Your views needed: Getting extra help for your child’s education

2 mins read

Tuesday 18 February 2025

This advice applies in England only.

Getting extra support for your child’s learning is a big issue. In fact, it is one of the top reasons parents get in touch with our helpline or visit our website. 

We want to find out more about your experiences of getting support for your child or young person’s special educational needs & disabilities (SEND) in England.  How does your child or young person’s nursery, school or college support their needs if there isn’t an education, health and care (EHC) plan in place?

What is SEN support?

Education settings should provide SEN support within existing resources for children with SEND. This support could include teaching in small groups, adult supervision during playtime, or the use of a pass to exit class to go to a quiet room when needed.

Contact and IPSEA have developed a survey to understand more about the type of SEN support nurseries, schools, and colleges are offering. We want to know if SEN support is regularly reviewed and is helping children progress.

Why is this survey important?

Contact and IPSEA know from speaking to families every day that SEN support can vary widely between education settings, and it is hard to tell whether schools and colleges are following the legal guidelines to support children with special education needs.

The government has made clear that they are interested in looking at ways to improve SEN support. The Education Select Committee Inquiry into Solving the Crisis in SEND directly asked whether SEN Support needs to be made a legal duty that schools must comply with.

Who can complete this survey?

You should only complete this survey if you live in England and don’t have an EHC plan.

The survey should take no more than five minutes to complete.

This survey closes on Tuesday 4 March at 9am

If you have any questions, please get in touch with [email protected]