The number of children described as having special educational needs and disabilities in the early years is rising fast. Research in 2023 by Dingley’s Promise, the national organisation that supports children with SEND in the early years, found that around eight in 10 settings reported a significant increase, and more than half stated they did not have “any more spaces” for new children with SEND.
It is common to hear of children being put on part-time timetables because their setting or school is unable to meet their needs for a full day. This means that the children who need early education the most have the fewest hours, if they are not being turned away completely.
Many early years educators, meanwhile, are genuinely overwhelmed as they try to meet a very wide range of needs. All of this is contributing to a sense of “crisis”.
It’s a sentiment that mirrors perceptions of SEND across the education sector. The Department for Education has recently described the SEND system as being “on its knees”, and will set out how it plans to address this in a White Paper later this year.
SEND in the early years
The early years foundation stage (EYFS) shapes children’s earliest learning experiences. As such, it is arguably the point at which the SEND crisis begins - and it is, therefore, an area worth looking closely at when considering overall solutions.
Indeed, a recent evaluation of the Sure Start programme by the Institute for Fiscal Studies found that a higher rate of identification of developmental difficulties when children were younger, together with better early support, was associated with lower levels of education, health and care plans (EHCPs) in secondary school.
Despite this, it is still common for children in the early years to receive lower levels of funding and support than older children. We need to reverse that, with fair funding for the early years.
Read on (£) in TES magazine
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