Warnock (1978)

Notes on the text
Preliminary pages Membership, Contents, Introduction
Chapter 1 General approach
Chapter 2 Historical background
Chapter 3 Scope of special education
Chapter 4 Discovery, assessment and recording
Chapter 5 Children under five
Chapter 6 Schoolchildren with special needs: introduction
Chapter 7 Special education in ordinary schools
Chapter 8 Special education in special schools
Chapter 9 Parents as partners
Chapter 10 Transition from school to adult life
Chapter 11 Some curricular considerations
Chapter 12 Teacher education and training
Chapter 13 Advice and support in special education
Chapter 14 Other education service staff
Chapter 15 Health service and social services
Chapter 16 Relations between professionals, confidentiality and coordination of services
Chapter 17 Voluntary organisations
Chapter 18 Research and development
Chapter 19 Priorities and resources
Summary of recommendations

Appendices

Appendix 1 List of contributors
Appendix 2 Categories of handicapped pupils
Appendix 3 Possible grid as basis for statistical returns
Appendix 4 Organisation of health service
Appendix 5 Research project on services for parents of under 5s
Appendix 6 Research project on pre-school education
Appendix 7 Research project on employment experiences of handicapped school leavers
Appendix 8 Survey of teachers' views on special education

Index

Report of the Committee of Enquiry into the education of handicapped children and young people

London: Her Majesty's Stationery Office 1978
© Crown copyright material is reproduced with the permission of the Controller of HMSO and the Queen's Printer for Scotland.

ISBN 0 10 172120 X

Chapter 8: Special education in special schools
[pages 121 - 149]

INTRODUCTION

8.1 We are in no doubt whatever that special schools will continue to feature prominently in the range of provision for children with special educational needs. This view was supported by the weight of the evidence submitted to us, which was in favour of a continuing place for special schools, alongside a move in the direction of educating a greater proportion of handicapped children, including more severely handicapped children, in ordinary schools. The Inner London Education Authority in its evidence to us affirmed that 'in many respects, the special school represents a highly developed technique of positive discrimination'. We believe that such discrimination will always be required to give some children with special educational needs the benefit of special facilities, teaching methods or expertise (or a combination of these) which cannot reasonably be provided in ordinary schools. In this chapter we consider the organisation of special schools and of other forms of special educational provision located outside the ordinary school. We do not follow precisely the classification of such provision given in Chapter 6 but we do cover the various forms listed there.

I SCALE OF PROVISION

8.2 The last twenty-five years have seen a very considerable expansion of the provision made for handicapped children outside ordinary schools. The number of special schools (including hospital schools) in England and Wales increased from 601 in 1950 to 1,653 in 1977 and the number of handicapped children attending them full-time from 47,119 to 135,261. In Scotland the number of special schools increased from 84 in 1950 to 229 in 1976, the number of pupils attending them from about 10,000 to 12,322. (1)

8.3 The scale of special educational provision outside ordinary schools that will be required in future, however, is likely to be considerably reduced, for a number of reasons. First, the size of the school population itself will be declining and may be accompanied by a reduction in the number of pupils with severe disabilities. The latest school population projections for England and Wales show a decline in pupil numbers beginning in the late 1970s and continuing into the 1980s, with the prospect that by 1988 or 1989 the school population may have fallen from its present level of 9 million by about 1½ or 2 million. Thereafter the projections envisage the beginnings of an eventual upswing in total pupil numbers, the upturn in primary schools having begun in 1986. In Scotland the school population is also expected to continue to decline until about 1988-89, when it will be about 225,000 below the present level of just over one million, and then begin to grow. (2) The projections are, of course, based on a number of different and, in many respects, uncertain assumptions. Nevertheless, the decline in the school population is already occurring in many areas and, while its duration and magnitude over the country as a whole cannot yet be closely forecast, it will certainly continue for ten years or more.

8.4 The decline in the school population could produce conditions which might themselves tend to reduce the demand for places in separate special schools. In particular, improvement in staff-pupil ratios and reduction in overcrowding in schools should make it easier to prevent the educational difficulties of individual children from becoming more severe. Moreover, as spare accommodation becomes available, there should be opportunities to set up more supporting bases for children with special needs in ordinary schools.

8.5 Secondly, improvements in preventive health services will result in a reduction in the number of children who are likely to require special educational provision outside ordinary schools. These improvements include the greater use and effectiveness of genetic counselling; advances in diagnostic methods in the early stages of pregnancy with opportunities, where the foetus is found to be defective, for the termination of pregnancy; immunisation against rubella; and continuing advances in obstetrics and peri and post-natal care.

8.6 Thirdly, the implementation in England and Wales of Section 10 of the Education Act 1976, which embodies the principle that, wherever possible, handicapped children should be educated in ordinary schools, will clearly work towards a reduced need for places in special schools. But whilst it may lead to a reduction in their use, Section 10 by no means signifies the end of special schools. The point has been very clearly stated by the Secretary of State for Education and Science in these words: 'The new law ... does not herald the precipitate dismantling of the very valuable work of special schools, particularly those for children with severe disabilities ... a minority of handicapped children will always need the help that only a special school can give, and it will be important to ensure that integration does not force them into isolation'. (3)

II THE ROLE OF SPECIAL SCHOOLS

8.7 There are three types of school in England and Wales for handicapped children: maintained special schools run by local education authorities; non-maintained special schools provided by voluntary bodies; and independent schools catering wholly or mainly for handicapped pupils. The first two types are subject to the Handicapped Pupils and Special Schools Regulations 1959 made under Section 33 of the 1944 Education Act. In Scotland the corresponding types of school are those run by education authorities; grant-aided residential special schools provided by voluntary bodies; and independent schools catering wholly or mainly for handicapped pupils. Wherever we refer to special schools, we include both maintained and non-maintained, or in Scotland education authority and grant-aided, schools; independent schools catering wholly or mainly for handicapped pupils are the subject of a separate section later in this chapter.

8.8 We identified in Chapter 6 three groups of children for whom provision in special schools is particularly likely to be needed in future. These are:

(i) children with severe or complex physical, sensory or intellectual disabilities who require special facilities, teaching methods or expertise that it would be impracticable to provide in ordinary schools;

(ii) children with severe emotional or behavioural disorders who have very great difficulty in forming relationships with others or whose behaviour is so extreme or unpredictable that it causes severe disruption in an ordinary school or inhibits the educational progress of other children; and

(iii) children with less severe disabilities, often in combination, who despite special help do not perform well in an ordinary school and are more likely to thrive in the more intimate communal and educational setting of a special school.

8.9 Special schools will thus have a continuing and important function in offering separate special educational provision for certain groups of children with special needs. Further, we recommend that their facilities and expertise should be more widely available to provide intensive specialised help on a short-term basis and sometimes at short notice.

8.10 The future development of special schools as institutions catering mainly for children with more severe or complex disabilities will have important implications for the teachers in them. In particular, it will mean that their work will become more specialised and that the nature of both the demands on them and the personal rewards will change. It will be more than ever necessary to guard against the schools' becoming isolated from the mainstream of educational developments. We referred in Chapter 6 to the widespread conviction among those who submitted evidence to us that there should be much closer cooperation between ordinary and special schools including, wherever possible, the sharing of resources by pupils in both types of school, and we recommend that firm links should be established between special and ordinary schools in the same vicinity. Wherever possible we believe that there should be some sharing of educational programmes between special and ordinary schools. Where this is not possible, there should at least be opportunities for the pupils to share social experience on as regular a basis as possible.

8.11 Arrangements for links between special and ordinary schools require very careful planning. If children attending special schools are to be enabled to receive part of their education in an ordinary school and if children with special needs in ordinary schools are to attend special schools part-time there must clearly be joint planning of the curriculum and timetables, as well as careful attention to the administrative and organisational aspects, including the dovetailing of supporting services and the provision of transport. More than this, there must be a common basis of commitment and interest on the part of all the staff concerned if the arrangements, however faultless in form, are in practice to succeed. Staff in either school will need to collaborate at all stages of the preparation of schemes, to consult regularly on their execution and to join in periodical appraisal of the outcome for individual pupils,so that any necessary adjustments can be made. Where these conditions are met we are convinced that very considerable benefits to both pupils with special needs and other pupils, as well as to teachers, can result from shared arrangements of this kind. For example, we know of one school for the partially sighted which is situated on the campus of a comprehensive school where pupils from the special school attend lessons in science, French, German, home economics and technical subjects in the ordinary school and some pupils from the comprehensive school with learning difficulties join pupils in the special school who have similar difficulties for tuition from a teacher with a qualification in special education. The sharing of social experience must also be positively constructed if the interest of all the pupils is to be sustained and there is to be genuine interaction between them. The mere bringing together of children may not of itself produce real benefit, nor will invitations to school occasions. More natural interaction in social activities should be sought. The occasions may need to be selected and organised and members of the staff of the participating schools should be unobtrusively available to exert their influence, as may be needed, to ensure that individual children benefit. Links of both an educational and social kind are obviously easier to establish when special and ordinary schools are close together. We therefore suggest that when any new special schools are built in future, consideration should be given to constructing them in close proximity to ordinary schools so as to facilitate the development of positive collaboration between the two types of school.

