Wales: Worrying decline in additional learning needs figures

Buffy Williams chaired a debate on the education committee’s interim report as part of a Senedd-long inquiry examining the Welsh Government’s sweeping changes to education funding.

The Additional Learning Needs (ALN) reforms will gradually replace the old Special Educational Needs (SEN) system over four school years from 2021.

Ms Williams, chair of the committee, said: “So what did we find? To be clear, the additional learning needs reforms are not going as planned.”

She raised concerns about a 44% drop in the number of pupils with SEN or ALN during the transition, which is heading into its final year.

She told the Senedd: “This decline appears to be due to a fall in the number of pupils identified as having low to moderate SEN or ALN.

“Systemic underfunding”

“At no time during the passage of the ALN Act did the Welsh Government anticipate that the reforms would almost halve the number of children identified as having additional needs.

“In fact, the Welsh Government has repeatedly claimed that this would have no impact on the overall number of children diagnosed with ALN or SEN.” The provision is sufficiently inclusive.

The reason the committee members were most persuasive was that schools and communities did not have the resources necessary to provide each child with an individualized development plan.

Ms Williams told the Chamber of Discussion or Siambr: “This lack of resources is the result of years of systematic underfunding of SEN and ALN provision in schools.”

“Left Behind”

Tom Giffard, the Conservative shadow education secretary, echoed the Labor committee chair’s comments and warned that too many learners were being left behind.

He said: “In 2016/17, 92,000 children were recognized as having special educational needs and mild to moderate learning difficulties or disabilities. In 2022/23 that is almost half.

“Now I cannot realistically believe that there are fewer young people with additional learning needs today than there were less than a decade ago.”

Mr Giffard, a former teaching assistant at a Welsh-language primary school, added: “It is clear that large elements of the system are not working.

“And that leads to frustration for parents, students, teachers and others who care about these young people who are not getting the support they need.”

“Constant struggle”

Cefin Campbell, Plaid Cymru’s shadow education minister, was also very concerned about the decline in the number of children receiving support.

He called for adequate funding and said: “We must not abandon these children and young people.”

Labour’s Hefin David, who is stepping down from the committee for personal reasons, said he had nothing but praise for the ALN support his daughter had received.

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“This system has worked for them,” he said, while acknowledging that some parents feel they face a “constant battle” to support their children.

Dr. David, representing Caerphilly, pointed out that the difficulty lies with children in a gray area of ​​diagnosis who are just outside the legal support available.

He told the Senedd: “Giving them the support is the challenge because their needs are very different and varied.”

‘Heartbreaking’

Laura Anne Jones warned that children were falling under the radar, saying the reforms were not clear enough with Welsh councils interpreting them in 22 different ways.

She highlighted the impact on parents, saying: “Many felt very isolated and helpless because they didn’t know how to get the support their children needed and that’s quite heartbreaking.”

Plaid Cymru’s Heledd Fychan said the committee had heard that children were being traumatized by a lack of support, which had led to high rates of absenteeism among some pupils with ALN.

In her response to the debate on October 16, Lynne Neagle, who formally accepted most of the committee’s recommendations, acknowledged the challenges.

The Welsh education minister told the Senedd she had listened to feedback that parts of the legislation passed in 2018 were too complex and unclear.

“Main priority”

Ms Neagle said improving collaboration between health and education was a key priority.

The Minister noted that £107 million had been invested in day-to-day revenue support since 2020, with more than £170 million of this as longer-term capital to improve facilities for students with ALN.

She said her officials would examine how councils fund mainstream schools, with the aim of finding out how much each delegate sends to ALN.

Ms Neagle highlighted that an additional £5 million had been invested in a salary bonus for schools’ ALN coordinators.

She concluded: “I strongly believe that meeting the needs of learners with ALN will continue to be at the heart of our education reforms.”