Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) initiatives have been around for more than a century in the UK1. That doesn't mean that administering these programmes or adjusting them to modern-day learning needs has gotten easier. In fact, our country's special education challenges grow more profound; we need more funding, more support, and more inclusive learning environments. This article explores SEND in UK schools and the trials of maintaining quality programmes.
SEND Units in Mainstream Schools: What to Know
- SEND teacher workload is much heavier than for non-SEND teachers.
- The special educational needs funding gap sometimes limits programmes' reach and effectiveness.
- SEND reform has met with substantial pushback, delaying programme overhauls.
- Groups such as the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) help steer and fund SEND education.
SEND Education: The Early Days
Across the UK, local authorities and charitable organisations had been educating the blind since the late 1800s. But blindness isn't the only 'disability' that stood in the way of children being educated.
So, to better serve the needs of all learners, Parliament passed The Fisher Act, also called the 1918 Education Act.
It was a broad programme of education reform that addressed school leaving ages, compulsory education, and the elimination of school fees.
Tucked deep within the text were provisions for educating the other-abled.
By 1921, a mere three years later, more than 300 schools, scattered across the country, gave children with epilepsy, physical challenges, and hearing/vision impairments their chance to learn.
Common wisdom at the time held that 'disabled' children were better off out of the mainstream.
Residential schools housed and taught the lion's share of other-abled students in those days. However, a fair number of such pupils remained in their local schools. Those learners were the pioneers of SEND in UK schools. Or, put another way, they were the first SEND in schools test subjects.
The Education Act of 1944 further entrenched special education into mainstream learning. After its passing, local education authorities were required to welcome all learners with 'disabilities'. Still, segregation persisted; the learning environment was nowhere near as inclusive as it is today.
Looking over this SEND in schools historical summary, we must conclude how remarkable SEND gains have been. Those norm-shattering changes were happening during extremely destabilising events: world wars and economic austerity. One may argue that these changes were even more impactful than any UK curriculum reform initiative.
SEND Units in Mainstream Schools
Every teacher is a teacher of SEND.
From the SEND Code of Practice (2014)
Luckily, we've (mostly) grown away from mistreating the disadvantaged in schools. Granted, we still have a long way to go to make SEND in schools a learning utopia, but we've come a long way from those terrible days of segregation and abuse. Here's how things stand now, in general terms.
An Overview of SEND Education in the UK
The UK government established, and still maintains, standards for SEND education across the country3. The published guide we cite here is directed at parents who need/want to know what's available for their child, and what their responsibilities are.
Further documents detail SEND priorities at every stage of learning, from Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) through university learning4. This is more of a general guide that discusses SEND initiatives and opportunities in academic and clinical terms.
Despite heightened awareness of SEN needs, teachers and local governments struggle to provide.
A 2012 report5 from The National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER) highlighted challenges to meeting the growing number of students with special needs. Among other proposals, this group promoted the Educational Health and Care Plan (EHCP) initiative.
However, that report expressed the idea that funding and documentation may prove challenging for a nationwide system. We see similar challenges when formulating higher education reform policies.
SEND in Schools: Recent Developments
As of January 2025, more than 1.7 million students in England alone qualified (identified) as SEND. In real numbers7, that breaks down into:
Those staggering numbers put into perspective just how great the challenges are to meeting special educational needs8. To make things harder, everyone who has a stake in SEND learning has their own perspective on the issues:
Parents insist their children's future depends on educational support.
Schools demand more funding and support, and better initiatives to support outcomes.
Local governments scour their budgets for additional funds; they debate SEND reforms.
In fact, those reforms are the hot topic in schools and across the government9. Unfortunately, plans to roll out reforms don't seem to be going so well, as they've reportedly been shelved until next year10.
SEND Education Challenges
In all, preparing students for the future is a challenge, even without SEND to contend with. Who knows what the job market will be like in five years, and which skills will be most in demand?
Adaptability is the #1 assurance of future success and stability.
Adaptability depends on transferable skills such as critical thinking and problem-solving, as well as leadership and communication abilities. It is precisely those skills that SEND learners often find the most difficult to master.
Thus, the urgency to grapple with the most pressing issues impacting SEND units in mainstream schools.
School-Level Challenges
NFER reports uneven distribution of SEND pupils across schools6.
Some schools report a large SEND student body, while others only have a handful of SEN pupils. This uneven distribution makes it hard to regulate funding and resources at the ground level, where such are needed the most.
But that is, by no means, the greatest challenge schools face with their SEND programmes. Other pressing considerations include:
- increasing number of SEND students
- lack of support staff
- lack of qualified teachers
- lack of resources
- not enough funding
- delays in implementing ECHPs
- lack of space/physical infrastructure
- unsuitable learning environments
Funding Gaps
Schools' SEND funding comes from what's called their notional SEN budget. When a student presents with a SEN request, the school must pay up to £6,000 to ensure that students' needs are met.
Schools with more SEND students don't always have a greater notional budget.
The uneven funding mirrors the uneven distribution problem discussed above.
Impact on Teachers
The job is now more about over-testing and pressure to meet government targets.
