‘Umbrella’ SEND label ‘misleading’ says inclusion tsar
More from this theme Recent articles The government’s inclusion tsar will say today that use of the “umbrella” SEND label is “misleading and obscures individual identities of children”, adding “a lot of what we categorise as ‘special’ is normal and predictable”. Tom Rees, CEO of Ormiston Academies Trust and chair of the government’s expert advisory group for inclusion, is due to speak in Newcastle-upon-Tyne today (Thursday) on how to improve inclusion of SEND pupils in mainstream schools. Opening the Schools North East Academies Conference, Rees is expected to lay out problems in using ‘SEND’ as an umbrella term for a hugely diverse cohort. ‘Binary’ SEND term criticised “The term ‘SEND’ implies a binary between children, and suggests children assigned this label are fundamentally different from the norm, and that their struggles are a product of these differences rather than the systems and structures around them,” he will say. While the term “implies a commonality of experience” among children with SEND, this is “misleading”, Rees will say. “Under the umbrella sit those with physical disabilities, those with identified …
