Do Tories encourage special needs children in mainstream schools?
The claim
Jonathan Bartley: “Why doesn’t your manifesto say that you want to encourage children [pointing at his disabled son Samuel] into mainstream schools?”
David Cameron: “It absolutely does say that sir, I promise you.”
David Cameron, confronted by a parent (see video below) in South London, 27 April 2010
Cathy Newman checks it out
When party leaders hit the campaign trail they’re always braced for an encounter with disgruntled voters. In 2005 Tony Blair was handbagged by Maria Hutchings over the closure of special needs schools, and in 2001 he had an embarrassing run-in with Sharon Storer over her partner’s cancer treatment.
Gordon Brown has so far pretty much managed to avoid such confrontations – partly because his habit of taking tea with Labour supporters means he manages to avoid trickier voters.
But David Cameron has had a few uncomfortable moments. Today was his stickiest yet.
The background
The Tory leader was confronted by the father of a disabled boy today, who asked why the Conservative manifesto seemed to promise a shift away from educating special needs children in mainstream schools.
Mr Bartley – who said he had to fight for two years to get his seven-year-old son Samuel into the mainstream St Leonard’s School in Streatham, London – was convinced the Tories wanted to move away from educating disabled children in mainstream classes.
David Cameron, who disabled son Ivan died last year, disagreed. Who was right?
The analysis
So what does the Conservative manifesto say on this issue?
Well, the only time “special needs” is mentioned in the document is on page 53, where it states: “The most vulnerable children deserve the very highest quality of care, so we will call a moratorium on the ideologically-driven closure of special schools. We will end the bias towards the inclusion of children with special needs in mainstream schools.”
Pretty clear cut then, as Bartley pointed out to Cameron, the Tories have pledged to “end the bias towards the inclusion of children with special needs in mainstream schools.”
Not so, say the Tories. They told FactCheck: “Our manifesto says that we will ‘end’ the bias towards inclusion, it does not say we will ‘reverse’ it.”
The implication being, they said, is that they will free up parental choices by ending the bias – not push children towards a certain form of education by reversing it.
It’s a “clear implication” they said.
Despite not outlining this part of the policy in their manifesto, they stressed: “Our approach to special educational needs is all about supporting parent choices.”
Bartley told FactCheck that he felt, in practice, there was not even a proper policy of inclusion at the moment – so feared the Tory manifesto pledge actually meant even more hurdles for parents who wanted their disabled children to be taught in mainstream classes.
He said: “They [the Conservatives] do talk about ending the bias in their manifesto. And yes it is true that many parents would actually want their children to be educated in special schools. But in my experience if there’s a local school that can cope with a disabled pupil and it is adequately resourced – then they would love their child to go there.
He added: “Labour are staying very silent on this issue, and I am not impressed by the Lib Dems either. This issue has not been a feature of this campaign – despite Cameron talking about the Great Ignored.”
Nasen, formerly known as the National Association for Special Educational Needs, is a leading organisation in the UK which promotes education of those with special and additional support needs. It said the bias towards educating disabled children in mainstream schools had emerged in the past 20 years, but the difficulty of getting a special needs child into such schools very much depended on the local authority. So whereas some parents faced a fight, others found the process much easier.
However, the Alliance for Inclusive Education, which campaigns on this issue, was far more critical of Cameron. Its director Tara Flood told FactCheck: “The moment your child is deemed to have special needs you shift out of the system; you go into the special needs framework, and then the pressure turns on the parents. There is no bias, it is tough going.
“The idea the Tories will bring more ‘choice’ is a sham. Cameron told Jonathan he understood what he had been through. But we know Cameron never wanted his son to go to a mainstream school – so he does not know.”
Cathy Newman’s verdict
Cameron denied “absolutely” that his manifesto suggested ending the bias towards educating disabled children in mainstream schools.
However, that’s exactly what it does say. The Tories subsequently briefed that parents should be given greater choice, allowing them to send their disabled children to a mainstream school if they wished.
But that’s not a subtlety contained in the manifesto, as Cameron should know. On the basis of what he said to Mr Bartley though, he needs to do some homework on just what is contained within the smart hardback cover of his manifesto.
There are 16 comments on this post
LibDem activist Mr Bartley knew exactly what the Manifesto said and it’s implications – he certainly raised his profile and his think tank Ekklesia which regularly slams the Tories and also on his twitter page.
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Jon is absolutely wrong to claim that parents of special needs children want them included in mainstream schools. My son, who has now left school, was very happy in his special school. He would have been miserable in a mainstream school. Due to the closure of his old school he would now be forced into mainstream. That is wrong. Why did Jon not recognise that? Cameron is absolutely right to say parents have to be given the choice. Jon would steamroller everyone into mainstream.
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Another politician put ‘bang to rights’ by hitgirl SuperCathy and her kickass ‘FactCheck’ blog !!
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Why not do a FactCheck on the plant posing as an innocent bystander? The guy is a political activist, Guardian contributor and well-known ranter. Shame on you for being taken in by the spin and giving this so much prominence.
