SEND Reform Reflections, part 3 – what does it mean to be ‘needs led’? And will the proposed changes help us to achieve it? There are several things that we clearly agree on because they have been in every SEND reform and version of the system since the 80s, one of wh…

inco14.wordpress.com/2026/04/22/s...

Identifying ‘needs’ is what we are doing. No need to change it to ‘development’. It isn’t a deficit model (but how you respond might be).

Diagnosis and disability will still exist and we will still be accountable under the Equality Act. We need areas of need (yes, need… not development) that work with diagnosis and disability, not try to pretend it doesn’t exist.

We already have wild variation in identification with pretty concrete options like ‘autism’ and SpLD. The proposed system will exacerbate this and lead to lots of pseudo diagnosis and inaccurate use of established terms.

The proposed areas of development include areas of processing and cognition that you need a level 7 qualification to identify. High incidence areas of need span multiple categories. The areas use more specialist language and are detached from day to day education work - progress, attainment ie

The value is the ‘labels’ is so that we can organise resources, plan provision, and review its effectiveness. To be able to do this well we need categories that are clear and within the remit of educators to identify.

The SEND categories we use won’t, in themselves, cause us to be needs led or not. Avoiding using diagnoses and disability related language doesn’t stop us being needs led. Avoiding using ‘deficit’ language and talking about development instead won’t cause us to be needs led.

The broad areas of need are due an update, but they’re closer to what we need than the proposed areas of development.

Although I can see the thought process behind the proposed ‘areas of development’, I can’t see how they can be usable or useful as a replacement for the current ‘broad areas of need’ - this is a proposed change that I’m not seeing yet as much attention and discussion, but it does matter.

SEND Reform Reflections, part 3 – what does it mean to be ‘needs led’? And will the proposed changes help us to achieve it? There are several things that we clearly agree on because they have been in every SEND reform and version of the system since the 80s, one of wh…

NEW BLOG - will the reforms result in a more needs led system?
inco14.wordpress.com/2026/04/22/s...

SEND Reform Reflections, part 3 – what does it mean to be ‘needs led’? And will the proposed changes help us to achieve it? There are several things that we clearly agree on because they have been in every SEND reform and version of the system since the 80s, one of wh…

NEW BLOG - will the reforms result in a more needs led system?
inco14.wordpress.com/2026/04/22/s...

Screenshot of text from the linked blog post.

New.
Things Can Get Worse.
On why the SEND crisis is worse than ever because nobody is facing the philosophical contradictions.
bennewmark.wordpress.com/2026/03/26/t...

Melissa Hayhurst SEND families and supporters. I want to give an update on our legal action challenging the consultation process for the SEND reforms. Many of you will have seen the Government’s proposed SEND...

Important update on the SEND consultation legal action.

www.facebook.com/share/1Hpp7...

There’s some great SEND consultants out there but there’s also lack of regulation and many that have given weak advice or charged for what can be just read in the code - there’ll be need for advice and consultancy but it’s going to be difficult for schools to ensure quality.

SEND Reform Reflections, part 1 – ‘Presence vs. Participation’ Or, ‘When is inclusion not really inclusion?’  I set aside an entire evening to read the SEND reforms consultation but ended up, in that first sitting, only getting as far as page 8.  I g…

To become more inclusive, we should first agree on what inclusion is.

What will it look like once achieved?
Attending your local mainstream school?

What does the evidence tell us? And how useful is the evidence that’s being used for the SEND consultation?

inco14.wordpress.com/2026/03/04/s...

SEND Reform Reflections, part 2 – ‘Mary Warnock, Misremembered’ Or, ‘Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.’ “A greater proportion of the school population is now educated in special schools than at any time in the past half …

inco14.wordpress.com/2026/03/11/s...

It’s almost doubled… from 1.1% to 1.9% - small numbers that are more than explained by the contextual changes and represent a more inclusive, wide reaching system.

SEND Reform Reflections, part 2 – ‘Mary Warnock, Misremembered’ Or, ‘Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.’ “A greater proportion of the school population is now educated in special schools than at any time in the past half …

inco14.wordpress.com/2026/03/11/s...

Plus we provide full time education to children with medical needs and who have been permanently excluded, who not that long ago would just be out of education and not counted in the numbers. Now they’re often in alternative, independent, or specialist schools.

We also now recognise needs that previously would have been labelled as behaviour.

In addition to that, we are also generally better at health, medical and emergency care. Better survival of complex births, illness, injury etc.

The #SEND consultation statement that there are more children in special schools now than ever before is superficial and misleading. It’s comparing present day to a time before the ‘presumption of mainstream’ when the norm was specialist schools for needs that are met in mainstream as the norm now.

SEND Reform Reflections, part 2 – ‘Mary Warnock, Misremembered’ Or, ‘Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.’ “A greater proportion of the school population is now educated in special schools than at any time in the past half …

Have we 'more than reversed' the progress towards inclusion achieved in the 1980s?
We have expanded our inclusivity, brought more groups into the entitlement to education, & have recognised the needs of children who would have previously been unsupported.
inco14.wordpress.com/2026/03/11/s...

SEND Reform Reflections, part 2 – ‘Mary Warnock, Misremembered’ Or, ‘Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.’ “A greater proportion of the school population is now educated in special schools than at any time in the past half …

Have we 'more than reversed' the progress towards inclusion achieved in the 1980s?
We have expanded our inclusivity, brought more groups into the entitlement to education, & have recognised the needs of children who would have previously been unsupported.
inco14.wordpress.com/2026/03/11/s...

There might be more children in special schools now than ever but to say we've become less inclusive is misleading. The Warnock Report was published nearly 50 years ago and much has changed, although not with the SEND system! #send #senco #SENDreform #inclusion #education #schools #whitepaper

SEND Reform Reflections, part 2 – ‘Mary Warnock, Misremembered’ Or, 'Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.' “A greater proportion of the school population is now educated in special schools than at any time in the past half century, more than reversing the progress towards inclusion we saw from the early 1980s, following the seminal Warnock Report.” SEND Reform: Putting Children and Young People First (2026 consultation)

SEND Reform Reflections, part 2 – ‘Mary Warnock, Misremembered’

Or, 'Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.' “A greater proportion of the school population is now educated in special schools than at any time in the past half century, more than reversing the progress towards…

SEND Reform Reflections, part 1 – ‘Presence vs. Participation’ Or, ‘When is inclusion not really inclusion?’  I set aside an entire evening to read the SEND reforms consultation but ended up, in that first sitting, only getting as far as page 8.  I g…

To become more inclusive, we should first agree on what inclusion is.

What will it look like once achieved?
Attending your local mainstream school?

What does the evidence tell us? And how useful is the evidence that’s being used for the SEND consultation?

inco14.wordpress.com/2026/03/04/s...

It feels like increased rigidity and less needs-led, on the whole.

Me too, but I also think there is a way forward that will be better for children and improve the system longer term. There’s elements of it in the consultation.

Please take time to have a read of Nicole's reflections on the SEND reforms.

She's taken a deep dive into the evidence, and it casts a lot of doubt on the DfE's central inclusion bases concept.