Will nursery vouchers work for children with special needs?
Four- and three-year-olds with learning difficulties, sensory impairments or physical disabilities have very little choice of suitable provision, and the voucher scheme proposed by the Nursery Education and Grant-Maintained Schools Bill could well reduce this.
The 140-member Special Educational Consortium is concerned that the pilot schemes give insufficient time for a full assessment of the effects for children with special educational needs and that new voucher-redeeming establishments will not provide more education for children with special needs. Specific concerns are that:
- not all voucher-redeeming institutions will have to provide trained teachers or sufficient space for disabled children.
- the cost of educating a child with special needs is far more than 1,100 pounds(the vouchers' value), so children may be refused a nursery place as too expensive'.
- the increase in 'statementing' in order to claim extra funds from the LEA will leave LEAs less able to provide support services - or, eventually, top-up funds.
- the pressure to provide for all four-year-olds may mean that three-year-olds with special needs lose their education.
- the Code of Practice on the Identification and Assessment of Special Educational Needs would not apply to all voucher-redeeming institutions.
- the new system will bypass the creation of an integrated strategy across education, health and social services for disabled children.
The Special Educational Consortium was convened to safeguard the interests of children with special needs under the 1993 Education Act, and reconvened to address those interests under the Nursery Education and Grant-Maintained Schools Bill.
Press contact: Radhika Holmstrom, Mencap Press Office, tel. 0171 696 5603.