8.12 We also think that the staff in ordinary and special schools have much to gain from closer relationships. The expertise in special schools is likely to be of considerable benefit to teachers in ordinary schools in a range of areas, particularly the following: the teaching of children with sensory disabilities; the care of physically handicapped children and appreciation of the level of achievement which can be expected of them; and curriculum planning for children with special educational needs. In addition, teachers in schools for the maladjusted should be able to offer expertise on the management of children with emotional and behavioural problems and the development of personal relations with them. Teachers in ordinary schools will need this kind of experienced help if they are to cater effectively for increased numbers of children with disabilities or significant difficulties. Moreover, by collaborating with staff in ordinary schools teachers in special schools will avoid the professional isolation which many of them feel at present and which would otherwise tend to increase if, as we envisage, special schools become more specialised institutions than they now are. We would expect the head teachers of ordinary and special schools in the same area, as well as members of the special education advisory and support service proposed in Chapter 13, to take the lead in establishing and encouraging contact between staff in the two types of school.

8.13 While all special schools should provide support for teachers in ordinary schools, we envisage that some of them will be formally established as resource centres, that is centres of specialist expertise and of research in special education, in which teachers in the area would be closely involved. Such centres would be used for curriculum development and in-service education for teachers, and also as places to which parents and other professionals could refer for advice on special education and where parents could meet each other. The preparation, storage and loan of specialised equipment and materials for use elsewhere, and the development of audio-visual materials for training would support the main functions outlined. In some instances the centres might also provide bases for advisory teachers working with pupils in ordinary schools. The number of such centres which it would be practicable to have in any one area would depend on the nature and size of the area and the type of special schools in that area. In a large conurbation it might be feasible to think in terms of a number of such centres: for example, one for the deaf and partially hearing; another for the physically handicapped; another for children with severe learning difficulties; and another for children with emotional or behavioural difficulties. We therefore recommend that within each local authority area some special schools should be designated and developed as resource centres.

8.14 We see a need for another kind of resource centre, also based in a special school, which would be developed in collaboration between local education authorities and would specialise in relatively rare or particularly complex disabilities, such as severe visual, hearing or physical disabilities, severe speech or language disorders, severe epilepsy and severe conduct disorders. Centres of this kind would provide facilities for specialist assessment, short and long-term, day and residential education, and specialist advice and support to teachers and pupils in other schools as well as to other professionals. They would also be places where parents of children with the same type of disability could meet together. (Some special schools already carry out these functions.) We therefore recommend that a number of special schools should be designated as specialist centres for relatively rare or particularly complex disabilities, and should be developed as such by groups of local education authorities. The number of such centres would depend on the incidence of the disabilities concerned in the various parts of the country. We consider the planning of such centres further in paragraph 8.31.

Residential special schools

8.15 Our proposals for the extension of the functions of special schools, including the provision of intensive, specialised short-term help, and the development of some schools as resource centres apply to residential as well as non-residential schools. Further, the proposed specialist centres for relatively rare or particularly complex disabilities would be based in residential special schools, or schools with some residential facilities.

8.16 Education in residential special schools is likely to continue to be needed in the following circumstances which call for a coordinated approach to a child's learning and living:

(i) where a child with severe or complex disabilities requires a combination of medical treatment, therapy, education and care which it would be beyond the combined resources of a day special school and his family to provide, but which does not call for his admission to hospital;

(ii) where learning difficulties or other barriers to educational progress are so severe that the whole life of the child needs to be under consistent and continuous educational influence, for example where a child is suffering from severe sensory loss, extensive neurological damage or malfunction, severe emotional or behavioural disorder or severe difficulties of communication;

(iii) where a child has a severe disability and his parents cannot provide at home the sustained attention that he needs, or could not do so without unacceptable consequences for family life and the well-being of other children in the family;

(iv) where poor social conditions or disturbed family relationships either contribute to or exacerbate the child's educational difficulty.

8.17 In addition to residential special schools of the traditional type, we see a need for other, more flexible types of boarding school which would cater for children with varying needs for residential accommodation and education on or off the premises. We therefore recommend that a range of different types of boarding special school should be available. The schools in this range would make provision for the following groups of children:

(a) those who need residential accommodation and full-time education under the same roof;

(b) those who may be able to attend a local day school (either ordinary or special) but require the support and special expertise of a boarding school of the hostel type for some very important aspects of their education; and

(c) those who can live at home but who need special education which can most suitably be provided by attendance as day pupils at a boarding school. Examples are blind children with a boarding school for the blind near their homes; and children who have been boarders at a local boarding school and who no longer need to live away from home, but for whom attendance at the school as day pupils provides a transitional stage before they go to a local day school.

8.18 We consider that boarding special schools should extend their functions in the future in a number of ways. First, they should offer facilities for residential assessment. Secondly, they should provide short-stay facilities for children with severe disabilities whose parents and families need a respite from looking after them. (We return to the subject of relief for parents in the following chapter.) Thirdly, they should afford opportunities for young people with disabilities to widen their horizons and increase their independence by a period of residential experience. Fourthly, they should offer intensive short courses of specialist teaching for pupils in ordinary day schools who need additional help to maintain their progress. Fifthly, they should provide recreational and leisure activities for children and young people with disabilities or significant difficulties, particularly those in ordinary schools, for whom opportunities to follow such pursuits are often limited. We therefore recommend that boarding special schools should be prepared to accept children and young people with disabilities or significant difficulties for short periods wherever this meets a need. We recognise that this may be more practicable during school holidays than during term time; it may, however, become feasible throughout the year as spare accommodation becomes available in special schools.

8.19 There is a small number of children who need 52-week care because, for example, they have no families to return to, or because their families are unable to cope for any part of the year. Where what is required is a substitute home with 52-week care, but without any special educational provision, responsibility for providing this should rest with the local authority in its social services, not its educational, capacity. Where special educational provision as well as a substitute home is required, a decision on the child's placement should be made jointly by the social services and education departments, in the light of the assessment of the child's needs.

8.20 We are aware of the importance to all children attending residential special schools of knowing that there is a home to which they belong and to which they can return during school holidays. This is particularly so in the case of children who need 52-week care. We would therefore urge local authority social services departments to make every effort to ensure that a stable home is provided for such children which, so far as is possible, is the same for every holiday. This is most likely to be possible when the child is placed with foster parents. We recognise that there may be some children for whom this will be impossible, particularly those with very severe disabilities, and that, until facilities in the community are developed further, a minority will have to return to hospital during the holidays. Where this is necessary, care should be taken to ensure that adequate staff are available and that stimulating activities are arranged for them. Children for whom, for whatever reason, a stable home cannot be arranged during the holidays might well benefit from continued attendance at school and we see a need, therefore, for the premises of some special schools to remain open during the school holidays. We consider the practical implications further in the next chapter.

Non-maintained special schools

8.21 Non-maintained special schools are non profit-making concerns and they have to meet a number of other conditions for approval as special schools, laid down in the Handicapped Pupils and Special Schools Regulations 1959, as amended; in return they may receive grants from central funds towards capital projects. In Scotland the grant-aided residential special schools also receive grants towards expenditure on maintenance. The schools are thus part of the national system of special educational provision in a way that independent schools, which we consider in a later section of this chapter, are not.

