Special Educational Needs Information Act
An Analysis 2011

The Department for Education recently produced its annual publication drawing together data on special educational needs.

The introduction says that ‘one in every five pupils has a special educational need; about 1.7 million’, and that pupils with SEN are currently classified into three distinct provisions of need: School Action, School Action Plus or with statements of special educational needs.

The publication is split into 5 chapters:

Chapter 1 provides a basic breakdown of the characteristics of pupils with SEN (by age, 
                 gender, ethnic origin, school type attended and other factors), and also 
                 provides LA indicators as to the timeliness of statements of SEN. Key findings 
                 were:

  • The number of pupils with SEN in England increased from around 1.53 million pupils (19%) in 2006 to approximately 1.67 million (21%) in 2011. However, the number of pupils with statements of SEN decreased from 267,730 to 224,210 in the same period.
  • Of pupils with statements in 2011, ASD and MLD were the most common primary needs. The least common was multi-sensory impairment.
  • Boys were 2½ times more likely than girls to have statements at primary school and nearly 3 times more likely at secondary school.
  • Black pupils were the most likely to have special educational needs at primary school and special educational needs without a statement at secondary school. Chinese pupils were the least likely to have a statement at both primary and secondary school.
  • Pupils with SEN were much more likely to be eligible for free school meals than those without SEN. Of pupils with statements, those with behavioural, emotional and social difficulties as a primary need were most likely to be eligible for free school meals.
  • Pupils whose first language was other than English were more likely to have SEN without statements. However, pupils with statements were more likely to have English as their first language.
  • 73% of children who had been looked after children for at least a year at 31 March 2010 had special educational needs, meaning that looked after children were about 3½ times more likely to have SEN than other children. Looked after children were over 10 times more likely to have statements of SEN.
  • Looked after children with statements were nearly 3 times more likely to have behavioural, emotional and social difficulties than other children with statements.

Chapter 2 compares the attainment of pupils with SEN at Early Years Foundation Stage 
                 and Key Stages 1, 2 and 4, with attainment by characteristic and the gap in 
                 attainment between pupils with special educational needs and their peers at 
                 Key Stages 2 and 4. Some key findings were:

  • Early Years Foundation Stage: in 2009/10, 18.6% of pupils with SEN achieved a good level of development at EYFS, a gap of 41.4% between pupils without SEN.
  • Key Stage 1: in 2009/10, the attainment gap between pupils with and without SEN was smallest in science (31.9% difference) and largest in writing (48.6% difference).
  • Key Stage 2: in 2010, 33.4% of pupils with SEN achieved the expected level in both English and Maths in 2010, compared with 87.2% for hose without SEN.
  • Key Stage 4: in 2010, 20.2% of pupils with SEN achieved the expected level at KS4, compared to 66.2% of children without SEN.

Figures are also given for percentage levels achieved by various sub-groups at each Key Stage (e.g. gender, children without English as a first language, and looked after children).

Chapter 3 looks at pupils with special educational needs making the expected progress 
                 from Key Stages 2 and 4. All figures in this chapter refer to pupils at maintained 
                 mainstream schools only. Some key findings were:

  • Pupils with SEN are less likely to achieve expected levels of progress compared to their peers.
  • English: in 2010, 75.6% of children with no SEN make the expected progress between KS2 and KS4, compared to 50.9% at School Action, 38.9% at School Action Plus and 44.1% with statements.
  • Maths: in 2010, 69.9% of children with no SEN made the expected progress between KS2 and KS4, compared to 39.1% at School Action, 27.7% at School Action Plus and 30.7% with statements.
  • Of those with statements in 2010, pupils with visual impairment as a primary need (63.3%) were most likely to achieve the expected progress in English and pupils with a hearing impairment as a primary need (54.8%) were most likely to achieve the expected progress.

