Government’s SEND plan is a “missed opportunity” for assistive tech

The British Dyslexia Association (BDA) feels that the UK Government’s recently published plan for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) or in alternative provision (AP) deserves a bigger commitment to assistive technology training opportunities.

Published on 2 March 2023, the government’s plan, ‘Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) and Alternative Provision (AP) Improvement Plan’, is designed to give children and young people with SEND or in AP across England access to high-quality, early support wherever they live.

Some of the key points outlined in the SEND plan are investing in training for thousands of workers so children can get the help they need earlier; building 33 new special free schools; sharing new national SEND and AP standards, which will give families confidence in what support they should receive and who will provide and pay for it; and making sure the process for assessing children and young people’s needs through EHC plans is digital-first, quicker and simpler wherever possible.

The plan also recognises the importance of assistive technology for children and young people with SEND or in AP by committing to rolling out assistive technology training to school staff in 150 schools.

It reads: “We are also expanding training to increase school staff confidence in using assistive technology (AT). Following the promising results of our initial pilot, we are extending assistive technology training to a further 150 maintained schools.

“The extension, known as the ‘AT Test and Learn’ programme, will teach mainstream school staff how to use AT effectively, with a focus on the technology schools already have available or can easily obtain, such as text-to-speech tools.

“It will build on last year’s pilot by training more schools over a longer period and with more impact data to gain a fuller picture of how AT training can support wider SEND continuing professional development. The AT Test and Learn course is free to attend, and the next cohort will run from March to July 2023.”

However, while BDA welcomes the additional assistive technology training, it believes that this does not go far enough.

Responding to the government’s SEND plan with regards to the assistive technology training pilot being rolled out at a further 150 schools, BDA commented: “The Plan acknowledges the importance of Assistive Technology but extends training to just 150 maintained schools.

“This is another missed opportunity.

“Providing training to schools about assistive technology is a cost-effective means of providing support which will give students skills and confidence they can use throughout their education and working lives. This sort of programme should be rolled out to all schools.”