The Department for Education and the Council for Disabled Children have just published two sets of guidance to support school governing boards in understanding their role and responsibilities in relation to children and young people with special educational needs (SEN) and disabilities and empowering them to hold their schools to account.
SEN and disability duties: guidance for school governing boards
This guidance from the Department for Education provides a high level summary of the expectations of boards in relation to disability and SEN. It includes a checklist for governors/trustees and suggestions about how to use school performance data and build an evidence base to underpin its strategic oversight.
Equality Act 2010 and disabled pupils: A guide for governors and trustees
The Council for Disabled Children guide which was commissioned by the Department, focuses in more detail on the Equality Act duties to disabled pupils. It sets out the individually owed duties and the more strategic duties; and again it promotes a discussion about the evidence that governing boards need in order to understand how well the duties are being met in their school.
To illustrate how the duties work in practice, the guide uses examples from schools and from case law where claims of disability discrimination have gone to the Tribunal. At the back of the guide is a set of checkpoints that schools can use to inform a discussion between senior leaders and their governing body or board of trustees.
The new guide is a companion publication to the 2022 Disabled Children and the Equality Act 2010: What teachers need to know and what schools need to do which offers teachers more detailed practical guidance on meeting the duties to disabled pupils.