Overview of the inclusive education system: Show two countries

Early childhood education and care (ECEC) is not compulsory. Part-time provision is free of charge to parents for all children from age 3. 

Full-time education is compulsory from the school term following a child’s fifth birthday until age 16. 

Parents are responsible for ensuring that their child receives education. This duty is set out in section 7 of the Education Act 1996: ‘The parent of every child of compulsory school age shall cause him to receive efficient full-time education suitable – (a) to his age, ability and aptitude, and (b) to any special educational needs he may have, either by regular attendance at school or otherwise.’

Parents have the right to educate their children at home and are not required to notify the school or the relevant local authority (LA) of their decision to do so. 

From age 16 to 18, young people must be in full- or part-time education or training, in accordance with the Education and Skills Act 2008.

For most children in compulsory full-time education, ‘regular attendance at school or otherwise’ means attendance at a publicly funded school, of which there are two main types: 

• maintained schools, which are funded by central government via the LA;
• academy schools, which have direct funding agreements with central government and are independent of the LA. They enjoy certain freedoms relating to organisation and the curriculum, although these are due to change as part of an upcoming Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill.

Regular attendance at school or otherwise can also mean attendance at a fee-paying independent school.

Under the Education Act 2002, maintained primary and secondary schools must provide the national curriculum, which is divided into four key stages:

• Key Stage 1 for learners aged 5 to 7 – Years 1 and 2 in primary education (ISCED 1)
• Key Stage 2 for learners aged 7 to 11 – Years 3, 4, 5 and 6 in primary education (ISCED 1)
• Key Stage 3 for learners aged 11 to 14 – Years 7, 8 and 9 in secondary education (ISCED 2)
• Key Stage 4 for learners aged 14 to 16 – Years 10 and 11 in secondary education (ISCED 3).

Although the national curriculum is compulsory only for maintained schools, academies generally adhere to the same key stage structure for organising the curriculum.

Prior to 1970, some education was still provided in hospitals and junior training centres.

In 1970, legislation made local education authorities (LEAs) responsible for the education of all children and brought every child into the education system, regardless of impairment or learning difficulty.

Legislation in 1976 brought in a general assumption that children would be educated in ‘ordinary’ schools. This assumption was conditional upon a consideration of practicability, efficiency and cost. 

In 1978, the Warnock Report anticipated significantly greater numbers of children being ‘integrated’ into ‘ordinary’ schools – the language of the time. With the increased range of children expected in schools, the report recommended the development of the curriculum, changes to teacher training, the development of support services and a focus on parents as partners in the education of their child. 

Following the Warnock Report, the Education Act 1981 formalised the LEAs’ arrangements. It introduced a statutory assessment process and, where necessary, a ‘statement’ of special educational needs (SEN) and of the special education provision to be made to meet those needs. 

Successive rounds of legislation brought in tighter accountability in relation to statutory assessments and statements. Timescales for issuing a statement and a right of appeal to a Tribunal against the LEA’s decisions on the statement’s content and the child’s placement in a particular school were introduced. 

Legislation removed some of the conditions on the general assumption that children were to be placed in mainstream schools. Conditions on the placement of individual children in any particular school have remained in place.  

Alongside the development of the SEN framework, in 1995, legislation prohibiting disability discrimination was brought in and applied to a wide range of public services. 

This legislation was extended to education in 2001, introducing protection from disability discrimination. It required all schools to make reasonable adjustments and to plan to increase accessibility for disabled learners. Parents can challenge schools for actions that might amount to discrimination by making a claim to the Tribunal, renamed the SEN and Disability Tribunal. 

The Equality Act 2010 brought together a wide range of legislation relating to different ‘protected characteristics’ (age, race, sex, disability, etc.). It put in place a public sector equality duty requiring all public bodies to identify and address inequalities in a planned way.  

The Children and Families Act 2014 (the ‘2014 Act’) replaced ‘statements’ with education, health and care (EHC) plans and set out requirements on all three agencies (education, health and care) to work more closely together to meet children and young people’s SEN. Local authorities (Las) continued to be key players in the special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) system, including as the bodies issuing and maintaining EHC plans and funding relevant provision. The code of practice sets out more detailed guidance.

For the purposes of the Act, ‘young people’ were defined as 16–24-year-olds. They, rather than their parents, became responsible for participating in decision-making in relation to their assessment and plan. The Act also extended the SEN entitlements to young offenders detained in secure accommodation who had previously been excluded from the SEN framework.

Levels of inclusion vary between different schools and across different local areas. The capacity of schools to work inclusively has been affected by changes in curriculum, accountability measures, funding and the commitment of senior leaders as well as by changes in legislation. 

A government review in 2022 identified challenges in the operation of the system. It set out an ambition for more inclusive schools and better outcomes for disabled children and young people and those with SEN within a financially sustainable framework.

The Department for Education (DfE) is the main ministerial department responsible for children’s services and education in England. Its aim is to enable learners to thrive, by protecting the vulnerable and ensuring the delivery of excellent standards of education, training and care.

The DfE is supported by 18 agencies and other public bodies. Examples include Ofsted, CQC, Ofqual, STA, ESFA and TRA (for more information please refer to system of governance)

The structure of local government varies across the country. There are 152 top-tier local authorities (LAs), which are either county councils or unitary authorities. LAs are statutory bodies created by Acts of Parliament. Members are directly elected by their local communities to make and carry out decisions on local services. This includes some aspects of education, such as admissions processes, the process for assessing the needs of children with special educational needs and disabilities, and overseeing some LAs. 

Section 7 of the Education Act 1996 sets out the expectation that all children, including those with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), should receive a suitable education. It states that:

‘The parent of every child of compulsory school age shall cause him to receive efficient full-time education suitable —

• (a) to his age, ability and aptitude, and
• (b) to any special educational needs he may have, either by regular attendance at school or otherwise.’ 

Under the 2014 Act, there is a general presumption of inclusion in mainstream education for learners with SEN. There are two broad levels of support:

• ‘SEN support’ is the support given to a child or young person in early years provision, in school or (although not always described using this term) in a further education institution from within the school or college’s overall budget, up to a nationally prescribed (financial) threshold per learner per year.
• Education, health and care (EHC) plans are for children or young people aged up to 25 with more complex needs. EHC plans aim to provide a unified approach across education, health care and social care needs.

