ENGLAND: Report says special ed system 'on brink of collapse'
All roads lead back to Dr. Andrew Wakefield and the MMR vaccine
On Loss of Brain Trust, https://www.lossofbraintrust.com I’ve recorded the last seven years in the decline of children around the world as revealed to us daily by the mainstream media.
My chief focus has been the U.S., the U.K. and Ireland. As prevalent as stories are here in America, nothing can top what’s non-stop in the news in the U.K. It’s a meltdown right now because the massive number of disabled students threatens the financial sustainability of local governments.
The U.K.’s leading independent economic think tank, the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS), has just released a report on how bad things are.
The findings dominate major media outlets: LOCAL COUNCILS IN ENGLAND ARE FACING BANKRUPTCY OVER THE COST OF SPECIAL EDUCATION, and officials have to take action. (And although this is specifically about England because of the separate education systems, the same thing is happening in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.)
The government is pouring billions into special education, but it can’t stem the tide; there are just too many disabled children.
Media reports cite the specific disorders of these children: autism, ADHD, social and emotional disorder and communication problems. All of these disabilities go under the neurological umbrella associated with autism, so to be truthful, this burgeoning crisis is all about the explosion in ASD.
What is amazing to me is that, while this crisis is getting lots of coverage, no one can really explain it, or more likely, no one wants to speculate on why this is happening because it is so closely tied to the work of Dr. Andrew Wakefield. Wakefield first raised an alarm about autism in 1998 with a piece in the British medical journal, the Lancet.
Wakefield explained that parents came to him, a gastroenterologist, because they said their children developed GI problems and autism following the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine (MMR). He called for more research into this critical issue, but was immediately shutdown by health officials.
It seems the British government had indemnified the makers of the MMR, and it would be the government that would be responsible if a link were clearly shown. The stakes were enormous, and the result was Wakefield was vilified and stripped of his medical license.
Fast forward 25 years
Today, while health officials in the U.K. (and elsewhere) seem totally disinterested in ASD as a disorder, the unstoppable autism juggernaut marches on.
The report from the IFS made it clear that spending on special education is currently unsustainable because of MORE HIGH NEEDS STUDENTS. We’re told that the reasons for this are “complex.” Better recognition is cited, along with the bizarre claim that “the rise in high needs” is due to “increased severity of needs.”
Spending on special educational needs (SEND) is becoming unsustainable due to the rise in high needs. Reform to SEND funding and provision is needed. . . .
The reasons behind this rise in EHCPs are complex, but potential explanations include increased severity of needs, expanded recognition and diagnosis of needs, and stronger incentives to seek statutory provision. . . .
This rise in pupils with EHCPs has been driven by three specific types of needs: autistic spectrum disorder (ASD); social, emotional and mental health needs (including ADHD); and speech, language and communication needs. The rises in ASD, ADHD and mental health needs appear to be global phenomena across high-income countries.
PA Media: Funding increases for pupils with special educational needs insufficient – IFS
Increased funding for children with special educational needs and disabilities (Send) in England has not been sufficient to cover rising levels of need, a group of economic experts has said.
The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) said local authorities’ high-needs deficits could reach more than £8 billion [$10B] by 2027, and there could be “widespread bankruptcies” without reform to the Send funding system. . . .
“Without reform, rises in need will push up annual spending up by at least £2–3 billion [$2.5B—$3.8B] in the next three years.
“The government has a clear preference for expanding core provision for special educational needs in mainstream schools.
“This would represent a massive change to the school system, necessitating major reform of the funding system, increased staffing and training, and much else. . . .
“It is important that the Government not only understands what is driving the current crisis, but also sets out a clear vision for a fully reformed system.”
“Work has already begun to rebuild families’ confidence. The Budget invested £1 billion [$1.3B] in day-to-day services and last week £740 million [$944M] was directed to support local authorities create more specialist places in mainstream schools.”
Here’s how the British media is reporting on the economic nightmare resulting from children who can’t be educated as children have always been in England.
Southend Echo: (Leigh)
A SPECIAL needs school is set to get the green light for an expansion after exceeding its capacity while supporting a growing number of children with severe learning difficulties. . .
These specialist areas had previously been given over to teaching space to cater for increasing numbers of pupils that left the school “beyond capacity”.
In its application, the school said pupils were increasingly presenting with more serious learning difficulties.
It said: “The school requires a new four-classroom block to address compliance issues and meet the fundamental needs of our changed student population. Over the past decade, our cohort has shifted dramatically from 80 per cent moderate learning difficulties to 70 per cent severe learning difficulties and autism spectrum disorder.