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The Conservative party manifesto clearly states they will “end the ideological bias towards the inclusion of children with special needs in mainstream schools”. It doesn’t say that they will replace it with a bias in the opposite direction. So the natural conclusion is that they encourage both mainstream and special schools equally. Fact.
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How do we fact check this fact check!? If you watch the video, Mr Bartley clearly accuses Cameron of stating in the manifesto that they would REVERSE the bias, when it actually says it will END the bias. Cameron denied that they would REVERSE the bias, and was right to do so as this is NOT what their manifesto says. Cathy – your verdict needs a fact check!
The distinction is huge and important. Reversing the bias means creating a bias in favour of special schools. Ending the bias means giving parents the choice. This really could not be clearer.
Mr Bartley’s argument is that there is no bias. In fact, he argues that there is a bias in favour of special schools rather than putting SEN kids in mainstream education. If that’s the case, he should be ranting at the government for the current system, not at Cameron who is trying to give parents the choice. Except that he won’t because he’s actually a political campaigner who is passionately anti-Tory, based on his blog at http://www.ekklesia.co.uk.
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Jonathon , there is a clear channel 4 bias against the Tories , from Jon Snow (who has the guts to admit it),now right down to fact check.It is nothing new ,but if fact check is going to have any credence it should be totally impartial in verdicts it comes up with
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Michael Gove, the Conservative Shadow Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families, was interviewed by some deaf children earlier in the year for the National Deaf Children’s Society and was asked about inclusion and special schools. He said:
“I think for years now we have had this assumption that it’s always better for children who have a hearing impairment or who are living with another disability to be in mainstream school. My view is that there should be a choice. It depends on the child, it depends on the parent, it
depends on individual circumstances. And it’s wrong to have a fixed view on this.”
You can read the full text of the interviews at http://www.ndcs.org.uk/interviews
It was good to see this issue aired today; a really important issue for families with deaf or disabled children.
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I feel that your choice of the words to “Fact Check” are somewhat biased.
The converstaion started, and I have just listened to a recording to check, by the Father claiming the manifesto stated, several times, that the Tories would REVERSE the bias towards educating special needs children in mainstream schools.
The implication being that there would be a bias towards special schools and taking children out of the mainstream education system.
It was this that Mr Cameron denied. During the long conversation, at some point Mr Cameron may well have said, it absolutely does not say that, but in fairness he was still arguing the point that was being made, and the thrust of the argument being put, that the Tory Manifesto said it would reverse the bias.
In fact the manifesto states it will remove the Bias – this provides more choice to the parent, some of whom want their child educated in mainstream schools, and some who want them educated in Special Needs schools. The current system can equally make it difficult for parents to choose to have their child educated in a special school, more appropriate to their childs needs.
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Who is this man to claim he speaks for most parents of children with specials needs? As a parent of a 3 year old autistic child, I want to decide the best course for my child. I agree with Mr Cameron. In my area parents are being pushed towards mainstream regardless of whether this is best for the child simply because it costs less.
We need to look at the needs of the child not the needs of the parents. Of course every parent wants their child to attend a mainstream school but its whats best for the child not the parent
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As to whether “end the bias” actually means not being allowed to go into main stream schools (reversed) or just stop the forcing of children to go to main stream schools (Tory end) is all academic. As Gordon Brown himself said last year (to paraphrase) “a manifesto has no legal standing”. In other words, its not a contract and you can’t hold a party to it’s manifesto. A manifesto is only what a party hopes to do. Also, as a manifesto is not a legal document, it hasn’t been written in legaleese covering every type of eventuallity so the wording won’t be exact and can be easily interpreted in various ways.
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Goodness me! Cameron and Gove being Marxist about education? From each child according to its ability, to each according to its need.
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What an outrageously twisted and biased “Analysis” and “Verdict”
You appear to deliberately and outrageously distort the clear meaning of “end the bias”.
Not “reverse” the bias. There is not even any ambiguity.
But worse, you state that Cameron then denied his policy was to end the bias, when he was in fact denying that his policy was to REVERSE the bias.
And it would be nice if you made an effort to end your obvious bias. The Tory policy is quite clear to anyone who really does check the facts.
I do hope you read the comments above then do a proper fact check and come back and apologise!
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Dear Kathy. This piece is clearly the work of a biased individual who has decided the result of the fact check and the spun the facts to fit the result required. What logic you use to imply that, “end the bias towards” means the same as “reverse the bias towards” is beyond my belief. As the father of a Downs person, my greatest struggle was keeping open schools with the special expertise necessary to educate my child in the teeth of opposition from a labour-controlled LEA who focused primarily on the cost savings to be made from full inclusion – regardless of the wishes of the parents or the outcomes for the child. Conservative policy on special needs education is the best compromise available. For your own reputation, I respectfully suggest that you reconsider your hasty and ill-informed verdict.
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Special needs is too disparate a term. Bright physically disabled kids have different needs to the intellectually impaired as do those with emotional and behavioural problems, yet we lump them in as a single category. One size will never fit all
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