The SEND Code of Practice provides statutory guidance on the SEND provisions in the 2014 Act.

The Children and Families Act 2014 imposes certain duties on local authorities (LAs), the administrative areas responsible for the provision of statutory education for England. For SEN, Part 3 of the Children and Families Act replaces duties for children with SEN under the Education Act 1996 and for young people with learning difficulties and disabilities under the Learning and Skills Act 2000. However, the previous legislation still applied to children with SEN statements until March 2018. It applied to young people with learning difficulties and disabilities until August 2016. The Children and Families Act also places duties with regard to children and young people with disabilities and SEN on other bodies, such as health commissioning bodies.

The Children and Families Act 2014 requires that LAs:

• identify children and young people (up to the age of 25) with SEN;
• where necessary, assess the child or young person’s education, health and care needs, taking account of educational, medical, psychological and other factors;
• where necessary, prepare a formal EHC plan for those needs and specify the provision which should be made to meet them.

The 2014 Act secures the general presumption in law of mainstream education in relation to decisions about where children and young people with SEN should be educated and the Equality Act 2010 provides protection from discrimination for disabled people.  

Also under the 2014 Act, where a child with SEN is being educated in a maintained nursery school or a mainstream school, those concerned with making special educational provision for the child must secure that the child engages in the activities of the school together with children who do not have SEN.  

The 2014 Act required LAs to work with parents, young people, their health and social care partners, and the full range of education providers, to develop, publish and keep under review a Local Offer of services and provision for those with SEN and disabilities. 

The Equality Act 2010 places a duty on schools and LAs not to discriminate against learners with disabilities. They must not treat them less favourably and must take reasonable steps to avoid putting these learners at a substantial disadvantage, including providing auxiliary aids and services as part of the reasonable adjustments duty. Schools must prepare accessibility plans, showing how they will improve access to education for learners with disabilities. The Department for Education provides guidance on schools’ duties under the Equality Act.

The Equality and Human Rights Commission also provides technical guidance on schools’ and colleges’ duties under the Equality Act. The Children and Families Act requires LAs to provide parents, children and young people with disabilities and those with SEN with information, advice and guidance on SEN and disability. LAs must also make disagreement resolution services and mediation available to parents and young people. The Equality Act 2010 requires public bodies like schools and LAs to have regard to eliminating discrimination and promoting equality of opportunity between different groups of people. 

The Department for Education (DfE) has overall responsibility for the education system. It is responsible for children’s services and education, including early years and school education, higher and further education policy, apprenticeships and wider skills. 

Local authorities’ (LAs) role includes ensuring a sufficient supply of school places; managing the statutory SEND system (including assessing the needs of individual children and young people and securing provision specified in education, health and care (EHC) plans); and supporting vulnerable children and young people. This role has changed in recent years, as other ‘middle tier’ bodies, including DfE Regional Directors (formerly Regional Schools Commissioners) and academy chains, have taken an intermediary role between central government and schools. LAs retain some particular responsibilities for maintained schools, which they do not have for academies; but fewer than in the past.

Private schools charge fees and receive no direct support from public funds, although they may benefit from tax concessions. LAs place some children and young people with EHC plans in independent special schools.

Publicly funded educational institutions at all levels enjoy a high degree of autonomy, counterbalanced by a strong system of accountability. In working with institutions, the DfE is supported by the central and local decision-making, regulatory and/or advisory bodies, including LAs.

LAs have a wide range of responsibilities but in relation to education these include:

• Requirement to provide sufficient education places for all children and young people across a local area
• Requirements to administer the admissions processes for children and young people to access an education setting
• Responsible for identifying assessing and providing special educational provision for children with special educational needs
• Provision of Alternative Provision education for children who have been excluded from school
• The oversight of some Local Authority maintained schools in their area. 

Multi- Academy Trusts are the organisations that oversee groups of ‘academy’ schools Academies have direct funding agreements with central government and are independent of the LA. They enjoy certain freedoms relating to organisation and the curriculum, although these freedoms are due to change as part of an upcoming Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill.

Most school financial administration and management functions are delegated to school governing bodies and headteachers. This has been the case since the introduction of local management of schools (LMS) under the Education Reform Act 1988.

Agencies and public bodies that support the DfE:

• The Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills (Ofsted) is a non-ministerial department that inspects services providing education and skills for learners of all ages. It also inspects and regulates services that care for children and young people.
• The Office of Qualifications and Examinations Regulation (Ofqual) is a non-ministerial government department, responsible for regulating qualifications, examinations and assessments.
• The Teaching Regulation Agency (TRA) is an executive agency sponsored by the DfE, which is responsible for regulating the teaching profession and awarding qualified teacher status (QTS).
• The Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) is an executive agency of the DfE, accountable for funding education and training for children, young people and adults.
• The Standards and Testing Agency (STA) is an executive agency of the DfE, responsible for developing national curriculum tests and for supporting schools to carry out national curriculum assessments. 
• The Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education is an executive non-departmental public body, responsible for ensuring high-quality apprenticeship standards and advising government on funding for apprenticeship standards. It is also responsible for approving outline content for T Levels.

The government wants a range of provision to meet the needs of learners with special educational needs (SEN), including provision in mainstream schools, in units or resourced provision attached to mainstream schools and in special schools. Schools and local authorities (LAs) have duties to plan to increase access for learners with disabilities to school premises and to the curriculum. Schools must ensure that curriculum arrangements, such as policies for homework and school trips, do not discriminate against learners with disabilities, whether or not they currently have these learners on roll. Likewise, accessibility plans must allow for the accommodation of such learners whether or not there is currently a need for environmental amendments.

Under the Children and Families Act 2014, children and young people without education, health and care (EHC) plans must be educated in mainstream provision, other than in exceptional circumstances, for example being admitted to a special school for the purposes of an assessment. LAs must also arrange mainstream education for children and young people with EHC plans unless that is incompatible with the wishes of the child’s parent or of the young person or with the efficient education of other children or young people.

