Editorial

We now have a Labour Government who, in their manifesto, stated for children and Young people labelled with SEND: “Labour will take a community-wide approach, improving inclusivity and expertise in mainstream schools”, and went on to commit that: “We will make sure admissions decisions account for the needs of communities and require all schools to co-operate with their local authority on school admissions, SEND inclusion, and place planning”.

This new approach is certainly needed after the last 18 years (including 4 years of the last Labour Government), which could be characterised as a period of rising exclusion.

As the articles in this issue amply demonstrate, the Inclusion Movement has the tools, knowledge and experience to help build an alternative inclusive school system in England.

The latest English SEND Data from January 2024 shows, 4.8% of all pupils now have an Education Health and Care Plan, which was aimed at only 2% originally. Increasingly, recipients are segregated in expensive private provision that is bankrupting the education budget. But numbers with SEND Support are also rising against a background of real term cuts in schools. 13.6% or 1,238,851 are on School Support. Here there is also a strong link to child poverty, which Labour want to tackle.

Previous periods of Labour in power have taught us we will need to build a massive campaign in the community. This will be parents, teachers, youth, schools and local authorities pushing the Government to reverse current practice and bring in a period of inclusive education practice.

Richard Rieser, World of Inclusion