8.22 There were 112 non-maintained special schools in England and Wales in 1977, of which 102 were residential, and 13 grant-aided residential special schools in Scotland in 1976. Although the number of handicapped pupils attending non-maintained special schools full-time in England and Wales in 1977 represented only 6 per cent of all full-time pupils in special schools, it included 82 per cent of all blind children and 45 per cent of all deaf children in special schools for the blind and deaf respectively. The comparable figures for Scotland in 1976 were 4 per cent, 76 per cent and 28 per cent respectively. Further, non-maintained special schools in England and Wales catered for 32 per cent of all handicapped pupils attending residential special schools in 1977 and grant-aided residential special schools in Scotland catered for the same proportion (32 per cent) in 1976. More specifically, they made provision for 82 per cent of the blind (94 per cent in Scotland), 72 per cent of the deaf (49 per cent in Scotland), 49 per cent of the physically handicapped (80 per cent in Scotland) and 23 per cent of the maladjusted (38 per cent in Scotland) who were in residential special schools. (4)

8.23 In the past the voluntary bodies providing non-maintained special schools and, in Scotland, grant-aided residential special schools have done extremely valuable pioneering work for a wide variety of disabilities, Some of them continue to innovate and experiment, for instance in providing for combinations of disabilities or in trying out new methods of treatment for individual disabilities. Without wishing in any way to underrate the pioneering work which has been carried out in the maintained sector, we recognise that it may have been easier in the past for non-maintained special schools to try out new ideas than it has been for special schools maintained by local education authorities.

8.24 Although some non-maintained special schools receive financial support from charities or trusts, the running costs of the majority are met almost entirely out of fees paid by local education authorities for pupils placed at the schools. Yet, with a few exceptions in some parts of the country, which we commend, there is little contact between non-maintained special schools and either the authorities which send pupils to them or the authorities in whose areas they are situated. Local education authority officers, including advisers in special education, have no right of access to the schools and can visit only by invitation. Further, authorities are not always represented on the governing bodies of schools in their area. As a result, it is often difficult for authorities to monitor the standards of provision in the schools, while for their part some of the schools have difficulty in keeping in touch with the mainstream of educational developments. Although it is true that Her Majesty's Inspectors visit the schools, their visits are less frequent than we would wish, because of other demands on their time.

8.25 We believe that in future non-maintained special schools should be subject to much closer oversight by local education authorities and, so far as possible, by Her Majesty's Inspectorate. We therefore recommend that the standards of educational provision in non-maintained special schools should be closely monitored both by Her Majesty's Inspectorate and increasingly by the proposed special education advisory and support service, particularly in the light of the effects of the declining school population and of Section 10 of the Education Act 1976, which may affect the viability of many of the schools. In order to facilitate this, we further recommend that there should be much closer links, to the benefit of both sides, between non-maintained special schools and local education authorities. Visits to the schools by members of our proposed special education advisory and support service and opportunities for their teachers to attend in-service training courses run by the authorities will help to bring the schools into the mainstream of educational developments. On their side, the authorities have much to gain from a closer knowledge of, and interest in, non-maintained schools, both those at which they already take up places and those at which they might wish to do so.

8.26 If members of the special education advisory and support service are to visit non-maintained schools, they will need to be assured of access to them. We suggest that local education authorities might consider making the placement of a child in a non-maintained special school conditional upon the school's granting access to their officers, and to those of the authority in whose area the school is situated. Alternatively this requirement might be included in the statutory regulations governing the approval of special schools. We hope, however, that our recommendation in Chapter 4 that a child's progress should be regularly reviewed and, where necessary, his special needs reassessed by professionals with appropriate expertise will, if implemented, itself lead to the development of closer links between the schools and local education authorities. As a further way of developing such links, we recommend that every non-maintained special school should have its own governing body and that this should include at least one representative of the local education authority in whose area it is situated, or of one of the authorities making particular use of it.

8.27 In certain parts of the country there is a concentration of non-maintained special schools catering for children with the same kinds of disability; for example schools for children with epilepsy are concentrated in the north west and the south east. Some schools for children with particular disabilities may wish to explore with local education authorities, either directly or through the regional machinery considered in Chapter 16, the possibility of making provision for children with kinds of disability different from those of the children for whom they currently cater. Indeed, we understand that a few are already doing so. We recognise that the extent to which a change of this kind will be possible may depend on the nature of the schools' trust deeds. It is important that the non-maintained special schools and the voluntary organisations which provide them should be closely involved in the planning by local education authorities of future arrangements for special educational provision, which we consider further in the following section.

III ORGANISATION OF SPECIAL SCHOOLS

Planning by local education authorities

8.28 We urged in the last chapter that, in the light of Section 10 of the Education Act 1976, each local education authority should draw up a long-term plan for special educational provision in its area. This would provide a framework within which arrangements for individual schools, special as well as ordinary, would take their place. The preparation of such a plan would give local education authorities the opportunity of reappraising the aims of the special schools which they maintain or use, many of which are at present uncertain about the direction of their future development.

8.29 In their forward planning of special educational provision, local education authorities will need to take into account the fact that handicapping conditions often overlap, with the result that special schools, though mostly designed for children with the same main disability, may find themselves catering in practice for a very wide range of disabilities. A few of those who presented evidence to us argued in favour of a broadening of the range of disabilities for which individual schools are designed. In particular, the Association of Municipal Authorities commended the development of larger special schools catering for a greater number of handicapping conditions. They argued that such large 'multi-handicap' schools would helpfully encourage the concentration of scarce specialist staff and resources and offer improved career prospects for staff and a wider range of opportunities for pupils. We recognise that there are administrative arguments in favour of the development of such schools but we hold strongly that educational considerations must be overriding. In our view the most important of these is that each school should operate as a functional unity. It follows that the special educational needs of its pupils must be broadly similar. Moreover, in line with the views advanced earlier in this chapter, such schools should have close links with ordinary schools in their area and any new ones should be built in geographically close proximity to ordinary schools, in order to facilitate close collaboration between them.

8.30 The planning of special educational provision requires close consultation between local education authorities (and between them and health authorities and social services departments), particularly where it is sensible to make shared provision. We strongly support the principle of regional self-sufficiency which the Department of Education and Science invited local education authorities to consider at their regional conferences held in 1975. It was recognised that even wider arrangements might be needed to provide adequately for children with certain disabilities of infrequent incidence, and we would also point to the desirability of effective cooperation across the regional boundaries. Since 1975 the regional conferences have made useful progress in reviewing special educational provision within their regions. We believe that the conferences need to be strengthened and their membership widened so that they coordinate provision yet more effectively, and we suggest in Chapter 16 how this might be achieved.

8.31 We have recommended that groups of local education authorities should develop a number of specialist centres for relatively rare or particularly complex disabilities based in special schools. If no suitable special school for the purpose exists in a particular part of the country, steps should be taken by the local education authorities in the region to establish one jointly and develop it, in collaboration where appropriate with voluntary organisations, as a specialist centre. If a suitable school exists but is not suitably located to serve the region, consideration should be given to the possibility of moving it to a more convenient location. In the event of a new capital programme being required, joint funding arrangements will need to be worked out between authorities. Where several schools are candidates for selection, local education authorities in the region will have to make a choice. In doing so they should consider how the selection of a particular school or schools would affect the regional pattern of special school provision and, in consultation with the voluntary bodies concerned, how any resulting imbalance could be corrected, for example by certain schools agreeing to cater for a different type of special educational need.

Size

8.32 One of the most important benefits that many special schools can offer their pupils is their smaller size, which makes it possible for them to provide more individual attention and better opportunities for children to relate to each other and to members of staff. With the future contraction which seems probable in special educational provision in separate schools, however, some special schools may decrease in size to a point where authorities will have to consider closing them or amalgamating them with other special schools. In all such cases, however, authorities will need to weigh the advantages and disadvantages of either of these courses of action against those of keeping them open as separate units. A variety of factors will apply, for example the cost of transport to and from the children's homes under the different options. But above all the needs of the children must be considered. Thus, if amalgamation of a particular special school with another school is likely to result in its pupils receiving less individual attention and being subjected to a variety of new pressures, the authority should be prepared to provide the necessary staff and resources to enable that school to continue as a separate unit. Similar considerations will apply to the future use of non-maintained special schools. If such a school is significantly declining in size, the voluntary organisation concerned will need to examine all the factors in discussion with the constituent local education authorities of the regional conference for special education and with any authorities outside the region who take up places. Every case must be looked at separately and for this reason we do not propose to offer advice on the minimum size of a special school or class, which we believe could be misleading.