Under the terms of the Education Act 2002, all learners at state-funded schools have a right of access to a broad and balanced curriculum. All LA schools (including special schools) are required to deliver the National Curriculum, which is sufficiently flexible to accommodate different learning paces and styles. While there are procedures for headteachers at LA schools to make temporary exceptions from the National Curriculum for learners, this option is rare, largely on account of the flexibility in the National Curriculum’s application.

The new National Curriculum was introduced in September 2014. As part of the review process, the National Curriculum inclusion statement was revised to reaffirm schools’ duties under equalities legislation. It sets out that teachers must determine the support and teaching interventions their learners need to participate fully in all parts of the school curriculum, including the National Curriculum. The statement also gives teachers and teaching staff the freedom to teach the National Curriculum in line with learners’ specific and individual needs and make reasonable adjustments where necessary. Timetables can also be adjusted under the Equality Act 2010 to allow for the inclusion of learners with disabilities.

The law assumes that learners with SEN will be educated in mainstream schools. However, if this is not suitable to meet their needs, provision is available in ‘resourced’ schools (schools which can guarantee resources and staff expertise to meet the needs of learners with SEN – usually in a particular ‘category’ of need and regarded as an area resource). About 1.8% of the school population is educated in special schools, though the proportion varies according to the LA. Learners with EHC plans can be dually placed in both mainstream and special schools.

A DfE report from August 2024 provides data on children and young people with SEN.

The organisation of special educational provision is a matter for LAs working in collaboration with schools and other agencies. There are examples of where mainstream and special schools have been co-located to promote contact between the mainstream and special school sectors and to promote the inclusion of learners with disabilities and SEN.

The SEND Code of Practice sets out statutory guidance on the special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) provisions in the 2014 Act.

LAs have legal duties relating to encouraging, enabling and assisting young people to participate in education or training. This includes those with special needs. These duties are established by a wide range of legislation.

The Equality Act 2010 imposes a range of duties relating to disability. LAs have duties in relation to support for disabled children and their families (e.g. Help if you have a disabled child: Overview).

The Equality Act 2010 defines a person with disabilities as ‘someone who has a physical or mental impairment that has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on his or her ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities’.

Educational psychologists (EPs) are a critical part of the SEND system. They provide statutory input into EHC assessments and advise the school workforce on how to support children and young people with SEND. EPs also provide wider support to children and young people, families and teachers. EPs work beyond the SEND system, as part of a wider network of professionals, providing a link between school and community services such as CAMHS, social care, the justice system and others, to improve outcomes for children and young people.

The EHC plan for each learner outlines the support service that they need to access. These cover education, health and social care services. After the EP assessment, the learner is typically referred to others service for support.

CAMHS are specialist mental health services for children and young people provided by the National Health Service.

Young people might be referred to CAMHS to help them deal with disorders or issues such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), anxiety, autism, behavioural problems, bullying, depression, eating disorders, obsessive compulsive disorder, psychotic disorders including schizophrenia, and substance abuse.

Teachers, doctors or nurses may refer a young person to CAMHS, whose staff include psychotherapists, mental health workers, family therapists, art therapists, doctors and nurses. Interventions might involve talking therapies (such as counselling or cognitive behavioural therapy) or prescription medicine, or can depend on what local support is available. The services are usually based in clinics, but school or home visits are also possible. Services can be multi-agency and should have links with other relevant services, including schools, social services and counselling services. Ideally, parents are also involved in the interventions.

Community health services also provide access to speech and language therapy, occupational therapy, physiotherapy and community nursing support. Some of these services are deployed in special schools, otherwise children are individually referred for support or assessment.

Within LAs, education decision-making is shared between the executive (the locally elected mayor or leader, and the cabinet), scrutiny committees or panels, and the full council of elected members. Section 499 of the Education Act 1996 requires LAs to appoint representatives of the Church of England and the Roman Catholic Church to their committees dealing with education. The School Standards and Framework Act 1998 provides for representatives of parent governors to be involved in such committees.

The Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) within the DfE is accountable for funding education and skills for children, young people and adults.

Informal collaboration across ministries is a key element of the SEND system – the SEND Code of Practice, for example, is owned jointly by the DfE and the Department of Health and Social Care.

Closer working between education, health and social care bodies was one of the main aims of the 2014 Act and the substantial reforms of the SEND system that were underpinned by that legislation. Scrutiny by Parliamentary bodies such as the Education Select Committee and the Public Accounts Committee has included a focus on the effectiveness of co-operation between the health and education departments. The Ofsted/Care Quality Commission system of inspection of Local Area SEND systems also looks closely at health/education co-operation locally.

The SEND system is built on partnership working between State bodies, parents and SEND organisations: both at the level of decisions over support for a child or young person, and at the strategic level. The Government funds Parent Carer Forums around the country to help support such co-production. SEND legislation has a range of duties relating to co-production, including about joint decision-making and about the provision of impartial advice, information and support for parents of learners with SEND.

Learning disability and autism in schools: North Cumbria and North East Accelerator site project

Researching the educational experiences of young people with special educational needs and disabilities

The 2014 Act imposes a range of duties on LAs to put children and parents at the heart of decision-making processes relating to SEND, both at the individual and at local area level. 

Under the 2014 Act and the Children and Social Work Act 2017, LAs are required to have a ‘Virtual School Head’ (VSH) to promote the educational achievement of looked after and previously looked after children. As part of the LA’s corporate parent role, the VSH is the educational advocate for a looked after child or young person, as parents are for others. For previously looked after children, the VSH is a source of advice and information to help parents to advocate for their children as effectively as possible.

There are a range of organisations that seek to facilitate communication networks with a range of stakeholders:

The Council for Disabled Children is part of the National Children’s Bureau family. It is the umbrella body for the disabled children’s sector with a membership of over 300 voluntary and community organisations and an active network of practitioners that spans education, health and social care. As a membership body it provides a collective voice that champions the rights of children, young people and their families and challenges barriers to inclusion.

The National Network of Parent Carer Forums – Parent Carer Forums are representative local groups of parents and carers of children and young people with disabilities who work alongside local authorities, education, health and other service providers to ensure the services they plan, commission, deliver and monitor meet the needs of children and families.

