What you think about SEN units
3 mins read
Wednesday 3 December 2025
Some mainstream schools in England have specialist units or resource bases that provide extra support to children with special educational needs (SEN).
When these specialist SEN units and resource bases work well, they enable inclusion. However, the success of these units is dependent on how well they are resourced and staffed, and how they interact with the wider mainstream school.
Over the summer, we held a series of focus group with parent carers of children who either currently attend a unit or base or have done in the past. We also spoke to parents who have considered this type of placement for their child.
Your experiences have already been shared with Department for Education. Thank you to everyone who took part in the focus groups. And thank you too to the parent carers who joined us at meeting with government officials.
Your experiences
The discussions revealed significant inconsistency in how these units operate, particularly regarding inclusion, but also in terms of the support they offer.
Parents’ experience of the support in units and bases varied widely. From well-resourced, flexible provision, to under-funded hubs without qualified teachers or adequate therapy input.
“She has some classes where the staff from the unit will drop in partway through to see how she’s doing. With other set lessons like English or Geography, where there’s a lot of writing, there’ll be someone from the unit in the classroom with her.”
“The hub he’s in has never had a qualified teacher teaching the class. There is only a teaching assistant and a lunch lady.… I feel they’re more like a daycare than a school.”
To find out more about Contact’s findings, read the full write up of the findings from the focus groups.
Why the focus on SEN units now?
The government has been clear in its intention to increase the number of SEN units. This is reflected in funding commitments, including the £740 million High Needs Provision Capital Allocation, intended to support the creation of 10,000 new SEN places and specialist facilities within mainstream schools.
Recently, many local authorities have increased the number of specialist units in mainstream schools. However, without government guidance, this has led to a postcode lottery in the quality of teaching, specialist support and inclusive practices across units.
Calls to Contact’s helpline suggests these units vary dramatically from one school to another.
What Contact is calling for
Contact would like to see clear guidance for specialist units to ensure they are appropriately funded, staffed and founded on the principle of inclusion. They should respect and protect every child’s right to a mainstream education, while not replacing the role of special schools.
Done well, specialist units have the potential for more young people to feel included in their local school community. However, increasing them without suitable regulations or guidance could lead to them being entirely separate in teaching and location from the mainstream school, segregating pupils with SEN.
