GEC Response to SEND Training Programme
By Dr Nicole Ponsford, Founding CEO of the Global Equality Collective
The government’s announcement of a £200 million SEND teacher training programme is both significant and welcome. Setting a clear expectation in the SEND Code of Practice that all staff across early years, schools and colleges receive training on SEND and inclusion marks an important shift: inclusion is no longer positioned as a specialist add-on, but as a shared, system-wide responsibility. For many families, this will feel like long-overdue recognition of what they have been saying for years.
“This is a welcome and long-overdue investment that recognises inclusion as a whole-workforce responsibility, not a specialist add-on.”
My response is shaped by multiple perspectives: as a former classroom teacher; through doctoral research into inclusive leadership and educational technology; through national work with schools, trusts, charities and system leaders across several SEND and inclusion programmes supported by the Department for Education; and through lived experience — both as a child navigating education with additional needs, and now as a parent of children with SEND.
Across my doctoral research and associated national studies, drawing on more than 26,000 staff voices and reaching around a quarter of a million students, a consistent pattern emerges. Teachers overwhelmingly want to do the right thing. Many report that additional training would increase their confidence in supporting pupils with SEND. However, the evidence also shows that confidence does not automatically translate into inclusive practice or improved student experience. Students with invisible disabilities, intersecting identities, or non-disclosed needs consistently report feeling less heard, less supported and less included — even in schools where SEND training is in place.
“Too many children remain invisible while they wait for diagnoses or sit outside existing data systems — and those are often the pupils most in need of responsive support.”
This reflects what I have seen repeatedly in practice. Through my work in schools, alongside trusts, charities and system leaders, and across national SEND and inclusion programmes — and as a SEND parent — I have seen how often training sits in isolation from the realities of classrooms. SEND is not a single category, and inclusion cannot be reduced to a checklist of strategies or generic adjustments. For too many students, support is delayed or denied while they wait for medical diagnoses or remain undocumented within current management information system (MIS) data sets, leaving them effectively invisible to the systems intended to support them. When training is not grounded in lived experience, contextual understanding and sustained professional reflection, it risks flattening complexity rather than responding to it.
“Training matters, but confidence alone does not deliver inclusion. Our large-scale research shows that many pupils with SEND still feel unheard even in schools where training is in place.”
There is also a critical gap in how impact is understood. The announcement is largely silent on how schools and colleges will know whether this investment is improving belonging, wellbeing, engagement and participation for children and young people. Without meaningful data that captures experience — not just attendance or attainment — there is a real risk that we invest heavily in training without being able to see who it is working for, and who continues to be left behind.
“If lived experience is not placed at the centre of implementation, SEND reform risks being shaped by what is easiest to deliver rather than what children actually need.”
As this programme is developed, it is essential that government partners not only with delivery organisations, but with researchers and evidence-led groups who are already surfacing lived experience at scale. The SEND Reform consultation made clear that many of the most affected children and families remain hidden within existing systems. If their voices are not placed at the centre of implementation — rather than referenced after the fact — reform risks being shaped by what is easiest to deliver, not by what children and young people actually need to thrive.
“This investment has real potential, but its success will depend on whether schools can see — through meaningful data and pupil voice — who inclusion is working for, and who is still being left behind.”
This investment has genuine potential. But for it to be transformative, SEND training must be embedded within leadership practice, connected to everyday decision-making, and informed by the voices of staff, students and families. Training opens the door. Listening, reflection and accountability are what will determine whether it leads to lasting inclusion.
For this investment to be transformative we need to know:
what’s actually changing in classrooms
who inclusion is working for
and who is still being left behind
And that’s why data grounded in lived experience matters.
At GEC, our platform brings together insights from 26,000+ students, teachers and staff across 30 countries to surface what inclusion really feels like.
The GEC Inclusion Index: Ranked, actionable metrics for staff and student experience — so leaders can track what most affects inclusion and belonging.
We have established two ranked leaderboards, one for students, one for staff, based on actionable metrics from our data. The aim being to help you track the issues most affecting inclusion and belonging in schools.
Discover the Inclusion Index Edition 2
The 26,000 Voices Report: A national picture of inclusion drawn from 350+ schools and trusts, revealing eye-opening gaps between intent and experience.
Through the insights of 26,000 students and staff, our report provides a unique perspective on the state of inclusion in our schools, highlighting the lived experiences of those directly affected. The 26,000 report offers an unprecedented insight into what inclusion really feels like across classrooms, corridors, and staff rooms. This landmark research presents a national picture of belonging, and the results are eye-opening.