Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps he is taking to support teaching assistants to support children with special education needs and disabilities.

Schools are best placed to determine how to meet the needs of their pupils with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). This includes making decisions about the recruitment, training and deployment of teaching assistants. To support schools in doing this, the Education Endorsement Foundation published a guidance report ”Making best use of Teaching Assistants”.

The department has also funded a wide range of SEND-specific resources for school staff, including a guide to effective evidence-based practice in relation to SEND support. These resoures are available, free of charge, on the SEND gateway at: www.sendgateway.org.uk.

In addition, the Government has recently signed a SEND school workforce contract with Nasen and University College London, on behalf of the Whole School SEND consortium, worth £3.4 million over two years to support schools to deliver high-quality SEND provision. The contract will draw on the Maximising the Impact of Teaching Assistants project, informed by evidence spanning more than a decade, to optimise teaching assistants’ interactions with all children, including those with SEND.