Last week The National Autistic Society gave evidence to the Public Bills Committee over a number of important concerns we have with the Children, Schools and Families Bill currently passing through Parliament.
A great many parents have to fight huge battles to get the education support that should be theirs by right, often at considerable emotional and financial expense. There are a number of welcome provisions in the Bill, particularly those resulting from the Lamb inquiry, to put a duty on Ofsted to report on the progress of children with Special Educational Needs (SEN) in school inspections and the new appeal right the Bill introduces for parents unhappy with the review of their child’s statement. However, we are extremely concerned that other clauses may allow schools and councils to forfeit their responsibilities towards children with autism and therefore may only serve to increase the considerable pressure parents are under. Our key concerns about proposals in the Bill are explored below:
Home-school agreements
New individualized home-school agreements between the school, parent and pupil will set agreed standards around the pupils’ “conduct, education and well-being”. Whilst we welcome the intention to make home-school agreements more personalised, we are worried there are no references to the responsibilities of the school to meet a child’s special educational needs (SEN).
This is particularly alarming given the emphasis on “conduct” in the agreements and their link to parenting contracts and orders. All too often parents tell us that teachers put their child's behaviour down to naughtiness or poor parenting rather than recognising that it arises as a result of disability – shockingly we hear this even when the child does have a diagnosis.
When a child does not get the right support at school it can have a significant negative impact on their behaviour and mental health. Even when their needs are recognised many parents have told us that it took over a year for the child to actually start receiving the support they needed. Further to this, many children with autism are excluded - often more than once - because schools say they cannot cope with their behaviour, and so they miss out on valuable time in school as a result.
This is simply unacceptable. Home-school agreements must acknowledge and make clear the school’s responsibilities in supporting the behavior of children with autism and other SEN.
Exceptional provision for ill or excluded children
We welcome the intention of this clause to make it clear that all pupils who are out of school because they are ill or excluded are entitled to full-time education. However, we are concerned that the section of the clause which lays out local authorities do not have to provide full-time education for children who are out of school if the Local Authority considers it would be “inappropriate or impracticable” due to their physical or mental health.
It is therefore possible that local authorities who find it expensive to provide support for ill and excluded children could rule the cost of services makes it “impracticable” to do so. Use of the word could be tantamount to handing councils “a get out of jail free card” and it is absolutely crucial that it is removed from the clause.
There is also a potential conflict of interest with regard to who would assess a child’s physical or mental health. Given this and the widespread lack of understanding of autism, it is also vital therefore, that assessments to decide the appropriateness of full-time education must be made independently by someone with experience and expertise in the child’s condition.
Home education
Proposals in the Children, Schools and Families Bill implement the recommendations of the Badman Review to register and monitor home educators.
Research suggests that children who are home educated are nearly twice as likely to have statements of SEN, and children with autism are heavily represented within this group. A lack of understanding of autism means the school experiences of children with the condition are frequently marred by misunderstandings, inadequate support and often bullying. Some parents are, consequently, left with little alternative other than to home school in the best interests of their child's education and mental and physical well-being. In some of the worst cases we also hear that parents are placed under pressure by schools to remove their children under threat of permanent exclusion or prosecution.
Far too many parents of children with autism who home educate are simply left alone 'to get on with it' without any support at all or say their local authority has been unhelpful and even hostile to their attempts to provide an appropriate education. This is particularly where the relationship between the parents and the local authority has broken down, during parents fight to get the right support for their child.
It is vital that the proposals in the Bill take into account the needs of this group of children. We want to see local authorities who have the training and resources in autism to be able to work in partnership with parents and give them the support they need to home educate their children. It is absolutely essential that this is a two-way relationship with an emphasis on support and not monitoring alone.
The right support at the right time
The influential group of MPs, who make up the Public Bills Committee, cannot possibly ignore the compelling evidence and serious ramifications for families living with autism which we outlined during the hearing. With the right help at the right time children with autism can and do flourish and so we will continue to campaign for their needs to be recognised as the Children Schools and Families Bill moves into committee stage.