Education of secondary pupils with special needs too dependent on teaching assistants

School staff are not sufficiently trained to meet the needs of pupils with learning difficulties, with special needs education heavily reliant on under-skilled teaching assistants, finds a UCL Institute of Education (IOE) study. The new research shows that despite reforms designed to ensure pupils with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) receive more high quality teaching, as they approach their GCSEs, a significant proportion of teaching for those with Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCPs) is done by teaching assistants (TAs). Additionally, as numbers of TAs are increasingly cut, the findings raise doubts over the sustainability of inclusive education for pupils with SEND. Rob Webster (IOE), who co-authored the study with Professor Peter Blatchford (IOE), said: 'Our study's findings follow Department for Education (DfE) data revealing the number of TAs working in secondary schools deceased by 8% between 2013 and 2016. Currently, TAs who do most of the work with children with SEND are holding the system together. It is unclear how schools will respond to meeting the needs of pupils with special needs if TA numbers decrease further, as many expect.' 'We also found that teachers and TAs are often not adequately trained in teaching pupils with SEND. Many staff were unsure how to best deal with the challenges and sometimes-complex difficulties posed by pupils with EHCPs.' The SENSE (Special Educational Needs in Secondary Education) study, funded by the Nuffield Foundation, is the first research project to closely examine the experience of pupils with EHCPs in secondary settings.