Chapter 4 looks at the attainment and activities of 19 year olds with special educational 
                 needs. Key findings were:

GCSEs:
  • The percentage of pupils who achieved at least 5 GCSEs at grades A* to C or equivalent by the age of 19 years was lower for pupils with SEN. However, the attainment gap between pupils with SEN and those without was smaller at 19 than 16.
  • In general, a higher percentage of girls than boys reached this threshold by the age of 19 for each provision for SEN, except for those with statements, where boys were slightly more likely to have achieved this expected level.
  • The widest attainment gap between boys at girls was at School Action Plus, where 43% of boys and 48.3% of girls achieved the expected level.

A levels:
  • The percentage of 19 year old pupils who achieved two A levels or equivalent was lower for pupils with SEN than those without.
  • The proportion of girls with achieving this threshold was higher than the proportion of boys with SEN.
  • The widest attainment gap between girls and boys was for pupils with no SEN (54.1% f boys compared with 61.8% of girls).

Main activities at 16, 18 and 19 for young people with SEN:

  • AT age 16, the most common main activity for young people was ful time education, regardless of their provision for SEN. Young people with SEN were less likely to be in full time education than those with no SEN (77% with no SEN; 57% at School Action; 54% at School Action Plus and 71% with statements).
  • At age 18, more young people at School Action Plus were not in education, employment and training than in any other setting. Full time education was the most common activity for those with no SE, at School Action and with statements (46% with no SEN were in full time education; compared to 31% at School Action, 27% at School Action Plus and 42%% with statements).
  • 13% of 18 year olds with no SEN were not in education, employment and training, compared to 24% at School Action, 33% at School Action Plus and 30% with statements.
  • At age 19, more young people with statements were not in education, employment and training than any other setting. The most common activity for those at School Action and School Action Plus was employment and the most common for those with no SEN was education. 12% of 19 year olds with no SEN were not in education, employment and training compared to 26% at School Action, 36% at School Action Plus and 39% with statements.
  • Pupils with SEN are 4 to 5 times less likely to be in higher education than those with no SEN.

Chapter 5 compares absence and exclusion data for pupils with special educational needs.   
                 Key findings were:

Absence from school in 2009/10:

  • Overall: Pupils with SEN were more likely to be absent from school than those without SEN. In 2009/10 pupils with no SEN missed the least amount of school through absence (5.4% of half days missed). Pupils at School Action Plus (9.2%) and with statements (9.1%) missed the most school through absence. Pupils with PMLD and BESD were the most likely to be absent.
  • Reasons for absence: Pupils with SEN were more likely to be absent due to arriving late, being excluded (no alternative provision) and other authorised and unauthorised absences. However, pupils with SEN were less likely to be absent due to illness (not medical or dental appointments) and family holidays, compared to those without SEN.
  • Persistent absentees: Pupils with SEN were more likely to be persistent absentees compared to those without SEN in 2009/10. In general girls were more likely to be persistent absentees than boys. Pupils with BESD and PMLD were most likely to be persistent absentees.
  • On average, persistent absentees with statements missed 38.4% of half day sessions in 2009/10, compared to 32.3% for those without SEN.

Exclusions from school in 2009/10:

  • Fixed period exclusions: pupils with SEN were much more likely to receive a fixed period exclusion than their peers. Pupils at School Action Plus were more likely to receive a fixed period exclusion (7 times more likely than those with no SEN).
  • Reasons for fixed period exclusions: Pupils with SEN were less likely than their peers to receive a fixed period exclusion due to drug and alcohol related reasons, physical assaults or the ‘any other reason’ category. However, pupils with SEN were more likely to receive a fixed period exclusion due to physical assaults on adults and persistent disruptive behaviour.
  • Permanent exclusions: Pupils with SEN were much more likely to be permanently excluded than their peers. Pupils at School Action Plus were most likely to receive a permanent exclusion (nearly 20 times more likely than those with no SEN).
  • Overall, boys were more likely to be excluded than girls. Pupils with BESD as a primary need were by far the most likely to receive either type of exclusion.