Special Educational Needs: Hearing Impairment
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, in what way the £200 million investment in SEND training will be allocated to improve mainstream school staff expertise in supporting deaf and hearing-impaired pupils; and what proportion is ring-fenced for sensory impairment training specifically.
Answered by Department for Education
The proposed special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) reforms aim to improve inclusivity and expertise in mainstream schools, whilst also ensuring specialist settings are able to cater for those with more complex needs.
Our £200 million investment in SEND training represents an ambitious and comprehensive SEND and inclusion training offer for mainstream staff across early years settings, schools and colleges. The department has not ring-fenced a specific proportion of the £200 million investment for sensory impairment training.
Instead, the programme is being designed to support staff to identify needs early and put in place support to address a broad range of barriers to learning, including across the five proposed areas of development.
Additionally, the department is investing around £1.8 billion over three years to develop a new Experts at Hand offer, giving mainstream settings access to specialist support from key health and education professionals. This may include specialist teachers with expertise in sensory needs, who can provide advice, coaching and practical support to help mainstream staff identify and meet pupils’ needs earlier.
We are also developing specialist provision packages to set out the support children with the most complex needs require. This includes children with complex sensory impairments. The packages will outline the support these children should receive, including approaches to supporting children with hearing impairments. An independent expert panel has been appointed to oversee the development of these packages.
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