specialist advice, on in-class support from teaching assistants and on teachers being given the time to work with them. “All of these are either being cut or removed as the deep and savage cuts bite in local authorities and schools. “These most vulnerable children in our schools deserve more than callousness and cuts.”
ENDS
Notes to Editors
Stuart Gannon
NASUWT Press Office
Tel: 020 7420 9681
Mobile (and out of hours contact): 07966 198894
Address: 5 King Street, Covent Garden, London, WC2E 8SD
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