SEND reforms are on the way, but are they the right reforms?

SEND reforms to 'strip away' children's legal protections, charity says. That was according to a recent headline on the BBC website.

Needless to say, the Department for Education, or DfE, disagrees, claiming that their planned reforms to the Special Educational Needs and Disabilities system in England represent “a clear expansion of children’s rights”.

When so much money, time, effort and emotion is poured into the SEND system every day, any attempt to change the system was likely to prove controversial. The DfE’s consultation on their proposed changes is open until May 18th, and there is plenty at stake for everyone concerned.

So what reforms has the DfE put forward in their consultation? Are children’s legal rights going to change, and if so, are they changing for the right reasons? And how confident can we be that children and young people, their families, teachers and school leaders will be better off as a result of the DfE’s reforms?

My guests are Sam Freedman, a Senior Fellow at the Institute for Government and a former advisor at the DfE, and Jim Lauder, who works in a school trust and is also the parent of a child with an Education, Health and Care Plan, or EHCP.

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