If you want to see a two-tier Britain, just look at our schools

Last week brought another depressing set of headlines on respite care for children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) in England. They revealed the financial crisis that many local governments are struggling with they are trying to fund over £10 billion in the cost of SEND provision.

Many people will face a real prospect when the safety valve – the ‘floodgate’ that allows councils to keep SEND spending off their balance sheet and is designed to help councils finance the most vulnerable people – is removed in 2026 bankruptcy. Bridget Phillipson, the education secretary, says the previous government “neglected this system to the point of crisis”. Familiar words.

– reports the National Audit Office the number of young people requiring education, health and care plans (EHCP) has doubled in the last decade to 576,000. The Department of Education predicts that this number may reach one million in 2032–2033. Increased government funding has so far failed to meet relentlessly growing demand.

SEND funding is too complex to explain in detail here, but broadly schools are responsible for the first £10,000 of funding to support an individual EHCP, with ‘higher needs’ the responsibility of local authorities. Theoretically, this support should be specific and quantified. Theoretically.

However, SEND pupils are falling behind in reading, writing and mathematics since the introduction of the SEND Code of Practice in 2014. As a teacher who has always had SEND students, both in state and private schools, this is extremely frustrating. So I can’t imagine how parents of SEND children feel. Actually, I can because I talk to them regularly. The answer lies both in more and better trained professionals in schools and in parents being more honest about their children’s needs. The reality is that we all have to live up to our expectations of what can be achieved with little money, no matter how painful it is.

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To consider the number of children diagnosed with autism increased from 57,000 to 132,000 since 2015.. Think about the demands placed on classes in mainstream schools if children are not placed in SEND specialist schools. Can any mainstream school ever have enough specialist teachers and teaching assistants with realistic future funding levels?

I taught in mixed classes of 30 with two SEND pupils, sometimes assisted by a teaching assistant. I have also taught lower series where the percentage of SEND children only matched children with behavior problems and other learning difficulties. It is almost impossible to apply Whac-A-Mole discipline enough to provide the calm, supportive environment that many children on the spectrum need.

Unfortunately, I can also confirm that middle-class parents played the “SEND game.” Forget the two-year process state school parents can endure to obtain an EHCP. Some of my group of friends sought private diagnosis for £300 to ‘buy’ their child more time or the right to use a laptop for exams. Meanwhile, teachers must urge some state school parents to forget about any alleged “stigma” and seek the same help.

The SEND provision is another example of how two-tier Britain works. Yes, part of the answer lies in more funding, but money alone will not meet the educational needs of SEND children. We need reform of the entire system.

In the meantime, I promise you, teachers will continue to focus on, discuss and worry about your SEND children in every lesson, every day of their working week.