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SEND

Colleges offer a wide range of provision for students with special educational needs and disabilities.

AoC represents the work that colleges do to support students to external stakeholders.

How to fix disadvantage funding - David Holloway

What does the ILR say about younger students with SEND?

Opportunity England Special educational needs and disabilities

Why all college leaders need to be passionate about SEND

Rethinking SEND

Our recent blog series examines the challenges within the SEND system, explores potential reforms and evaluates whether changes could unintentionally undermine the effective practices that exist in colleges.

Rethinking SEND

SEND Services

We provide support and advice to colleges through our member services. These include:

SEND services

Stakeholders and representation

AoC represents colleges by working with:

Department for Education (DfE) officials who have responsibility for the Children and Families Act (2014), national implementation of the changes to the SEND system, and supported Internships
Other Government and local authority officials involved in implementing changes to the SEND system
Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) officials who have responsibility for the changes to high-needs funding and implementation of the new processes, and for student support for mainstream students
The Special Education Consortium (SEC) – a cross-sector body representing the needs of children and young people with SEND and their families.

SEND Reference Group

The AoC SEND Reference Group provides a forum to work with Government Departments, agencies and partner organisations on policy formation and implementation issues.

SEND Reference Group

ILR data shows that in 2022/23, 29.9% of students with 16 to 18 funding had learning difficulties and disabilities (LDD), higher than the corresponding figure in schools (17.3%). It also shows that around 18% of adult college students have LDD. Colleges enable positive destinations for this diverse group of students, where nearly threequarters (73.5%) of students completing 16 to 18 study in 2022/23 sustained education, apprenticeship, or employment.