The Association for Directors of Children’s Services is a membership organisation, established in 2007, after the passing of the Children Act 2004. Its members hold leadership roles in children’s services departments in local authorities in England. It specialises in developing, commissioning and leading the delivery of services to children, young people and their families, including education, health, youth, early years and social care services. Working in partnership with other agencies, its members work to achieve tailored and joined-up services for children, whatever their identified needs.

The National Association of Head Teachers is the definitive voice of school leaders. It works to create a better education system for both educators and learners. It represents school leaders working within a number of different areas of the education sector, and its members include head teachers, deputy and assistant heads, school business leaders, SEN co-ordinators, virtual school heads and leaders of outdoor education centres.

The Careers and Enterprise Company (CEC) provides training and support to help schools, colleges, careers leaders and SEN co-ordinators to design and deliver careers education programmes tailored to the needs of young people with SEND. The CEC is working to complete the national rollout of Careers Hubs, digital support, Careers Leader training and the Enterprise Adviser Network to all secondary schools and colleges. This includes extending access to all special schools and alternative provision.

The Department for Education (DfE) allocates funding for schools and early years settings through the dedicated schools grant (DSG) which is distributed to local authorities (LAs). The DSG includes three main elements:

• the schools’ block of funding – the single largest block;
• the ‘high needs’ block;
• the early years block.

The DfE determines how the DSG is split between the different funding blocks. Each of these blocks is then allocated and distributed in the following ways:

The schools’ funding block is the single largest block and provides the majority of mainstream schools’ funding. It includes the money mainstream schools receive, calculated under a local funding formula, to cover most of the costs associated with their learners with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). 

The high needs funding block goes to LAs to meet the costs of special school provision, alternative provision, specialist services provided centrally, and additional ‘top-up’ funding for mainstream schools and general and specialist colleges, to meet some of their high needs costs.

The early years funding block is distributed by LAs to early year settings and is designed to provide an hourly rate for every child in early years education. 

The school system is characterised by a ‘dual system’ of publicly funded schools. Maintained schools are funded and overseen by LAs, while academies are publicly funded independent schools with a direct funding agreement with government. 

The Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) withing the DfE is accountable for funding education and training for children, young people and adults. 

Via the ESFA, central government: 

• provides LAs with funds to support early years education, maintained schools and children and young people with complex needs. This funding is provided through the DSG;
• directly funds academies;
• directly funds education and training provision for 16–18/19-year-olds in sixth-form colleges and further education institutions.

If a school has a child with SEN, it must fund the first GBP 6,000 of provision from its own budgets. If the child has an education, health and care plan, the school will receive ‘top up’ funding on top of its typical budgets. This is to cover the cost of any additional provision described in the plan.

LAs receive funding from central government to support the provision of free early years provision. This government-funded provision is available for 38 weeks of the year. Parents may extend provision by paying for additional hours of care for their child. 

Government-funded early years provision is available from a wide variety of providers, including nursery schools and nursery classes in maintained primary schools and academies. Places are also available in children’s centres and in private and voluntary settings, such as day nurseries, playgroups and registered childminders, which are supported by government funding subject to meeting certain requirements. 

Fee-paying independent schools do not receive public funding directly from the DfE, though LAs may commission places for learners directly (for example education, health and care plan placements in independent special schools), and use DSG funds they allocate to their high needs budget for this purpose.

Funding for disadvantaged learners in schools is also provided through the Pupil Premium, which is an additional funding allocation designed to improve the academic outcomes of disadvantaged learners of all abilities and close the attainment gap between disadvantaged learners and their peers across the country.

School leaders can decide how to spend their Pupil Premium within the framework set out by the DfE’s ‘menu of approaches’.  

The menu is based on evidenced approaches for raising the attainment of disadvantaged learners, to help schools use their funding effectively. 

Schools must also publish details of how they spend their Pupil Premium funding, and outcomes for eligible learners, on their website. As with other forms of funding, schools are held accountable for the outcomes they achieve with their Pupil Premium, including through Ofsted inspections and by school governors.  

These are formal approaches, but which enable schools and to use some funds in informal ways, at their own discretion.  

For the most talented learners in music, dance and drama, there are national funds which allow them to gain access to specialist training.

Inspection and regulation 

Ofsted plays a role in system-level quality assurance by:

• inspecting and regulating day care and children’s social care;
• inspecting children’s services, maintained schools and academies, further education colleges, initial teacher training, early career framework (ECF) and national professional qualification (NPQ), area special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) provision, youth work, work-based learning and adult education.

Its annual report provides an evaluation of the sectors of the education system which it inspects.

The legislative basis for the current inspection system for publicly funded schools is the Education Act 2005, as amended by the Education Act 2011. 

Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission conduct local area inspections of SEND services that covers the role of the Local Authority and Health partners.

In publicly funded schools, both self-evaluation and external inspection play a role in promoting high standards of education and professional practice.

Self-evaluation is an essential element of school improvement, providing the basis for planning, development and improvement in schools. Ultimate responsibility for institutional self-evaluation rests with the school governing board and the headteacher of each school, who evaluate all aspects of the school’s work and set objectives for improvement.

Ofsted carries out external inspection of maintained schools and academies. Inspectors make graded judgements using a four-point scale on the quality of education, behaviour and attitudes, personal development, and leadership and management, before reaching an overall effectiveness judgement for the school. Where applicable, inspectors also make a judgement about the quality of early years provision and sixth form provision. 

The Education Inspection Framework (EIF) (2019), and the School Inspection Handbook, which is updated periodically by Ofsted, outline inspection arrangements. They detail how inspectors gather evidence both before and during a school inspection to assess how well the school is performing.

Self-evaluation, school inspection and school improvement all rely on data analysis. However, the EIF has introduced an increased focus on the ‘substance of education’. Inspectors no longer make a graded judgement on learners’ outcomes, and instead make a holistic assessment of the quality of education provided by the school, taking into account curriculum intent, implementation and impact. The aim was to rebalance inspection by looking more closely at what is taught and how, with data on test and exam outcomes looked at in that context, rather than in isolation.

