Children and families bill offers councils get-out clause over ill pupils' education

I discovered this interesting article on Children & Young People Now

New legislation could see ill and excluded children denied access to a full-time education, The National Autistic Society (NAS) has warned.

The Children, Schools and Families Bill, which is currently passing through Parliament, includes a section exempting local authorities from providing such children with full-time education where "impracticable" or "inappropriate".

Amanda Batten, head of external affairs at the NAS, said the clause could equate to a "get out of jail free card" for councils.

"We're worried that if local authorities find it expensive to provide for ill and excluded children they could say the cost of services makes it impracticable to do so," she explained.

Batten added that the bill should not make local authorities solely responsible for assessing the needs of ill and excluded children.

"We think there's a conflict of interest there," she said. "We want there to be independent assessments."

She claimed children with the most severe needs, who may need to be educated outside their home authority, would be worst affected by the clause.

The NAS is due to outline its concerns to the public bill committee today (19 January).

The Local Government Association is also set to discuss the bill's shortcomings, outlining fears over extending the powers of the Secretary of State to intervene in failing schools or youth offending teams.

Comment:

What exactly is the explanation of The Children, Schools and Families Bill, which is currently passing through Parliament, includes a section exempting local authorities from providing such children with full-time education where "impracticable" or "inappropriate" in practice? More importantly, how does it square with children with AS? Does it mean that if children with AS have certain SEN that cannot be met by the state education system, then the local authority has the powers to force them into home education?

This is very confusing and ambiguous. I assumed that the new legislation is about making it compulsory for HE parents to register with the LA and parents are only allowed to HE if the LA gives them permission. Now there appears to be an additional variable in the equation that some parents will be forced to HE their children if they have certain types of SEN and mainstream schools do not have the resources to provide suitable SEN services. To the best of my knowledge, schools and LAs are not currently allowed to advise a parent that HE is the best choice for their children even if they have SEN that their school and the LA SEN support staff are unable to meet.

I can understand why the NAS is concerned at these proposals. They are a pro-school organisation who believes that ALL children with AS should attend school and receive the full National Curriculum. If this change in legislation is implemented then it could lead to large scale 'expulsions' of children with AS under the banner of "we can't offer the SEN services your child needs", and ultimately, to the withdrawing of services and support for children with SEN. The real question is how will such a change in legislation square with children with AS? Will it herald a new era of HE becoming the norm for such children or will it end in disaster such as sending them to reform schools like what happened in decades gone by?

I find this very surprising and baffling. Which section of the Children, Schools and Families Bill is this change of legislation mentioned? Reading between the lines tells me that this legislation could fit in with a new wave of residential schools for children with SEN that are funded by central government rather than local authorities.

I'm going to bring this up at the local AS support group.

This definitely warrants further investigation because it could be an important development - although the consequences are yet to be determined. I'm also wondering how it squares with international legislation on human rights. Does any country have an education system that forces a sizeable proportion of children with SEN into HE?