Helen Jones – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Helen Jones on 2016-01-19.
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent representations she has received on changing the way school performance data is published so that data on children in designation provision is disaggregated from data on children in mainstream schooling; and if she will make a statement.
Edward Timpson
We have received recent representations on this issue. Most recently we received a letter, on 8th January 2016, from Paul King, the headteacher of Green Lane special school, on behalf of designated provision and special schools in Warrington.
We do not disaggregate the results of children in designation provision from the results of children in mainstream schooling when publishing performance data as to do so would be at odds with our principle of inclusivity. Designated provision caters for pupils with a wide range of special educational needs (SEN) and ability; disaggregating their results could suggest that we have a different or lower expectation of them. In many schools, children split their time between mainstream and designated provision. Disaggregating results would create an inconsistent approach between schools with separate provision and those where SEN children are integrated. This could create an incentive to either move SEN children from mainstream to designated provision, or to reduce the amount of integration in schools. However, the performance tables do provide additional contextual information on the number and percentage of pupils on roll with SEN.