Ofsted’s school inspection handbook is also clear that inspectors will not expect or accept internal data from schools either instead of or in addition to published data. This is to discourage schools from producing data specifically for Ofsted, and because it is not possible for inspectors to verify the accuracy of schools’ internal data, as it has no verified, national benchmarks for comparison. 

There is no single body responsible for, or single process for, the overall evaluation of the education system in England. Central government scrutinises the school system as a whole and government departments and local authorities (Las) involved in the education system are themselves scrutinised and held to account.

Ofsted, the independent inspectorate, evaluates the sectors of the education system which it inspects. Ofsted is required to publish an annual ‘state of the nation’ report covering quality and standards across its inspection remit. Ofsted also publishes a range of reports evaluating provision in specific curriculum areas and aspects of social care, childcare, education, and learning and skills.

Central government sets the overall framework for quality assurance, including the inspection framework. It also compiles data on and evaluates school performance based on learner performance measures (known as school accountability measures) to raise standards and hold schools to account.

Parliamentary committees provide an important means of scrutinising government policy and proposed legislation at central level. House of Commons Select Committees shadow government departments and scrutinise their work as follows:

• the Education Select Committee examines the policy, spending and administration of the DfE and related non-departmental public bodies and non-ministerial departments, including Ofsted;
• the Public Accounts Committee examines public spending.

General Committees and Temporary Joint Committees consider proposed and draft legislation.

The National Audit Office (NAO), which is independent of government, scrutinises public spending on behalf of Parliament. It reports to Parliament on the economy, efficiency and effectiveness with which government departments and agencies use public money, with a view to helping improve public services.

His Majesty’s Treasury, the United Kingdom’s economics and finance ministry, has overall responsibility for ensuring that public funds are spent on activities that provide the greatest benefits to society, and that they are spent in the most efficient way.

The Department for Education publishes statistics on school and learner numbers and quality assurance in further and higher education, ensuring that institutions promote access and success, and determining the regulatory framework in further education.

The quality of the education of children and young people with SEND is included in wider quality assurance mechanisms rather than being a discrete issue.

Ofsted also conducts inspections based on risk assessment. These can arise, for example, from complaints about providers or changes in circumstances, such as location and ownership.

The Government funds the Education Endowment Foundation to provide evidence on effective interventions to raise the attainment of the most disadvantaged learners in the most challenging schools. Teachers are encouraged to use this evidence base in their teaching and as part of their on-going professional development.

Overall school performance data: Compare the performance of schools and colleges in England

Data on learners with an education, health and care plan: Education, health and care plans, Reporting year 2024

Data on SEN in school: Special educational needs in England, Academic year 2023/24

Data on all children/learners from Office for National Statistics (ONS)

European Agency Statistics on Inclusive Education data tables

Initial teacher education

There is a diverse range of routes into teaching in schools. Consecutive (undergraduate) and concurrent (postgraduate) routes both exist, and training may be school-led or led by a higher education institution. Individual providers determine the curriculum for initial teacher education. Qualifying as a teacher involves gaining an academic qualification and the professional accreditation of qualified teacher status (QTS), and passing a statutory induction period. Whichever training route they follow, teachers must meet the same Teachers’ Standards.

Teachers are not civil servants, but employees of the local authority (LA), the school governing body or the academy trust, depending on the legal category of the school. They apply for a specific teaching post through an open application process. The Chartered College for Teaching is the recognised professional body for the teaching profession. Membership is voluntary.

In maintained schools, legislation regulates the qualifications required for appointment, pay, conditions of employment, working time, professional duties and recruitment processes. In academies, the academy trust determines these matters.

Continuing professional development 

It is regarded as a professional duty for a teacher to undertake continuing professional development (CPD) throughout their career. The CPD needs of each teacher are determined by the individual and their school, in the context of performance management and the school development plan (SDP).

The Teachers’ Standards state that a teacher must ‘fulfil wider professional responsibilities’ and ‘take responsibility for improving teaching through appropriate professional development, responding to advice and feedback from colleagues’.

The School Teachers’ Pay and Conditions document sets out a number of specific professional duties which teachers may be required to undertake, including participating in professional development.

The statutory conditions of service for teachers in maintained schools (which do not apply to academies) require teachers to be available for work on 195 days each year. Of these, 190 are teaching days and the other five days are in service training (INSET) days. Teachers are also required to be available for 1,265 hours each year to be allocated reasonably across these days. The 1,265 hours make up the hours available for headteachers to direct the work of teachers. In addition to the directed time, teachers must also work ‘such reasonable additional hours as may be necessary to enable the effective discharge of the teacher’s professional duties’. If CPD is organised by the school within the 1,265 hours of annual directed time that teachers must work, then they must take part.

There is no legal minimum requirement for the length of time to be spent on CPD, which may take place both within and outside of working hours.

Schools decide for themselves how much of their budget to allocate to CPD. This is based on their specific areas for development as set out in their SDP, although some specific initiatives receive government funding. 

Additional qualifications for specialist SEN roles

For classes of learners with a hearing impairment, visual impairment or multi-sensory impairment, teachers require additional specialist qualifications. The Education (School Teachers’ Qualifications) (England) Regulations 2003 states that these teachers must hold a specialist ‘mandatory qualification’ in addition to QTS, or gain the qualification within their first three years in post. Responsibility for approving providers to deliver these qualifications lies with the Department for Education (DfE). 

All mainstream schools, including academies, must have a qualified teacher (with QTS) or headteacher designated as a special educational needs co-ordinator (SENCO). The SENCO oversees provision of teaching and learning for learners in the school with SEN, and all SENCOs who have not previously gained at least 12 months’ experience in the role must achieve the National Award for Special Educational Needs Coordination within three years of appointment. 

All initial teacher training (ITT) providers must be accredited by DfE, based on criteria specified by the Secretary of State. Accredited providers include both higher education institutions and school-centred initial teacher training providers (SCITTs). Accreditation covers all courses run by that provider and is neither conditional nor time-limited.

Historically, the DfE managed the allocation of training places to individual providers. These decisions were informed by the annual ‘teacher supply model’ (TSM). The TSM is designed to estimate the number of postgraduate initial teacher training places needed to ensure a sufficient supply of qualified teachers for the publicly funded sector. It enables estimation of the number of trainees required by subject and phase of education. 