Age range

8.33 The size of schools is affected by their age range. All-age special schools, though doubtless first established in order to concentrate resources, are able to offer their pupils certain advantages. They may provide a more flexible use of facilities and resources, including staff, than is possible in separate primary and secondary schools. More importantly, they are able to provide continuity of education for their pupils. On the other hand, there is a tendency to look on all-age schools as extended primary schools, with the result that the opportunities available to older pupils may be unduly limited. This effect is compounded by the relatively small numbers of senior pupils in all-age schools and the attendant difficulties of arranging subject options. On balance, we consider that the disadvantages of all-age schools outweigh their advantages and we recommend that, wherever possible, separate special schools should be provided for senior and junior pupils. Since the peak age for the admission of children to special schools (including those currently ascertained as ESN(M)) is 8-9, it may be sensible for the break to come later than 10-11 (the usual point of transition to secondary school in England and Wales) - perhaps at 12 or 13. For children with emotional or behavioural disorders there are other advantages in a break at a later age: the problems of adolescents are often different in kind from those of younger children. Some flexibility however should be allowed in the age of transfer to suit the varying needs of individual children. We would draw particular attention to the needs of autistic children, whose language development, cognitive ability and emotional maturity may vary widely. Since the effects of change on these children can be particularly adverse, the age of transfer must be as flexible as possible and the transfer itself very carefully organised.

8.34 We recognise that geographical or other considerations may sometimes preclude the establishment of efficient separate primary and secondary schools. Where the only practicable form of provision is an all-age school - for example, to cater for one of the less common disabilities in an urban area or for several disabilities in a rural area - we recommend that the school should be organised in separate departments, with a clear difference in the approach to children of secondary school age. In such a case each department should have at least some teachers wholly committed to it.

School hours and school terms

8.35 We regard it as most unsatisfactory that the school day in many special schools, particularly those for children currently ascertained as physically handicapped, maladjusted or ESN(S), is so short. It often lasts only from 9.30am to 3.00pm, and preparations for going home may start before 3 o'clock. This can seriously restrict opportunities, particularly for physically handicapped children whose education has, in any case, to be interrupted for treatment. There is a number of factors which need to be taken into account in considering what should be the length of the school day. For example, an extended day could mean a very long period away from home for some children at special schools in rural areas. In order to avoid this, it is important that, as a general rule, children should not have to spend more than three quarters of an hour travelling to or from school. Moreover, the special needs of children who, for example, tire easily, must be borne in mind. We recommend that, so far as is possible, the length of the school day in special schools should be the same as that in ordinary schools, with scope for variation according to the age and needs of the pupils.

8.36 In practice the possibility of extending the length of the school day often depends upon the arrangements for transport. The difficulty which authorities have in attracting tenders for transport contracts from private hire firms and the practical necessity for vehicles to make a number of stops for individual children mean that arrangements for transport tend to be very inflexible. We consider that there is more scope in urban areas for the use of public transport, particularly by older pupils; some schools are over-protective about this. In rural areas, however, special arrangements will invariably need to be made. We therefore suggest that local authorities should explore different ways of making arrangements for transport which would enable the school day in special schools to be lengthened. One local education authority in its evidence to us suggested that 'ultimately the answer may be for local authorities to run their own transport fleets for the handicapped or resort increasingly to escorts taking two or three children to school, or providing individual schools with mini-buses and ambulances with appropriate driver support to enable the schools to transport their most severely handicapped pupils'. Some authorities already have their own fleet of buses and certainly this allows special schools more scope to extend the school day. Moreover, it can enable children to remain after school for youth club and other activities and still be taken home - something which is often very difficult at present. We are aware that the widespread maintenance by local authorities of their own fleet of buses would be expensive, particularly in the early stages, but in the long term it could prove cheaper than the various alternatives.

8.37 School holidays, particularly the long summer holiday, are often difficult times for parents of children with disabilities. A number of those who submitted evidence to us argued in favour of a four-term year on the grounds that it would both maintain the continuity of the children's education and reduce the strain on families. We concur with the general feeling, however, that special schools should keep in step with ordinary schools in the organisation of the school year. We consider that instead arrangements should be made for the premises of some special schools to stay open for at least part of the school holidays and we discuss this further in the next chapter.

Weekend arrangements in residential special schools

8.38 Residential schools may be divided into three groups so far as their policy on weekend arrangements is concerned:

(i) those where boarding education implies residence for the full term apart from half-term breaks, but where weekends at home may be allowed at the parents' request;

(ii) those where regular visits home are encouraged, either weekly or every fortnight or so, but where the school aims to provide a more personal and intimate weekend regime for those pupils who cannot return home or in some instances choose to remain in school for the weekend; and

(iii) those where boarding is organised on a weekly basis and the school closes at weekends.

8.39 It is thus becoming increasingly difficult to offer a child a choice of boarding arrangements within a particular residential school. Yet children for whom five-day boarding is desirable at the time of initial placement may, by reason of a change in family circumstances, subsequently require residential facilities at weekends. Conversely, children who need termly boarding at first may come to want the opportunity to return home at weekends. In both cases a change of placement will be required, even though the school continues to meet the child's educational needs, unless the boarding arrangements are flexible. We therefore recommend that residential special schools should be organised on as flexible a basis as possible, and should retain the capacity to remain open at weekends so that there is a genuine choice as to whether or not the children return home at weekends. We recognise that residential schools may face staffing difficulties at weekends and that the scope for savings will be reduced if they do not close completely. However, we strongly hold that placements should be made on the basis of what is educationally most suitable for a particular child and should not be conditioned by rigidity in the arrangements for weekend provision. Flexibility in the organisation of schools is therefore essential.

8.40 We believe that parents should have opportunity to visit their children at school or to have them at home at weekends if they so wish, and that they should not be prevented from doing so by restrictions on the part of the school. Boarding special schools are, however, often situated at a considerable distance from the homes of many of the children who attend them and, although most local education authorities have schemes for meeting the costs in certain circumstances, particularly where a school is organised for weekly boarding only, the cost of regularly visiting or bringing home their child can be very burdensome to some parents. In recommending to a local education authority the residential placement of a child with special educational needs, the assessment team should always express a view about the arrangements for his being visited by his parents or for his returning home at intervals. In so doing the team should take into account not only their own assessment on educational grounds but also the wishes of the parents, which in our view are of the greatest importance. We recommend that where the multi-professional team which assesses a child's needs at Stage 4 or 5 of our proposed assessment procedure concludes that he should return home or that his parents should visit him at weekends or other regular intervals, the local education authority should meet all or a substantial part of the cost. Even where no such recommendation has been made by the multi-professional team, the local education authority should be prepared to meet all or part of the cost if subsequent review of a child's progress suggests that he would benefit from weekend visits home or visits by his parents. In all other cases where parents wish to visit their children or have them at home at weekends, we would urge authorities to contribute at least the difference between the transport costs and the financial savings made by the parents by not having to care for their children during the week.

Teachers and other staff

8.41 We welcome the flexible approach to staffing standards shown in the Circular on the staffing of special schools and classes, which the Department of Education and Science and the Welsh Office issued in 1973; and in the Consultative Document issued by the Scottish Education Department in the same year. (5) The staff-pupil ratios suggested in these documents are not based upon a rigid concept of the size of classes, but rather allow for the work of each school to be organised in teaching groups ranging for different purposes from individual tuition to 20 or more. We recommend that the staff-pupil ratios suggested in the Circular and the Consultative Document should be regarded as a minimum requirement.

8.42 The staffing ratios suggested in these documents are based on the assumption that adequate numbers of suitable ancillary staff are available, and attention was drawn to the particular value of ancillary staff in schools catering for younger children or those suffering from very severe physical or learning difficulties. We recommend that guidance should be issued in a further Circular on the numbers of ancillary staff that should be regarded as adequate. We make suggestions for a scale of staffing provision for classes catering for children in different age groups and with different types of disability in Chapter 14.

8.43 Ancillary staff can greatly help children with disabilities or serious difficulties, particularly those with physical disabilities, to become as self-sufficient as possible. Their support is of particular value to teachers at certain times of the day, especially in dealing with severely disruptive children, including those with difficulties of an autistic or hyperactive kind. Whilst we would not wish to see hard and fast lines laid down, it is clearly important that there should be broad agreement between local education authorities and teacher and other unions concerned about the respective functions of teachers and ancillary staff. This is necessary in the interests of effective cooperation and also as a basis for training. Ancillary staff should have opportunity to undertake training for their work in the classroom and should be encouraged to do so; likewise teachers should have access to courses which include training in how to use the services of ancillary helpers to best advantage. We consider the supply and training of ancillary staff further in Chapter 14.

8.44 Child care staff in residential special schools spend at least as much time with the children as do the teachers. Demarcation lines between child care and teaching are rightly blurred. The two overlap; a teacher may put the child to bed and a child care worker may help with a group of children with learning difficulties. For child care staff as well as for teachers satisfactory staff ratios, career opportunities and training are imperative, and we make suggestions as to what these should be in Chapter 14.

