Special Needs Education Policy Issues and Challenges
Deborah Roseveare
Israel Accession Seminar
22-23 November, 2011
Wide variations across countries on definitions and policy approaches
Two broad definitions:
1.“students with disabilities and learning difficulties” reflects: – characteristics of the child– medical/psychological/social nature of their difficulties
2.“students with special educational needs” emphasises: – nature of their learning needs – gap to bridge between normal educational provision and tailored
educational responses
What are special needs?
How many students are receiving special needs education? •Finland: more than 30% of children receive special education•England: nearly 20% of children classified as having special needs •Japan: special needs education covers less than 3% of children
•Within the US, share of students covered under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act in each state range from just over 10% to around 20%
What are special needs?
Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) becoming more significant
In United States – estimated prevalence of ASD among 8 year olds increased from
almost 0.7% in 2002 to 0.9% in 2006 – California: students with ASD 8.8% of special education enrolments
In Japan – 1/3 of children in special schools and 3/4 of children in special
classes are ASD– children with autism receiving special services in resource rooms
doubled between 2006 and 2009
In England – 8% of all students in state schools receiving special education
services under Special Action Plus or a Statement were ASD
What are special needs?
In practice, boundaries typically based on some combination:
What are special needs?
Criteria/processes
for identifying the student and
assessing his/her education needs
Specific funding arrangements for
children with special needs
Range of learning settings and
specific interventions that may be provided
Strong commitment in countries to providing education that: • enables all children to realise their full potential • avoids discrimination of students with disabilities and learning difficulties
But …
Designing policies to achieve these commitments and ensuring that these commitments are fully realised in practice has always been a complex task.
Special needs presents policy challenges
What tensions emerging?
special needs education requires additional resources ..... ......and education budgets are under pressure
Public spending on special needs: •Almost 17% of K-12 general fund expenditures in California•Around 13% of total spending on schools in Scotland
At this point: •Difficult to get comprehensive picture of outlays on special needs within countries•Impossible to develop reliable international statistical comparisons
Source: Mitchell, D., (2010), Education that Fits: Review of International Trends in the Education of Students with Special Educational Needs, www.educationcounts.govt.nz
Funding Models for Special Education
Discretionary funding
provide separate funds for special education purposes
Categorical funding
allocate additional funding to each student with an identified disability, with the amount based on the child’s degree and type of disability
Voucher-based funding
provide a direct public payment to parents to cover their child’s public or private school costs
Census-based allocate funding on the basis of the number of students with certain weighted characteristics, such as socio-economic status or the type and degree of disability
Actual costs funding
allocate funding based on the actual costs involved in providing special education services
What tensions emerging?
special needs provisions may be abused by some parents or schools to:gain a competitive edge over other pupils, or additional resources, or a shift in responsibilities
In the United Kingdom
•Recent Ofsted review said as many as half of all pupils identified for School Action would not be identified as having special needs if schools focussed on improving teaching and learning for all
In Australia
•Studies show paediatricians are being pressured to inflate diagnoses of emotional and behavioural so that children get support services
What tensions emerging?
resources allocated to children with special needs are not spent on other children, raising equity concerns, especially when budgets under pressure
If authorities obliged to provide certain level of services for children with special needs within fixed budgets then less for other children
“As principal when a child enrolled in our school with a need for a one-on-one adult assistant, I had to cancel the after-school tutoring that served about 60 low-income students who were behind grade level in reading and math”
“The school was devastated when a family with three children who needed 100 000 USD worth of services moved into town. Two classroom teachers were laid off to hire the required SPED teachers, this resulted in all 5th and 6th graders in the school being adversely impacted.”
What tensions emerging?
children with special needs may not get appropriate support approaches used may not be cost-effective successful outcomes are difficult to define and measure
Main contentions
1 What diagnostic tools, services and procedures are needed, who should provide them, who should bear the cost and how diagnostic practices align with legal requirements
2 What interventions are most appropriate, where they should be provided – within, or as a complement to a regular class, in a special class or in a special school – and how the decisions are taken
3 What criteria should be used to define successful intervention and how should educational outcomes be measured for students with special education needs
What tensions emerging?
lobby groups and advocacy shape policies and practices parents are sometimes frustrated with processes and outcomes
In some countries a general presumption that inclusion is always best – often driven by a rights-based rather than evidence-based approach
Evidence on benefits of inclusion for both special needs and other students is relatively limited and somewhat mixed
Parents of typically developing children have more positive attitudes towards inclusion than parents of children with disabilities, who often indicated that inclusion was not a good option for their child
But some parents express frustration and may become strong advocates for their children’s needs. In some countries, lawsuits have become a way to resolve disputes or obtain particular services
Improving policies for students with special education needs and to help them achieve better educational and social outcomes
What policy challenges are countries facing?
How to define special needs and special needs education?
Does a single definition work both for assisting each child and
for the system as a whole?
How to ensure all children with special needs are properly Identified and children are not
misdiagnosed because of either professional error or
to gain access to extra resources? How to ensure that children
with special needs get a cost-effective response that improves
learning outcomes and wellbeing and also provided as cost-effectively as possible?
Improving policies for students with special education needs and to help them achieve better educational and social outcomes
How to finance services?How to manage trade-offs between
financing additional support for special needs and funding available for other
children?How to reconcile parents’ wisheswith advice of professionals and
with available resources? How to build more evidence into policy making?
What data or indicators are most relevant to inform
policy decisions?
What policy challenges are countries facing?
Thank you!