The TSM does not account for regional disparity and as such, the DfE removed the cap on recruitment to allow ITT providers to recruit more flexibly, considering supply and demand within their region.

Routes to other qualifications specific to early childhood education and care

Professionals working in early childhood education and care can hold QTS or follow a route to qualify with ‘Early Years Teacher Status’ (EYTS) or as an ‘Early Years Educator’.

EYTS is a postgraduate accreditation for those leading practice in early years settings. It is awarded by the DfE on behalf of the Secretary of State and was introduced in 2013. Training providers under contract to the DfE provide training and assessment, which is underpinned by the 2013 Teachers’ Standards (Early Years).

No information available.

The Children and Families Act 2014 states that a child or young person has special educational needs (SEN) ‘if he or she has a learning difficulty or disability which calls for special educational provision to be made for him or her’. Such provision is required when a child or young person:

• has significantly greater difficulty in learning than most others of the same age;
• has a disability which either prevents or hinders them from making use of educational facilities of a kind generally provided for others of the same age in mainstream schools or mainstream post-16 institutions;
• is under the age of five and is likely to fall within either of the above paragraphs when over that age (or would be if special educational provision were not made for them).

English as an additional language, giftedness and high ability are not included within the definition of SEN.

The Equality Act 2010 defines a person with disabilities as ‘someone who has a physical or mental impairment that has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on his or her ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities’.

The Children and Families Act 2014 places a general duty on local authorities (LAs) to identify children and young people with disabilities and SEN in their areas. LAs must undertake a multi-professional, formal education, health and care assessment of a child or young person in its area who has special educational needs that will probably need provision over and above what is normally available in a mainstream school or college. If necessary, the LA must also set this out in an education, health and care (EHC) plan.

All annual reviews of a child’s EHC plan following their 13th birthday must include a focus on preparing for adulthood.

The Special Educational Needs and Disability Code of Practice: 0 to 25 years gives detailed guidance on effective processes for identifying and assessing learners with SEN. It has separate sections on provision in the different phases of education. It provides impartial information, advice and support for children, young people and parents working together across education, health and care for joint outcomes and develops a ‘local offer’ of services. It recommends that schools, colleges and LAs adopt a graduated response, documented at each stage. The response should use a range of strategies and means of support for learners with learning difficulties, based on an assess-plan-do-review cycle, and involving specialist external support, where necessary.

The Code of Practice sets out the procedures following a decision to undertake a formal multi-agency education, health and care assessment for a child or young person. This includes time scales for taking action.

The LA will make an EHC plan if the assessment indicates that the special help a child or young person needs cannot reasonably be provided within the resources normally available to the school or college. If the LA decides not to make an EHC plan, it must inform the parents or the young person of this decision. Parents and young people have a legal right to appeal to the First-tier Tribunal (Special Educational Needs and Disability) if they do not agree with the final EHC plan or if the LA decides not to carry out an assessment or make an EHC plan. LAs must ensure that the child or young person receives the special educational provision specified in the EHC plan. All EHC plans must be reviewed annually. 

Parents of children with EHC plans and young people with EHC plans can request the school or college they want, whether that is a mainstream or special school or college. If they ask for a state-funded (LA/academy/free) mainstream or special school, ‘non-maintained special school’ (run by charities), some independent special schools or colleges or a mainstream college, then the LA has a qualified duty to send the learner to that school. Parents and young people can also request other independent schools or specialist colleges for their children or themselves. The LA can send the child or young person to one of these schools or colleges, but is not obliged to do so.

The school curriculum comprises all the learning and other experiences that each school plans for its learners. It is shaped by: legal requirements for the curriculum; (in the case of academies) the school’s funding agreement; any trust deed or religious designation of the school; inspection and accountability frameworks; the school’s particular needs and circumstances.

The school curriculum is framed by broad aims to promote the spiritual, moral, cultural, mental and physical development of learners, and to prepare them for the opportunities, responsibilities and experiences of later life. These aims were first established by the Education Act 1944.

A national curriculum was introduced under the Education Reform Act 1988, giving learners an entitlement to a broad and balanced curriculum and setting standards for attainment. Last revised in 2014, the national curriculum specifies compulsory subjects, programmes of study and entitlement areas for ages 5–16, although it does not prescribe teaching hours. It sits alongside requirements for religious education (RE), relationships, sex and health education (RSHE), and careers education, and is compulsory for maintained schools, but not academies.

The legal basis for the curriculum in academies is covered by section 1 of the Academies Act 2010 and the individual school’s funding agreement with the Secretary of State.

Learners are organised into year groups according to their age and may be taught for some subjects according to ability within that age group cohort. Grade repetition and early tracking into different study programmes are not typical.

Although they are bound by the same broad aims, in terms of specific legislative requirements for the school curriculum, there are differences between maintained schools and academies.

Maintained schools must teach the national curriculum, RSHE and RE. This is under the provisions of the Education Act 2002.

The national curriculum does not aim to be the whole school curriculum. Schools are free to include other subjects or topics of their choice in planning and designing their own whole school curriculum / programme of education.

Academies do not have to teach the national curriculum but may choose to do so. Academies are bound by their funding agreement with the Secretary of State to teach English, mathematics and science and RE. They must also comply with any additional curriculum requirements included in their funding agreement and the Independent School Standards, such as following the statutory requirement of teaching RSHE and that of providing a daily act of collective worship.

The national curriculum does not prescribe teaching hours. It sets out the compulsory subjects and associated programmes of study that must be taught at each key stage in maintained schools. The individual programmes of study for Key Stages 1 and 2 provide information on the purpose, aims and subject content of the compulsory national curriculum subjects.

The compulsory national curriculum subjects at Key Stages 1 and 2 (primary education, ages 5–11) are:

• the ‘core’ subjects of English, mathematics and science;
• the ‘foundation’ subjects – art and design, computing, design and technology, geography, history, music, physical education (PE), and a foreign language in Key Stage 2 (ages 7–11).