Specialist support

8.45 We are firmly of the view that more specialist support is needed for both teachers and pupils in special schools. The survey of teachers' views conducted by the Department of Education and Science found that of those teachers in maintained special schools who replied to questions about contact with particular categories of specialist half had only irregular contact with advisers in special education, educational psychologists and social workers, and well over half never had contact with peripatetic or advisory teachers. Between one third and one half of those responding to these questions indicated that they would like more contact with advisers in special education, educational psychologists, social workers and speech therapists. (6) We consider the need for support for teachers from advisers in special education at length in Chapter 13 and discuss the supply of other professionals employed by the education service, including educational psychologists, in Chapter 14. Aspects of the work of the social services are considered in Chapter 15. In the following paragraphs we turn to the provision of support from professionals in the health service. Some aspects of their work and of the work of teachers overlap, and should be recognised as doing so. It follows that there must be the closest possible cooperation between them in meeting the needs of children in the school.

8.46 Many children in special schools need regular supervision and treatment by medical specialists, such as orthopaedic surgeons, paediatricians, urologists, otologists, ophthalmologists and psychiatrists. We received evidence, confirmed by our own observations, that the arrangement of children's visits to hospitals and clinics for supervision and treatment sometimes requires much effort on the part of the teachers and also wastes valuable educational time. These difficulties can be overcome if, as already happens in some special schools, clinics are held by visiting specialists in the school. We therefore recommend that local education and area health authorities should provide the necessary space, equipment, nursing and secretarial help to enable medical specialists to hold their clinics in the school. Further, we commend the practice in some residential special schools of inviting a visiting specialist to spread his work over two days and spend the intervening night at the school. This can provide a unique opportunity for the school staff to join in discussions about individual children, and should be more widespread. Parents should be strongly encouraged to attend medical consultations at the school and, where decisions about changes of treatment or operations are to be taken, the local education authority responsible for placing the child should be prepared to meet the cost of their transport.

8.47 In many schools where their services are needed by the pupils, physiotherapists and occupational or speech therapists are members of the school team, either full or part-time. Their effectiveness within the school depends on a variety of factors, including the facilities and conditions offered to them, the extent of their contact with medical and orthopaedic specialists, and their relations with teaching and care staff and with parents. It is important that they should work closely with other members of the school staff and with parents and enlist their help in the reinforcement of treatment. Moreover, we recommend that area health authorities should ensure that continuity of treatment is provided for children during the school holidays. We consider the provision of services by professionals in the health service in more detail in Chapter 15.

8.48 Nursing support for special schools may vary from intermittent visits by a single school nurse to one school to the presence of a nursing team with three or more full-time members in another, depending on factors such as the size of the school and the needs of the children attending it. The wide variations in the school nursing service provided from one area health authority to another, so far as staffing, conditions of service and administration are concerned, emerged very clearly from a report of a recent study on the provision of nursing care in special schools. (7) We consider in Chapter 15 the nursing requirements of special schools. We would emphasise here the importance of nurses being encouraged and helped to work closely with, and so far as possible to share some of their duties with, other members of the school staff. Moreover, we recommend that continuity of nursing support, as of treatment, should be provided during the school holidays.

Governing bodies in England and Wales

8.49 Although special schools were excluded from the terms of reference of the Taylor Committee on the management and government of schools in England and Wales which reported in September 1977, (8) we consider that many of that Committee's recommendations are equally applicable to them. Moreover, in principle we regard it as desirable that so far as possible the constitution, duties and powers of the governing bodies of special schools should be the same as those of the governing bodies of ordinary schools, since this will help to reduce the separateness of special schools from the rest of education. We recognise that the governing bodies of non-maintained special schools may differ in certain respects from those of maintained special schools, depending on the nature of their trust deeds, but we consider that their constitution should be based on the same principles and our following remarks therefore apply to both types of school. We urge that, subject to what is said below, any decisions that may be taken in England and Wales on the governing bodies of ordinary schools in the light of the report of the Taylor Committee should apply also to all special schools.

8.50 There is a number of changes which we regard as particularly desirable so far as the governing bodies of special schools are concerned. First, like the Taylor Committee, we are convinced that there are serious disadvantages in the grouping of several schools under one governing body. In particular, group governing bodies tend to be very large and cumbersome, their members often lack a personal identification with the schools in the group and there is little sense of partnership between the schools and the governing body. Indeed, we heard of a head teacher of one special school grouped with six others under one governing body who was not even aware that the school had a governing body. We recognise that there may be exceptional circumstances, for example in rural areas, which make the grouping of special schools expedient on practical grounds, but the principle remains the same. We therefore recommend that, as a general rule, every special school should have its own governing body.

8.51 Secondly, we consider that membership of the governing bodies of all special schools needs to be broadened in the way proposed by the Taylor Committee for ordinary schools to include representatives of the local education authority, parents, school staff and the local community, though not necessarily in the proportions which the Committee recommended. We recommend that special arrangements should however be made to ensure that the governing bodies of those special schools which have catchment areas extending beyond the locality reflect the wider communities that they serve. Thus parent members and representatives of the community should not be confined to those who live close to the school. Moreover, where a special school takes children from more than one local education authority area, the local education authority representation on the governing body should not be confined to the authority in whose area the school is situated.

8.52 Thirdly, we recommend that, wherever appropriate, the governing body of a special school should include a handicapped person. This would be in keeping with the spirit of the Chronically Sick and Disabled Persons Act 1970, Section 15 of which requires a local authority to have regard to the desirability of appointing chronically sick or disabled persons to committees of the authority. It would be desirable that the person concerned should be particularly knowledgeable about the needs of the children for whom the school catered.

8.53 We share the Taylor Committee's view that it is undesirable for an individual to serve simultaneously on a very large number of governing bodies of schools catering for children in the same age range and believe that the principle holds for special as well as ordinary schools. Nevertheless, we endorse the view expressed by the Taylor Committee that a primary or secondary school governor should be able to serve also as governor of a special school, whatever the age group of the children attending that school.

School councils in Scotland

8.54 Until the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973 there was no provision for the appointment of governing bodies for schools in Scotland. That Act provided for the appointment of school councils with the duty of discharging any functions of management and supervision of schools that the education authority might decide to give them. The Act did not, however, specify the functions that should be given to school councils or their membership, whether each school should have its own council or whether a number of schools might be grouped under one council. As a result, since 1974, when the new provisions came into operation, many different arrangements have been made in various parts of Scotland; all of these involve the grouping of schools. Research funded by the government is currently being carried out by the University of Glasgow into the relative value and effectiveness of different arrangements and the results are expected before the end of 1978. We understand that the government intends to consider what changes, if any, would be desirable in the light of this research.

8.55 So far as the management of special schools is concerned, we consider it preferable, wherever possible, for each school to have its own school council rather than to be grouped under a school council responsible for the management and supervision of a number of schools. We recognise that arrangements for grouping can have the advantage of reducing the isolation of special schools from ordinary schools, but we would regard it as essential that such arrangements should not preclude the appointment of a separate governing body - be it a school council or other body - with effective powers in relation to each special school. We think that it should be possible for this object to be achieved without any major change in the present provisions. If, for example, grouping of ordinary schools continues, provision might be made for the appointment of an individual school council for each special school with the proviso that a representative of that school council should be appointed ex officio to the school council for other schools in the area. We hope that this will be borne in mind in any review of the Scottish arrangements.

IV INDEPENDENT SCHOOLS CATERING WHOLLY OR MAINLY FOR HANDICAPPED PUPILS

8.56 At the end of June 1977 there were 160 independent schools in England and Wales which catered wholly or mainly for handicapped pupils. In January 1977 7,237 handicapped pupils were placed in independent schools by local education authorities, of whom 89 per cent were boarders. Within this total of 7,237 there were, in current terminology, some 4,211 maladjusted children (58 per cent), 853 physically handicapped, 625 ESN(S), 573 ESN(M) and 335 deaf children. In Scotland in September 1976 there were 13 independent schools which catered wholly or mainly for handicapped pupils. These provided some 500 places. About 200 of the children placed in them were, in current terminology, mentally handicapped (40 per cent), 160 maladjusted (32 per cent) and 60 physically handicapped (12 per cent). (9)

8.57 Independent schools which cater wholly or mainly for handicapped children have in the past carried out useful pioneering work; and some of them continue to innovate and experiment in the same way as some non-maintained special schools do. Some are also readier to admit children aged over 13 than maintained and non-maintained special schools are. There is, however, a much greater variation in the quality of individual independent schools and in their approach to the task of educating children with disabilities or significant difficulties. At one extreme, some of the very best schools in the country for children with certain disabilities, particularly for spastic and for autistic children, are run by voluntary bodies who prefer for their schools the greater freedom which independent status confers. At the other extreme, some individual proprietors appear to view the provision of boarding special education as a commercial venture which should yield a profit. Moreover, the schools are often isolated from the mainstream of education and, having few contacts with ordinary schools, they tend to accentuate the present division between handicapped and other children.

