Pupils who’ve fallen behind as a consequence of lockdown are being misdiagnosed with having particular instructional wants, the faculties watchdog has warned.
Practically 77,000 pupils final 12 months had been recognized as having SEND (particular schooling wants and/or disabilities), sparking fears diagnoses are being rushed and are falsely decreasing expectations for college kids.
Virtually 1.5million pupils at the moment are recognized as having SEND. Ofsted’s chief inspector Amanda Spielman stated: ‘My concern is that figuring out a baby as needing catch-up assistance is completely different from saying the kid has a long-term drawback.’
College students who’ve fallen behind as a consequence of lockdown are being misdiagnosed as having particular schooling wants and/or disabilities, Ofsted has warned
Youngsters with SEND are entitled to extra help, together with further time and breaks throughout exams.
However the elevated demand means speech and language remedy and psychological well being help will not be all the time out there for struggling youngsters.
A Division for Schooling spokesman stated: ‘We’ve put in place a spread of help, together with £5billion in schooling restoration… to assist ease the strain on youngsters’s companies.’
By Connor Stringer
The findings come as a part of a damning report by Ofsted, which was described as ‘deeply worrying’ by college leaders.
The watchdog additionally discovered a excessive variety of youngsters are nonetheless skipping college following the pandemic, whereas academics are leaving their posts for higher-paying jobs in Aldi and Amazon.
The Affiliation of Faculty and Faculty Leaders (ASCL) labelled the findings as ‘deeply worrying’.
Julie McCulloch, director of coverage, stated: ‘The chief inspector highlights the main challenges confronted by the schooling sector, a lot of which have change into extra acute because of the Authorities’s insufficient response to the rising recruitment and retention disaster in our faculties and faculties.
‘Because the report outlines, that is having an affect in all schooling settings, from early years by to additional schooling.’