According to the national curriculum guidance for primary education, fluency in the English language is ‘an essential foundation for success in all subjects’. Teachers should therefore develop learners’ spoken language, reading, writing and vocabulary as integral aspects of the teaching of every subject. Similarly, confidence in numeracy and other mathematical skills is regarded as ‘a precondition of success across the national curriculum’. Primary teachers are expected to use every relevant subject to develop learners’ mathematical fluency. Schools have free choice over which modern or ancient foreign language learners study over the four years of Key Stage 2.

From September 2020, relationships education became compulsory in all primary schools, relationships and sex education compulsory in all secondary schools, and health education compulsory in all state funded schools. Many schools choose to teach the RSHE subjects through non-statutory personal, social, health and economic education (PSHE).

Section 87 of the Education Act 2002 states that the amount of time to be allocated to each subject cannot be prescribed.

The national curriculum inclusion statement states that teachers must determine the support and teaching interventions that all their learners need to participate fully in all parts of the school curriculum, including the national curriculum. The statement gives teaching staff the freedom to teach the national curriculum in line with learners’ specific and individual needs and to make reasonable adjustments where necessary. Timetables can also be adjusted under the Equality Act 2010 to allow for the inclusion of learners with disabilities.

The inclusion statement specifies that, in curriculum planning, potential areas of difficulty should be identified and addressed at the outset, and that lessons should be planned to remove barriers to learner achievement. It states that, in many cases, this planning will allow learners with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) to study the full national curriculum. The SEND Code of Practice provides detailed advice on approaches to planning to ensure that learners’ needs are met.

In addition, section 92 of the Education Act 2002 allows the national curriculum to be modified or disapplied for individual learners with an education, health and care (EHC) plan. 

In terms of assessment, the national curriculum inclusion statement specifies that teachers should set high expectations for every learner, whatever their prior attainment, and that they should use appropriate assessment to set targets which are deliberately ambitious. 

Although the national curriculum is not a statutory requirement for academies, it allows them to benchmark their provision against national expectations. 

Teachers use the pre-key stage standards to assess learners with SEN who are working below the overall standard of the Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2 tests, and are engaged in subject-specific learning. They use these standards to make a statutory assessment judgement for these learners, who have reached the end of the key stage but have not completed the relevant programmes of study or taken the statutory tests (in reading and/or writing and/or mathematics).

Teachers use the engagement model to assess learners with SEN in Key Stages 1 and 2 who have complex individual needs and so are not engaged in subject-specific learning. The engagement model became statutory in September 2021, and centres on five ‘areas of engagement’. These areas allow teachers to assess learners’ engagement in developing new skills, knowledge and concepts in the school’s curriculum by demonstrating how learners are achieving specific outcomes. They represent what is necessary for learners to fully engage in their learning and reach their full potential.  

The Government has a programme of activity aimed at to improving the experiences and outcomes of learners who are in, or receive support from, alternative provision. 

Independent special schools determine their own curriculum.

A child of compulsory school age must receive ‘suitable education’. Suitable education means efficient education suitable to the learner’s age, ability and aptitude and to any SEN they may have. This education must be full-time, unless the local authority (LA) determines that, for reasons relating to the learner’s physical or mental health, a reduced level of education would be in their best interests. 

Once admitted to a school, the headteacher, in consultation with parents, decides how best to educate a learner. Progression of learners from one class to the next is a matter of custom and practice, rather than a legal requirement. In practice, learners almost always progress automatically to the next year. There is no requirement, for example, to ‘pass’ a year. Some of the exceptions will be learners whose SEN are such that moving to a class with others who are not the same chronological age will be in their best interests.

Another example is summer born children – children born between 1 April and 31 August. For these children, compulsory school age is a full school year after they could have started school. The parents of summer born children can request to the admission authority for them to start school in reception, rather than year 1 alongside their chronological year group. The admission authority is required, by the School Admissions Code, to make a decision in the best interests of the child. The department believes it can rarely be in the best interests of a child to miss their reception year.

Low attainment of individual learners is typically addressed through differentiated teaching and the provision of additional support, rather than by repeating a year. 

Academically gifted learners are similarly supported through differentiated teaching and support.  

The expectation of inclusiveness is embedded in the national curriculum.

Home schooling

Parents have the right to educate their children at home. Under section 7 of the Education Act 1996, a child of compulsory school age may be educated either by regular attendance at school or otherwise. 

Parents who choose to educate their child at home are responsible for ensuring that the education provided is efficient, full-time and suitable to the child’s age, ability, aptitude and any SEN they may have. They do not have to follow the national curriculum, nor do they need to be qualified teachers. Parents must be prepared to assume full financial responsibility for their child’s education, including examinations.

LAs have no statutory duties to monitor the quality of home education on a routine basis. However, under the Education Act 1996, they have duties to make arrangements to identify children not receiving a suitable education, and to intervene if it appears that a child is not receiving a suitable education.

LAs may decide that an element of home education is appropriate for a child or young person with an EHC plan and therefore name this on the plan. Where the LA does this, it becomes responsible for securing the special educational provision set out in the plan.

SEND

LAs are the strategic lead for all services for learners with SEND. LAs have specific statutory duties both in relation to special educational provision where a learner has an EHC plan, and social care provision. 

The duties on LAs are complemented by a wide range of duties on education settings, health commissioners, educational psychologists and others. For example, learners with SEN but without EHC plans are usually educated in mainstream schools or in colleges. These settings must use their ‘best endeavours’ to make provide for the learner’s learning difficulties. State-funded schools must publish information about their SEN provision.

Under the Childcare Act 2006, LAs have a statutory duty to arrange sufficient childcare, as far as is reasonably practicable, for working parents, or parents who are studying for training for employment, for children aged 0–14 (or up to 18 for children with disabilities). LAs also have a duty to provide information, advice and assistance to parents about childcare and information on other (non-childcare) services, facilities and publications which might benefit them in their parenting role.

The Equality Act 2010 places a duty on education providers and LAs not to discriminate against learners with disabilities. They must not treat them less favourably and must take reasonable steps to avoid putting them at a substantial disadvantage, including providing auxiliary aids and services as part of the reasonable adjustments duty. Schools must prepare accessibility plans, showing how they will improve access to education for learners with disabilities. LAs must similarly prepare accessibility strategies. Public bodies, including schools, colleges and LAs, must:

• eliminate discrimination, harassment, victimisation and any other conduct that is prohibited by or under the 2010 Act;
• advance equality of opportunity between persons who share a relevant protected characteristic and persons who do not share it;
• foster good relations between persons who share a relevant protected characteristic and persons who do not share it.