8.58 At present, because of the inadequacy of their own provision, local education authorities have no choice but to make use of independent schools for placing children with certain types of disability or disorder, particularly those with emotional or behavioural disorders and those with severe learning difficulties who require residential education. Thus in England and Wales in 1977 independent schools catered for 30 per cent of all children ascertained as maladjusted who were in special schools or placed by authorities in independent schools. Until the economic recession of the early 1970s some progress was being made by a number of authorities in increasing their residential provision for these children; but the subsequent reduction in capital programmes has led authorities to rely more than ever on independent schools, often a long way away, to fill gaps in the local provision. We recommend that where special school provision in the maintained sector is inadequate, as it is particularly for children with emotional or behavioural disorders and those with severe learning difficulties, it should be increased to the point of sufficiency. This will mean that the necessary use by authorities of independent schools catering wholly or mainly for handicapped pupils will progressively decrease. For the present, however, we expect that authorities will continue to have to use independent schools where suitable arrangements cannot be made in other ways, and we believe that much closer supervision of these schools is required.

Supervision of independent schools in England and Wales

8.59 The Department of Education and Science and the Welsh Office exercise less stringent control over independent schools than over non-maintained special schools. Independent schools do not have to meet conditions laid down in statutory regulations. Moreover, there is no limitation on the length of time for which an independent school, having been provisionally registered, can continue without final registration, which calls for a further inspection by Her Majesty's Inspectorate. Finally, as from 30 April 1978 the present arrangements for the recognition by the Secretaries of State for Education and Science and for Wales of certain independent schools as efficient, which though not in the nature of a measure of control did confer a special mark of approval on the schools concerned, are to be discontinued.

8.60 The Secretaries of State for Education and Science and for Wales do, however, have powers to control the use by local education authorities of independent schools under Section 33(2) of the Education Act 1944 as amended by the Education (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1953. This provides that in certain circumstances local education authorities may make arrangements for the special educational treatment of handicapped pupils in schools not maintained by a local education authority other than those notified by the Secretary of State to the authority as being, in his or her opinion, unsuitable for the purpose. Section 33(2) is amended by Section 10 of the Education Act 1976 (operative from a date to be appointed by the Secretaries of State for Education and Science and for Wales). In its amended form, Section 33(2) will continue to allow the use of schools that are not maintained by local education authorities but with the Secretary of State's agreement expressed positively (ie that the school in question is suitable). The Secretary of State's statutory approval is presently exercised under arrangements set out in Circular 4/61. (10) Schools recognised as efficient are automatically regarded as being suitable: those not so recognised are regarded as being unsuitable, unless in a particular case the Secretary of State, on application by a local education authority, decides to make an exception (either generally or for a particular pupil or category of pupil).

8.61 Supervision of independent schools which cater for handicapped pupils is needed for two purposes: to ensure that any such school is of an adequate standard at the time of a child's placement; and that it continues to achieve this standard. Recognition as efficient provided a serviceable means of helping to determine a school's suitability. Its discontinuance will call for new machinery. We do not think that registration can be a satisfactory substitute. The standards required for recognition as efficient were more stringent than those required for registration. Moreover registration is itself a separate statutory process. An independent school may appeal to the Independent Schools Tribunal against a decision of the Secretary of State that it should not be registered or should cease to be registered and we do not think that a school's suitability for the education of handicapped children should, in effect, be determined by a body instituted for another purpose. We think, rather, that the Department of Education and Science and Welsh Office should establish separate criteria for the statutory acceptance of an independent school as being suitable for providing special education and that no school should be accepted without very full and thorough inspection by Her Majesty's Inspectorate. Its continued acceptance should likewise be subject to periodical inspection. We recommend that the Department of Education and Science and the Welsh Office should maintain and publish a list of independent schools which are accepted by the Secretaries of State for the purposes of Section 33(2) of the Education Act 1944 as it will be amended by Section 10 of the Education Act 1976.

8.62 The statutory acceptance of an independent school under Section 33(2) of the Education Act 1944 will not by itself guarantee that the needs of particular pupils are being met. These may be pupils of any age, ranging from the under-fives to the post-sixteens. It is therefore important that local education authorities should regularly review their placement of a child with special needs in such a school. We recommend that responsibility for following up the placement of a child in an independent school catering for handicapped pupils and, where necessary, for initiating a new placement should rest with the person designated by the multi-professional team which assessed the child's needs to act as Named Person for the child's parents. As we explained in Chapter 5 in relation to young children and, as we point out in Chapter 9 in relation to children of school age, we would expect this person to be someone with particular expertise or interest in the area of the child's disability. It is a corollary of our recommendation that children should be placed in schools as near as possible to their home, so that the Named Person can follow their progress without difficulty.

8.63 In general, if local education authorities are to develop closer links with independent schools which cater for handicapped pupils, as we believe they should, and monitor the standards of the schools which they use, they will need to have full access to those schools. At present they have no right of access to independent schools and, indeed, because of this, are often reluctant to share with other authorities any information which they obtain about the standards of provision in such schools. We therefore recommend that, as a way of ensuring that local education authorities have access to independent schools used for handicapped pupils, part of the conditions for acceptance of the use of such a school under Section 33(2) of the 1944 Act as it will be amended should be that the Secretary of State is satisfied that the school will offer access to officers of both the sending authority and the authority in whose area the school is situated.

8.64 Contact between local authorities and independent schools in their area would also be facilitated if representatives of the authority were to be members of the governing bodies of the schools. We therefore recommend that all independent schools which cater for handicapped pupils and are accepted by the Secretaries of State for the purpose of Section 33(2) of the Education Act 1944 (as it will be amended) should have governing bodies and that the membership of those bodies should include a representative of the authority in whose area they are situated. We recognise that in some parts of the country where there is a concentration of such schools, particularly the south east and the south west, this will call for large numbers of local authority representatives to serve as governors but we believe that the benefits will be considerable.

Supervision of independent schools in Scotland

8.65 The system of registration of independent schools in Scotland is in some respects different from that in England and Wales and there is no category of schools which are recognised as efficient. Provisional registration is granted by the Scottish Education Department on receipt of a valid application and final registration is given only when the school meets the inspection standards of Her Majesty's Inspectorate and the fire precautions have been approved by the local firemaster. If the school does not meet the standards for final registration, the Department may consider serving a notice of complaint on the school proprietors under Section 112 of the Education (Scotland) Act 1962. All independent schools providing special education for the handicapped are included in List G (Provision for Handicapped Children in Scotland) and if they fail to continue to provide special education they may be removed from the List. In view of his responsibility for health, education and social work, the Secretary of State for Scotland is well placed to ensure that appropriate advisers are available when premises are being inspected to determine the suitability of the school for its intended purpose. Schools included in List G are regularly inspected at not more than two yearly intervals. We recommend that the Secretary of State for Scotland should make the inclusion in List G of independent schools catering for handicapped pupils conditional on their proprietors agreeing to allow officers of both the sending authority and the authority in whose area the school is situated access to the school. Every encouragement should be given to the school to invite a member of the authority in whose area it is situated to serve on the board of management.

The placement of children in care in independent schools

8.66 A local authority in its social services capacity is in loco parentis in relation to any child who is placed in care, and so assumes the duty imposed on parents by Section 36 of the Education Act 1944 to secure that the child receives efficient full-time education. The same authority, in its education capacity, has a duty under Section 37 to take action if it is not satisfied that the requirements of Section 36 are being met. We do not propose here to comment on local procedures in a general sense, but within our terms of reference we hold that these two duties, which usually lie upon the same local authority acting in different capacities, call for full consultation between the social services and education departments whenever the educational placement arises of a child in care who has been assessed as needing special education. In particular we recommend that no child with special educational needs who is in care should be placed in an independent school without agreement between the local education authority and the social services department. Although the provisions of Section 33(2) of the Education Act 1944 (to which we referred in paragraph 8.60) do not apply to placements in independent schools by social services departments we consider that no such placement should be made in any independent school not accepted by the Secretaries of State for the purposes of Section 33(2) of the Education Act 1944 as amended.

