This online session took place during NDTi’s Inclusive Education Festival, 15-19 March 2021. During the week, there were eight sessions to showcase great stories where inclusion really works and what needs to happen to ensure a more inclusive society.
The Inclusive Education Festival was opened by Julie Pointer, NDTi’s Programme Lead (Children & Young People) and chaired by Linda Jordan, NDTi’s Senior Advisor (Children & Young People).
In this session, Julie speaks about the sharp rise in children and young people being educated outside of mainstream provision, for example, the data tells us that since 2010 and 2020 there has been a 51.6% increase in the number of children in special schools aged between 2 and 18 and this far outweighs the increase in the number of children, which has been less than 1% each year. Alongside this, Julie shares the data on the most recent Department for Education figures on exclusions and highlighted that almost half of exclusions (44.9%) were of children and young people with SEND.
The introduction is followed by presentations from:
- Richard Reiser, World of Inclusion. World of Inclusion is a consultancy that provides advice, resources, and training in the UK and around the world to develop equality for disabled people especially in education.
- Michelle Daley & Joe Whittaker, Alliance for Inclusive Education. ALLFIE’s vision is ‘a world where inclusive education is a right not a struggle’. ALLFIE is a Disabled people-led organisation, which seeks to build alliances with individuals and organisations who share that vision. They successfully work with Disabled learners and parents and carers across a very wide range of educational needs, backgrounds and experiences and gain strength from that diversity.
- Artemi Sakellariadis, Centre for Studies in Inclusive Education. CSIE is a national charity that works to promote equality and eliminate discrimination in education. Founded in 1982, the Centre has been at the cutting edge of educational change for more than 35 years.
- Christine Burke, Foundation for People with Learning Disabilities. The Foundation believes that people with learning disabilities should have the same rights and choices as everyone else in society. They look at how to change things that are not going well for people with learning disabilities and suggest ways to make them better. Christine has extensive experience of facilitating circles of friends and circles of support and in this session talks to Ellen Goodey about her circle.
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As this is a recording of a live, online session, the sound and picture quality may vary. To ensure quick sharing of the recordings, captions have not been added yet. If you require a transcript, please email rebecca.ryan@ndti.org.uk.