How can we fix the special needs system in England’s schools? with Alice Reeves

The UK’s Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) system is buckling because of rising demand. One in five children now qualify for some form of SEND support, yet access still depends heavily on postcode and parental intervention. 

In this episode of the We Society with Will Hutton, join Alice Reeves, Research Grants and Programmes Manager at the Nuffield Foundation, as she unpacks the root causes of the SEND crisis, and what the government's new SEND White Paper proposes to do about it. 

The Nuffield Foundation is an independent charitable trust with a mission to advance educational opportunity and social well-being. They tackle the UK's biggest social challenges by funding research and guiding decision-makers to improve people's lives. To find out more about the research the Nuffield Foundation has funded when it comes to education go here.  You can read more about the Government’s SEND White paper here. 

This episode is ideal for listeners interested in topical issues, the UK’s education system, disability, and institutional change in education.  

In the We Society, join acclaimed journalist and Academy of Social Sciences president Will Hutton, as he invites guests from the world of social science to explore the stories behind the news and hear their solutions to society’s most pressing problems. In this series social science calls on aspects of business, education, economics, geopolitics, healthcare, human geography and more, exploring their impact on society and the social policy they can inspire. The We Society is for those interested in how social science impacts their world, and how evidence backed research can improve it.

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The We Society podcast is brought to you by the Academy of Social Sciences in association with the Nuffield Foundation and the Leverhulme Trust.

Producer: Emily Uchida Finch
Assistant Producer: Emily Gilbert 
A Whistledown Production for the Academy of Social Sciences