V RESIDENTIAL PROVISION IN OTHER ESTABLISHMENTS AND HOME TUITION

8.67 There is a number of residential establishments other than boarding special schools and independent schools in which educational provision may be made for children with special needs. In the following sections we consider two types of such establishment, namely community homes and hospitals, and then conclude by examining arrangements for home tuition.

Community homes

8.68 Since the Children and Young Persons Act 1969 and the Personal Social Services Act 1970 all institutions for the accommodation and maintenance of children in the care of local authorities have been designated community homes. There are three types of such home: community homes with observation and assessment facilities; community homes from which the majority of children attend local schools; and community homes with education on the premises. In 1976 these three types of community home catered for 4,976, 23,412 and 6,784 children respectively in England and Wales. Responsibility for the homes rests with the local authority in its social services capacity or the voluntary organisation if the home is 'assisted'.

8.69 In our view there is a considerable similarity between the educational needs of children in community homes with education on the premises (CHEs) and those of children with emotional or behavioural disorders in special schools. At the same time we recognise that children who are placed in CHEs require a period of treatment which aims at social readjustment. As a basic principle, we believe that education in community homes should be seen as an essential element of an integrated programme of treatment and that the quality of the educational provision made for children in CHEs should be the same as that for children with similar educational needs in special schools.

8.70 We are concerned, however, that in practice, mainly because of the professional isolation of the teaching staff in CHEs, the quality of the educational provision in CHEs may not match that in special schools. A survey of educational provision in community homes carried out by the National Association of Schoolmasters/Union of Women Teachers and submitted to us as evidence confirmed our impression that staff in CHEs and community homes with observation and assessment facilities lack information about courses of in-service training organised by the local education authority. Opportunities for them to take part in courses are limited and they receive inadequate support from local authority advisory and support services. It would seem to follow that the quality of the education provided in CHEs and observation and assessment centres must suffer.

8.71 In some areas teachers are seconded to the social services department by the local education authority to work in a CHE. This practice is far more widespread in the case of teachers in observation and assessment centres. We recognise that there are considerable differences between the terms and conditions of service and employment of teachers in community homes and those in other sectors of education; these stem from the need to provide residence, care and education for children in community homes on a year-round basis. This consideration does not, however, outweigh the advantages which we believe would ensue if all teachers in community homes were employed by local education authorities. We therefore recommend that, as a first and major step in improving the quality of educational provision in CHEs and observation and assessment centres, teachers in those establishments should be in the service of local education authorities. They should be appointed by a panel consisting of the head of the establishment and the chairman of the managing body, where such a body exists, together with officers of the local authority education and social services departments. Moreover, teaching in community homes should be regarded as part of the career structure for all teachers rather than a separate profession. We consider that the minimum teacher-pupil ratios in CHEs should be those suggested for maladjusted children in the Circular on staffing standards in special schools and classes issued by the Department of Education and Science and Welsh Office in 1973 and in the Consultative Document issued by the Scottish Education Department in the same year. (11)

8.72 In addition we see a need for other close links between CHEs and the education service, as suggested in the Joint Circular issued by the Department of Education and Science, Department of Health and Social Security and Welsh Office in 1973. (12) In particular, teachers in CHEs need the support of the local education authority advisory service and, as the National Union of Teachers emphasised in evidence to us, opportunities to develop their professional skills through in-service training courses. We consider that our proposals in Chapter 12 regarding the training of teachers with responsibility for children with special educational needs should apply to teachers in CHEs and that, as soon as it becomes practicable, they should be required to have a recognised qualification in special education. We therefore recommend that opportunities for teachers in community homes to undertake courses of in-service training should be improved and that regular support should be provided for them by members of our proposed special education advisory and support service.

8.73 We also see a need for much closer contact between staff in observation and assessment centres and other local authority staff concerned with the assessment of children with special educational needs. The present separation between the two is often wasteful of the time of scarce specialist staff, since in some cases a child's special needs may be assessed by two separate groups of professionals. We are supported in this view by the recommendations in the Joint Departmental Circular on child guidance issued in 1974 (13) for the development of a network of separate but collaborating services for dealing with those children and their families whose problems call for a combined approach. As a further step in strengthening the educational component of CHEs and observation and assessment centres we recommend that the educational representation should be strengthened on the managing bodies of homes and centres where such bodies exist.

8.74 We have doubts whether the various changes which we have proposed will suffice to bring about the much closer contact between CHEs and the education service which we regard as imperative. We have therefore considered a proposal for a more fundamental change in the community home system involving the transfer of the management of CHEs to the education service. We have found merit in this proposal; in particular it would have the advantage of making for a wider and more flexible range of special educational provision for children with emotional and behavioural disorders. On balance, however, most of us consider that such a radical change would be undesirable at the present time, given that the Children and Young Persons Act 1969 has not yet been fully implemented. Our recommended changes should nonetheless be regarded as the minimum necessary if the educational needs of children in CHEs are to be adequately met.

List D schools in Scotland

8.75 List D schools are residential establishments to which children under the age of 16, and those over 16 but under 18 who are already subject to a supervision requirement of a children's hearing, may be sent by children's hearings or on the direction of the Secretary of State for Scotland following committal by courts under Sections 206 and 413 of the Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 1975. Although the appropriate local authority is responsible for the children sent to residential establishments by hearings, the responsibility for children committed under Sections 206 and 413 rests with the Secretary of State.

8.76 There are 26 List D schools, with some 1,700 places, which provide the main resource for the accommodation of boys and girls considered by the children's hearings to be in need of compulsory measures of residential care or placed there by the Secretary of State as a result of court orders. Two of the schools are managed by Strathclyde Regional Council, and the rest by independent bodies of voluntary managers.

8.77 We consider that our recommendations on the educational aspect of CHEs are generally in accord with the terms of the Secretary of State for Scotland's Consultative Document issued in December 1976 on the future of List D schools (14) and we propose that these recommendations be taken into account during the discussions on the future of List D schools.

Education in hospital

8.78 Education whilst in hospital is the right of every child over the age of five. In England and Wales it may be provided either in hospital special schools approved under Section 9(5) of the Education Act 1944 or in other ways under Section 56 of the Education Act 1944, which enables a local education authority to provide education otherwise than at school. In January 1977 there were 152 hospital special schools (68 exclusively for children currently ascertained as ESN(S)). Official statistics indicate that 8,979 children were attending these schools, of whom 5,029 were in schools for the ESN(S) and 3,950 in other hospital special schools. (15) In addition, other handicapped children were receiving education in hospital under Section 56 arrangements. In Scotland in September 1976 there were 867 children in 15 mental deficiency hospital schools, of whom 845 were, in present terminology, mentally handicapped or severely mentally handicapped. In addition, 508 children were receiving education in 45 hospitals under arrangements made under Section 14 of the Education (Scotland) Act 1962. (16) The statistics for children taught in hospital on a particular date may not however accurately reflect the normal situation; there are seasonal flows of children into hospital and in January, when the statistics are collected, admissions and readmissions may not have built up again after the Christmas holiday. We are aware, however, that very many children are taught in hospital and we recommend that for administrative purposes all education in hospital should be regarded as special educational provision. Thus, within a local education authority it would be the responsibility of the assistant education officer for special education or designated senior officer for special education and, as we propose in paragraph 8.87, support for the teaching staff would be provided by our proposed special education advisory and support service.

8.79 Responsibility for the education of children in mental handicap hospitals, along with that of other mentally handicapped children who would previously have been regarded as unsuitable for education at school, was transferred to the education service in 1971 in England and Wales and in 1975 in Scotland. Since then there have been considerable improvements in mental handicap hospital schools in the staffing ratios and the proportion of teachers who are qualified; and there has been some improvement in the grouping of children for teaching purposes, the planning of programmes for both groups and individuals and the stimulation of children's responses to teaching. Serious problems continue to exist, however, as regards accommodation and staffing and as regards relations between teaching, medical, nursing and other staff, to which we return in paragraph 8.86.

8.80 The nature of the educational provision in hospital is the product of the individual hospital, its patients, methods, history and geographical position. We have identified two groups of children in hospital who require particular consideration. First, there is a group of children who are not receiving education, either because they are dispersed in adult or other wards and their presence is unknown to the responsible local education authority, or because they are subject in the hospital to a waiting period before they can start hospital schooling. We recognise that there may be excellent medical reasons for postponing the start of education in hospital for a child who, for example, is in an acute, serious or exhausting phase of his illness. Sometimes, however, a variable waiting period is imposed by local education authorities for financial reasons. We recommend that arrangements should be made for all children to receive education as soon as possible after their admission to hospital.