Anonymous teacher
Teachers recognise the need to give their pupils every tool they need for academic and future success. However, ever-increasing mandates make 'pure teaching' impossible. Now, add in all the requirements to meet SEND teaching guidelines, such as extra training and additional reporting.
As it is, teacher resignations have reached crisis levels; the same number resigned in 2024. Stagnant wages and increased workloads are leading causes for this exodus, alongside pupil behaviour. SEND teaching magnifies all the negative aspects that plague non-SEND teachers.
SEND in UK Schools: Strategies and Opportunities
With all this - the testimonials, statistics, and challenges, it seems that keeping SEND in UK schools must be impossible. Yet, we have glimmers of hope.
Requests for SEND training have flooded in but only a fraction of those applications met with success. Obviously, building out, improving, and speeding up SEND training is one relatively accessible area of opportunity for improvement.
We might balance the number of training requests against the number of teacher resignations.
Seeing as wages and workloads are the main factors for leaving, might one argue that treating our teachers better could also result in better SEND outcomes? And, just for argument's sake, why not honour teachers' requests for training, so they can do more for their students?
You might consider these proposals low-hanging fruit, topics already present in 2026 education reform discussions. Besides, aren't the funding issues the bigger problem, by far?
We'd argue that treating teachers badly is the first thing to fix, but that's just us. In fact, everything this article touches on is urgent, from school infrastructure to funding. And that's without considering SEND matters.
Artificial intelligence (AI) could help solve uneven funding and distribution issues.
AI is arguably still in its infancy and, frankly, not good for very much. However, targeted AI applications have found a measure of success, and this is one area where the tech could truly shine. Naturally, it relies on correct data input, meaning whoever enters enrolment and finance data into the system must be very careful not to make mistakes.
As funding and documentation are key challenges to SEND learning, let the machine sort out how much funding to allocate to each school, based on each facility's current SEND and EHCP enrolments. As long as the parameters are set correctly (the £6,000 limit, for instance), AI could calculate these allotments in seconds.
Physical infrastructure is, by far, the greatest challenge facing SEND in UK schools. We're rightly proud of our legacy learning facilities, with their narrow hallways and tiny classrooms. Still, this is one area where public-private partnerships could triumph.
In fact, the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) published a report in 2020 outlining success strategies for SEND learning. This EEF SEND in mainstream schools report11 doesn't directly address infrastructure issues. However, it does touch on the learning environment and small-group structures. These suggest awareness of our current school buildings' limitations.
The best news of all is the call to get parents more involved in their SEN students' learning initiatives. That should have been the norm ever since special education became a thing. If, indeed, our attitude is 'Leave it to the professionals', we must loop the parents in on our SEND decisions. After all, who knows their children better?
SEND in UK Schools: Sources and Further Reading
- Historic England. “The Right to Education - the Growth of the “Special” School for Children with Disabilities | Historic England.” Historicengland.org.uk, 2019, historicengland.org.uk/research/inclusive-heritage/disability-history/1914-1945/the-right-to-education/. Accessed 9 Jan. 2026.
- Peterson, Lorraine. “What Are the Statutory Duties on Schools?” Mar. 2015, barrycarpentereducation.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/understanding-the-send-code-of-practice-petersen-2014.pdf. Accessed 9 Jan. 2026.
- GOV.UK. “Children with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND).” GOV.UK, 2012, www.gov.uk/children-with-special-educational-needs. Accessed 9 Jan. 2026.
- Department for Education. “SEND Code of Practice: 0 to 25 Years.” GOV.UK, 2015, www.gov.uk/government/publications/send-code-of-practice-0-to-25. Accessed 9 Jan. 2026.
- for, Foundation. “Changes to the Funding of Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) Provision: Views of Lead Members.” NFER, 29 June 2023, www.nfer.ac.uk/publications/changes-to-the-funding-of-special-educational-needs-and-disability-send-provision-views-of-lead-members/. Accessed 9 Jan. 2026.
- Booth, Samantha. “Schools at SEND “Breaking Point” as Admission Gap Grows.” Schools Week, 13 Nov. 2025, schoolsweek.co.uk/schools-at-breaking-point-over-send-pressure-as-admission-gap-grows/. Accessed 9 Jan. 2026.
- ---. “Special Educational Needs in England, Academic Year 2024/25.” Service.gov.uk, 2025, explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/special-educational-needs-in-england/2024-25. Accessed 9 Jan. 2026.
- Peerbakos, Anjum. “Website Filtered.” Sky.com, 2026, news.sky.com/story/ticking-time-bomb-warning-that-spiralling-spending-on-special-needs-provision-could-push-councils-to-breaking-point-13470153. Accessed 9 Jan. 2026.
- Department for Education. “Government Launches National Conversation on SEND.” GOV.UK, 2 Dec. 2025, www.gov.uk/government/news/government-launches-national-conversation-on-send. Accessed 9 Jan. 2026.
- Shearing, Hazel. “Send Reform in England Pushed back to 2026.” BBC, 22 Oct. 2025, www.bbc.com/news/articles/ce8zmjmxe04o. Accessed 9 Jan. 2026.
- Education Endowment Foundation. “Special Educational Needs in Mainstream Schools.” Education Endowment Foundation, 2025, educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk/education-evidence/guidance-reports/send. Accessed 9 Jan. 2026.
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