Education, violence and the SEND system in England and Wales
The Centre for Education and Youth are delighted to announce that we are working in partnership with The Youth Endowment Fund and researchers at The University of Oxford to investigate how children with SEND who are at risk of violence are currently supported – and what system change would facilitate better support for these especially vulnerable young people.
Background
There is a high prevalence of Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) among children in the youth justice system in England and Wales. The prevalence of Speech, Language and Communication Needs (SLCN) is especially high, with some estimating that 90% of children in the system have these needs (Welsh Parliament, 2023).
Some researchers argue that cognitive, language and emotional regulation impairments may make some children with SEND more vulnerable to participation in violence (Hughes, Williams & Chitsabesan, 2017). SEND can also affect a child’s journey through the justice system, increasing their likelihood of reoffending. It is therefore vital that children with SEND who are at risk of involvement in violence or already in the justice system receive high-quality support with their needs.
Current SEND support in England and Wales is grounded in the Education and Health Care Plan (EHCPs) and Individual Development Plan (IDP) systems respectively. However, despite these systems being in place, children with SEND are often being failed by both systems in ways that may increase the risk of them offending.
The Youth Endowment Fund (YEF) has therefore commissioned this research to understand the challenges in the SEND and youth justice systems and how they can be overcome to provide children with SEND who are at risk of, or already involved in, violence with better support.
Our approach
With the above background in mind, our research sets out to answer four research questions:
- Why are children who are cautioned or sentenced for a serious violence offence likely to receive an EHCP (or an Individual Development Plan in Wales) later than children who do not offend?
- What are the current challenges in the SEND system and the ALN system preventing support for children at risk of violence and those already involved in the justice system?
- How can we improve the identification of SEND and support given to children with SEND across England and Wales, specifically for those children at risk of serious violence, and those already involved in the justice system?
- Is there evidence of racial inequality in SEND and ALN identification and support across England and Wales? Is there evidence of other inequalities in access to SEND support, especially for groups that may be at higher risk of involvement in violence?
To answer these questions, our team is using three research methods:
- Rapid literature review – A rapid search, retrieval, sifting and synthesis of literature relevant to our research questions from across four databases. Our process produced 61 pieces of literature that are reviewed in this report
- Expert advisory group interviews – We recruited an advisory group of 11 individuals with researcher, practitioner or other professional expertise in SEND and violence as well as two young people with lived experience of these themes. All 11 participated in semi-structured interviews on their experience and attitudes related to our research questions
- Expert advisory group panels – We convened the full advisory group at research inception to shape our approach towards the research and after data collection and analysis to workshop and co-produce the report’s recommendations
Next steps
A full report with our findigns and recommendations will be published in March or April 2025. If you are interested in this research and would like to discuss it further, please get in touch with project lead Baz Ramaiah.