8.81 The second group about whom we are particularly concerned is that of children who live in hospital because they have no other home. We cannot overstate our view that, where children who have been abandoned by their families do not require hospital care, new homes must be found for them by local authority social services departments. We recognise that on occasions short periods in hospital may provide the only possible solution to joint educational and medical problems but as a general principle we hold that no child should ever enter hospital solely to receive education.

8.82 Educational activities need to be separated, so far as possible, from the other activities of the hospital so that a child can feel that he is 'going to school'. We share the view expressed in the Department of Education and Science Circular 5/74 (Department of Health and Social Security Circular HSC(IS)37) (17) on the education of mentally handicapped and other long-stay children in hospital that, wherever it is practicable, such children should attend school in the community. This will be increasingly important with the trend towards smaller mental handicap units, which may make it impracticable to have a school on the hospital site. There will, however, be children with profound disabilities in both mental handicap and other hospitals who need continuous nursing care and for whom education will need to be provided in hospital. We recommend that, wherever possible, educational premises should be specially provided in the hospital for children who are unable to leave the hospital to attend school. Where such premises do not exist or are inadequate, the children should nevertheless be taught in different surroundings and should be taught in the wards only if no other arrangement can be made.

8.83 It is important that children who are in hospital for long periods should, wherever possible, have contact with the outside world. The most effective way of achieving this will be through their attending schools in the community. If this is not possible, then links with children in local schools should be developed through, for example, reciprocal visits to each other's schools, the exchange of diaries and participation in joint projects. We have heard of one mental handicap hospital where children with severe and multiple learning difficulties lead a very full life, enjoying shopping, riding, swimming and camping as well as joining in the activities of a local youth club and playgroup - all of which bring them into regular contact with life outside the hospital. We have noted the view expressed in the Court Report (18) that where a child is in hospital for more than three months, there should be a comprehensive review of his need for services including education. We see no need to wait until three months have elapsed. We recommend that a comprehensive review of a child's need for services should take place as soon as it becomes clear that he needs long-term hospital treatment, without waiting for any fixed period of time.

8.84 The vast majority of children who receive schooling in hospital, however, are there for a very short time. We consider that education has an indispensable contribution to make in helping them, through its very normality, to come to terms with a brief, but perhaps traumatic, period of hospital care. Many of these children will be very young and, in keeping with our view that the need for special education may begin at birth, we believe that there should be no lower limit to the age at which education can be provided in hospital. We recognise that children already have considerable opportunity for structured play in hospital. Educational programmes for young children in hospital will clearly need to be organised in cooperation with the existing play services and with the full involvement of parents. Children whose stay may be short or intermittent, no less than those who are in hospital for long periods, need to retain a sense of continuity in their education and in their contacts with their family, friends and neighbourhood. Their present or future schools could contribute significantly to smoothing their transition from home to hospital and vice versa, and this process should be facilitated by local education authorities in collaboration with local health and social services.

8.85 We believe that there is a need for some educational provision to be made in hospitals during the school holidays, particularly for children who are there for a long time and whose educational programmes may be seriously interrupted by the holiday break and for children who are able to attend residential special schools but for whom hospital is for the time being their home during the holidays. Moreover, given the rapid turnover of junior doctors and junior nurses, teachers on the wards and in hospital schools can provide a much needed element of continuity and stability for the children. We commend the practice which already operates in some hospitals of staggering teachers' holidays and hope that it will become more widespread.

8.86 We have already referred to the problems which exist in mental handicap hospitals as regards relations between teaching, medical, nursing and other staff. The problems are not confined to mental handicap hospitals but exist in other types as well. In particular, there may be a reluctance on the part of medical, nursing and other staff to give full recognition to the contribution which education can make to the development of all children, however serious their disabilities. Much closer communication needs to be established between teaching and other staff in hospitals in the interests of breaking down the barriers that too often exist between them. It is desirable that nursing staff should be closely associated with the educational programmes devised for individual children.

8.87 Teaching in hospitals is a demanding occupation which calls for the capacity to deal with disability, deformity and death, as well as the ability to teach children who are gravely ill or disturbed. It is essential that teachers in hospitals should receive support from our proposed special education advisory and support service and we recommend that within the service there should be advisers who specialise in education in hospital. Their task would be to ensure that the educational needs of children in hospital are adequately met, to provide support and advice to the teachers and to ensure that there is close coordination between teachers in hospital schools and local ordinary and special schools.

8.88 In the past there have been difficulties over the financing of educational provision in hospitals within the framework of another service. We believe that there is a need for collaboration between health and local education authorities both in the planning of such provision and in the joint financing of suitable projects. We recommend that the arrangements which currently exist for joint financing of health and personal social services should apply also to health and education services.

Home tuition

8.89 There may be a variety of circumstances in which home tuition is needed, for example when a child has been discharged from hospital but has to receive continued treatment at home before he can return to school. As soon as it is known that such a child will be leaving hospital, the hospital and local education authority should invariably collaborate in good time to ensure that he continues to receive a suitable education, without a break. At present home tuition is also provided for children who suffer from school phobia. We do not think that home tuition is the right form of provision for these children and consider that their needs will be more suitably met in centres such as the tuition centres which have been set up by a number of local education authorities.

8.90 We are aware that many home teachers suffer from a feeling of professional isolation. In order to reduce their isolation, we recommend that home teachers should have close links with individual schools, particularly special schools designated as resource centres, and with centres such as tuition and diagnostic centres. They also need access to advisers who can offer them professional support and guidance on their future careers. We therefore recommend that within our proposed special education advisory and support service there should be advisers who specialise in home tuition.

CONCLUSION

8.91 For special schools the future holds both challenge and opportunity. The challenge consists in the call to adapt to a changing pattern of special education, in which ordinary schools will increasingly feature. We have pointed to the opportunity: whilst there will probably be some decrease in the number of special schools, we see a secure future for them as the main providers of special education for severely and multiply handicapped children in increasingly close collaboration with ordinary schools; as pioneers of new and more effective ways of satisfying children's special needs; and as sustainers of the quality of special education in ordinary schools through the mediation of their indispensable knowledge and expertise. These are vital tasks which carry the prospect of purpose and fulfilment.

References

(1) Department of Education and Science and Scottish Education Department statistics.

(2) The future school population DES Report on Education No 85 (Department of Education and Science June 1976), and Scottish Education Department statistics.

(3) Speech by the Secretary of State for Education and Science, Mrs Shirley Williams, at the opening of Inkersall Green Special School at Staveley, Derbyshire on 21 January 1977.

(4) Department of Education and Science and Scottish Education Department statistics.

(5) DES Circular 4/73, Welsh Office Circular 47/73, Staffing of special schools and classes (6 March 1973). Scottish Education Department Memorandum, Revision of Schools (Scotland) Code 1956 (October 1973).

(6) For details of the survey see Appendix 8.

(7) Department of Health and Social Security Circular CNO(78)1, Provision of nursing care in special schools (9 January 1978).

(8) A new partnership for our schools Report of the Committee of Enquiry appointed jointly by the Secretary of State for Education and Science and the Secretary of State for Wales under the Chairmanship of Mr Tom Taylor, CBE (HMSO 1977).

(9) Department of Education and Science and Scottish Education Department statistics.

(10) Ministry of Education Circular 4/61, The use of independent schools for handicapped pupils (27 March 1961).

(11) DES Circular 4/73, Welsh Office Circular 47/73, Staffing of Special Schools and Classes (6 March 1973). Scottish Education Department Memorandum, Revision of Schools (Scotland) Code 1956 (October 1973).

(12) DES Circular Letter Schools Branch II (SE) 1/73, DHSS Circular 42/73 and Welsh Office Circular 194/73, Children and Young Persons Act 1969 - Arrangements for education in community homes (31 August 1973).

(13) DES Circular 3/74, DHSS Circular HSC(IS)9, Welsh Office Circular WHSC(IS)5. Child Guidance (14 March 1974).

(14) Future administrative and financial arrangements for List D schools (Scottish Education Department 9 December 1976).

(15) Department of Education and Science statistics.

(16) Scottish Education Department statistics.

(17) DES Circular 5/74, DHSS Circular HSC(IS)37, The education of mentally handicapped children and young people in hospital (21 May 1974).

(18) Fit for the future The Report of the Committee on Child Health Services. Crnnd 6684 (HMSO 1976), Vol 1, p 278.