News Date: Thursday 31st January 2008
Tim supports Private Member's Bill on Special Educational Needs
This week East Worthing and Shoreham MP Tim Loughton is supporting a Private Members Bill which would force the Government to collect and publish information relating to educational outcomes for children with Special Educational Needs (SEN) and would consequently drive up the standard of education provision for these children.
The Bill, which has cross party support, would amend the Education Act 2006 and would enable parents to make informed choices about which school would best meet their child's specific needs.
The statistics gathered will also show politicians and policy makers where in the education system changes need to be made to ensure that children with SEN are not disadvantaged and that they are given the best opportunities possible to achieve success in the their academic studies.
Tim commented:
"Research shows that young people aged 16 to 24 with a SEN are over twice as likely as other students to have no qualifications. This Bill will start to reverse this appalling situation.
"At present, we don't have the resources to identify the scale of SEN within our schools or to monitor the effectiveness of the support that SEN pupils receive. More information is desperately needed to improve SEN training for teachers, develop more specialised support in classrooms and establish best practice. This Bill is a real chance to make a difference."
ENDS
Note to Editor:
To read the Parliamentary Motion which Tim has signed in support of the Bill please visit click here.