“For pupils with autism who need more personal space and may experience sensory overload, under-sized rooms increase the risk of behavioural incidents.”
Requests for EHCPs in Essex increased by 143% between 2015 and 2023, according to the local authority's data.
In January, there were 13,278 children in Essex categorised as having "high needs",
The council said this year it was investing £2.9m [$3.7M] towards reducing EHCP waiting times.
Hampshire County Council is initiating plans to expand specialist school places for children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) in the New Forest - amid a warning the number of children in the county with care plans could nearly double by the end of the decade. . . .
Councillor Steve Forster, the council's cabinet member for education, stated: "By the end of this decade, the number of children in Hampshire with education, health, and care plans could increase by over 11,000, reaching around 28,000.
The UK Government has announced £740m [$943M]in funding for schools in England to use to invest in changes to school buildings, targeted towards adapting school buildings to make them more accessible for pupils with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND). . . .
A recent report by the Times Educational Supplement (TES) reports that there are 24,072 schools in England so this new investment is the equivalent of just over £30,000 per school.
. . .There are over 1.6m pupils in England with SEND according to the UK Government , which is almost 1 in 5 pupils. The new funding represents less that £500 per pupil, although clearly some building adaptations will support multiple pupils. As well as building adaptations, the new funding will also be used to “create SEN units that will deliver more intensive specialist support” according to the Department for Education.
In the summer, officials at Northumberland County Council warned the local authority faced a £6 million [$7.6M] shortfall in the SEND budget for the next financial year.
The number of children with education and healthcare plans (EHCPS) rose from 1,679 in 2017 to 3,369 in 2023 – an increase of 100.6 per cent in just six years.
Britain faces a looming £8bn [$10B] black hole in the public finances as spending to support children with autism and ADHD threatens to trigger “widespread bankruptcies” across local councils. . . .
The pressure would “likely become unmanageable” in the next few years, the think-tank added. . . .
It noted that pupils with autism spectrum disorder now accounted for a third of pupils on such plans, up from just 16pc of pupils in 2010.
Council deficits in England could spiral to “absurd” levels in excess of £8bn [$8B] in less than three years without radical reform of special educational needs funding, a leading economics thinktank has said.
Spending on pupils with SEN has gone up nearly 60% over the past decade, with the government announcing a further £1bn [$1.3B] in the October budget, but increased investment has failed to meet rising need, the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) said.
The pressure on the system, according to the IFS, is due to the “rocketing” number of children and young people with education, health and care plans (EHCPs). These pupils have the highest needs and councils are legally required to provide and pay for the additional support outlined in the EHCP. . . .
Julia Harnden, funding specialist at the Association of School and College Leaders, said the system was on the brink of collapse.
Despite all the coverage, no one can reasonably explain why this is happening. The official IFS report made a reference to “expanded recognition and diagnosis of needs and stronger incentives to seek statutory provision” as reasons for the increased demand, at the same time we’re told about the “increased severity of needs.”
So these are not children that people could have marginalized and simply ignored in the past. Their needs are critical.
And they weren’t hidden away in institutions or kept at home previously. England passed two laws in 1970 similar to our IDEA (1975).
One was the Education (Handicapped Children) Act 1970 and the other was the Chronically Sick and Disabled Persons Act 1970.
Those laws required schools to provide an education for all children regardless of the severity of the disability, in mainstream schools, special education units or in special schools.
So why is the government so helpless at educating these children today if they’ve been included in schools in England for more than 50 years?
I can easily predict the future. No doubt the government will pour millions and billions of additional funds into an insatiable system that will never stop demanding more because more and more children will continue to be disabled.
The IFS report said that it is important that the government figures out “what is driving the current crisis,” but they won’t. What’s driving this is AUTISM and a host of other closely related disorders, and no one wants to talk about autism as a crisis because all roads lead back to Dr. Andrew Wakefield and the MMR vaccine.
Your thought?
Who is going to care for all the disabled kiddos whose parents “die suddenly” or are themselves disabled by the same baffling cause unknown? 😭. So diabolical!
How much louder do you have to shout? I’m afraid very few people, if any, also address how difficult it is to work with these children. The energy called for is much higher, and it requires so much more than compassionate hearts and the needed training and experience. So many of my former colleagues have already left the profession as it’s changed so much.. and not in positive ways. How many younger ones will even contemplate such a career? It’s heartbreaking but I completely understand the disinterest and reluctance. Tragic does not cover the current reality you so clearly lay out.
Eileen