Guidance on schools’ duties under the 2010 Act is available from the Department for Education (DfE). The Equality and Human Rights Commission also provides technical guidance on schools’ and colleges’ duties under the Equality Act 2010. 

For most children in compulsory full-time education, ‘regular attendance at school or otherwise’ means attendance at a publicly funded school.

Part 3 of the 2014 Act places duties with regard to children and young people with SEND on a range of bodies. These include duties on LAs to:

• in consultation with others, including learners and parents – draw up and publish a SEND ‘local offer’ setting out the education, health, care and other provision which is available to learners with SEND from their areas; 
• provide parents and learners with SEND with information, advice and guidance on SEND; 
• make disagreement resolution services and mediation available to parents and young people; 
• identify learners (up to the age of 25) with SEND;
• where necessary, assess the learner’s education, health and care needs, taking account of educational, medical, psychological and other factors and then, where necessary, prepare an EHC plan to meet those needs and specify the provision which must be made to meet them;
• where an EHC plan is drawn up, determine an educational placement which is suitable for the learner’s age, aptitude and special educational needs; there is a presumption that this will be a placement in a mainstream school or general further education college, unless the learner’s needs require more specialist provision. 

No information available.

Children are entitled to government funded early education until they reach compulsory school age (the beginning of the term following their fifth birthday). Some two-year-olds are also entitled to fifteen hours of free education, and children are entitled to a place if they have a statement of special educational needs, an education, health and care (EHC) plan (for those with more severe special educational needs or disabilities (SEND)), or get Disability Living Allowance.

Local authorities are required by law to secure free entitlement places for parents that want their child to take them up. The Children and Families Act 2014 requires local authorities to have a ‘local offer’ which includes a statement on how they intend to tailor the childcare on offer for children with SEND.

Local authorities have a duty to ensure sufficient childcare in their area. There is not a place for a ‘disabled child’ and a place for a ‘non-disabled child’; local authorities must ensure that there is sufficient childcare for all.

No nationally agreed arrangements are in place for transition from home to early childhood education (ECE) and from ECE to primary education for all children, but many local authorities choose to do this as part of their local support. All early years providers are required to have arrangements in place to identify and support all children, including those with SEND, and to promote equality of opportunity for children in their care.

The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) Framework 2014 sets out these requirements. The EYFS sets standards for the learning, development and care of children from birth to five years old. All providers of early years education which receive government funding (which includes providers in the maintained, private and voluntary sectors) are required to have regard to the 0–25 Special Educational Needs and Disability Code of Practice (which is underpinned by the Children and Families Act). Local authorities must ensure that providers are aware of the requirements of the Code and meet the needs of children with SEND.

Early years providers must provide information for parents on how they support children with SEND, and should regularly review and evaluate the quality and breadth of the support they can offer.

All early years providers must ensure they meet their duties under the Equality Act 2010 when securing early education places. They must not discriminate against, harass or victimise on the grounds of disability and they must make reasonable adjustments, including providing auxiliary aids and services for disabled children, to prevent them being put at a substantial disadvantage. Support for children with SEND should include planning and preparing for transition, before a child moves to another setting or school. Early years providers are expected to share information with the receiving setting/school, and discuss with parents what information should be shared.

Read more in the Inclusive Early Childhood Education activity.

The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) sets the standards that all early years providers must meet to ensure that children learn and develop well and are kept healthy and safe. It promotes teaching and learning to ensure children’s ‘school readiness’ and gives children the broad range of knowledge and skills that provide the right foundation for good future progress through school and life. It defines what providers must do, working in partnership with parents, to promote the learning and development of all children in their care, and to ensure they are ready for school.

Learners do not receive a certificate on completion of primary education.

Progression to secondary education is not dependent on certification or completion of primary education.

Transition support is available between school and work (post-16) through policies in relation to curriculum, vocational education and training (VET), and work experience. 

Careers guidance under the Education Act 2011

The Education (Careers Guidance in Schools) Act 2022 ensures that all learners in all types of state-funded secondary schools are legally entitled to independent careers guidance throughout their secondary education. 

Since January 2018, all maintained schools and academies have been required to ensure that there is an opportunity for a range of education and training providers to inform year 8–13 learners about approved technical education qualifications or apprenticeships. The Skills and Post-16 Education Act 2022 stated that every school must provide a minimum of six provider encounters. It also introduced parameters around the duration and content of these encounters.

From September 2018, schools are required to publish details of their careers programme. 

Support for children and young people with SEND to facilitate transitions 

The SEND Code of Practice sets out the duties and expectations of LAs, health bodies, schools and colleges regarding transitions between phases of education and into adult life. Chapter 8 (‘Preparing for adulthood from the earliest years’) sets out how professionals across education (including early years, schools and colleges), health and social care should support learners with SEND to prepare for adult life, and help them achieve the best outcomes in employment, independent living, health and community participation. 

Discussions about longer-term goals should start well before Year 9 at school. This includes the transition into post-16 education, and the transition from post-16 education into adult life (including employment, higher education, adult health services and adult social care). 

LAs must provide information and advice on the range of services available. Their SEND Local Offer should include relevant information and advice on local provision and how to receive an assessment for transition to adult care and support. The Local Offer must identify training opportunities, supported employment services, apprenticeships, traineeships, supported internships and support available from supported employment services for young people in the area, to provide a smooth transition from education and training into employment.

For learners with an EHC plan, LAs must ensure that the EHC plan reviews at Year 9 and thereafter include a focus on preparing for adulthood. Transition planning must be built into the revised EHC plan and should result in clear outcomes being agreed that are ambitious and stretching and which will prepare learners for adulthood.

Additionally, the Care Act 2014 requires LAs to ensure co-operation between children’s and adults’ services to promote the integration of care and support with health services, so that young adults are not left without care and support as they make the transition from children’s to adult social care.