Education Bill

My Lords, I start by saying that I agree very much with the noble Lord, Lord, Low, about how important it is to make sure that teachers have the skills that they need to teach all pupils in the classroom, including, of course, those with special educational needs, and that it is not something that will be swept under the carpet—a point made by the noble Baroness, Lady Jones of Whitchurch. In our SEN and disability Green Paper, which we published earlier this year, we set out a broad approach to achieving higher standards in the teaching of special educational needs and disability. Those measures included making the highly successful Achievement for All approach available to all schools; strengthening the coverage of SEN and disability in initial teacher training—in particular, by giving more trainees the opportunity to undertake extended placements in special provision in mainstream and special schools; continuing to fund the training of new SENCOs; establishing scholarship schemes to give experienced teachers and support staff the chance to undertake continuing professional development in SEN; developing advanced training modules in the most prevalent types of SEN, which will support teachers in developing their own knowledge and skills and in supporting other teachers; developing specialist modules in severe learning difficulties, and profound and multiple learning difficulties; and supporting specialist SEN training across clusters of schools. Those are some of the more general measures that we are taking, which I hope will reassure noble Lords. This is an area that we continue to take seriously. I agree with the noble Baroness, Lady Morris, that this is not something that one wants to see as an add-on; one wants to see it as integral to training. Alongside those measures, teaching schools will, we hope, play an important role. We announced the first 100 teaching schools this July. The designation criteria did not include a specific requirement in relation to SEN, but they are intended to ensure that each teaching school has the capacity to improve teaching schools in SEN and disability in its area. I will write to the noble Baroness, Lady Morris of Yardley, with the information we have on the teaching schools rated as outstanding. In response to the point made by the noble Lord, Lord Sutherland of Houndwood, the new inspection framework we are developing with Ofsted will embed the connection between the achievement of different groups of pupils and the school's overall Ofsted judgment. Under that framework, for a school to be outstanding it will need to demonstrate that it is doing well for pupils with special educational needs and other vulnerable groups. All the first 100 teaching schools have demonstrated that they have a clear track record of collaborative relationships with other schools. Part of that role is to identify and co-ordinate expertise in those other schools to ensure that together they can provide excellence across the board. Teaching schools will also have the responsibility to identify, recruit and designate specialist leaders of education. Specialist leaders of education will be outstanding professionals in middle and senior leadership positions who have the capacity, skills and commitment to support professionals in other schools. Those leaders will include experts in SEN provision. Special schools also have an important role in spreading best practice to other special schools and to mainstream schools. Of the 100 schools designated in the first round, seven were special schools, and I hope that more special schools will be able to join the network soon. We are working with the national college and the SEN sector to ensure that the next phase of the teaching schools programme also supports improvements for children with SEN—for example, on the designation criteria for specialist leaders of education. I will have to write to my noble friend Lord Elton on his point about the number of people identified with dyslexia. Overall, I hope that the noble Lord, Lord Low, will agree that a lot is being done to build the skills of teachers in supporting children with special educational needs and disabilities. It is an important area. The teaching schools will have an important role. I think that the new Ofsted designation will make that link explicit. We will continue to work with special educational needs charities to ensure that the focus on this important area remains. With that, I hope that the noble Lord, Lord Low, will feel able to withdraw his important amendment.