Topic > Children with Special Educational Needs in the United Kingdom

It is clear that in the United Kingdom almost all the conditions necessary for pupils have been established for parents who have children with “Special Educational Needs”. For example, parents can apply for their children on the government website which offers British citizenship many services including “Special Educational Needs”. People whose children have disabilities can take turns choosing any school. Schools must publish information on their website about the government's rules for teaching children with special educational needs. Turning now to the issue of the database showing that in England the number of children with special educational needs has fallen from 1.62 million pupils in 2011-2012 and 1.55 million in 2012-2013, although the number of pupils with statements of special educational needs increased slightly from 226,125 pupils in 2011-2012 to 229,390 pupils in 2012-2013 the database relating to the Government website. This means that every fifth year pupil in England is said to have special educational needs (21%). For example, the British Broadcasting Company (BBC) notes that “the highest classes are “slowed learning difficulties” (24.2%), social difficulties and behavioral, emotional (22.7%) and speech, language and relational needs (16.3%). A lower percentage of pupils have physical disabilities (3.8%), visual or hearing disabilities (3.4%) and the autism spectrum (8.1%). Furthermore, children from any segment of society may have special educational needs, but in fact this is commonly the case in some sectors of society. For example, in secondary school, girls are three times less likely to make statements than boys. Chinese children are most likely to have no special educational needs, while black children are more likely. Students with special educational needs should be more entitled to free school meals than those who do not. All state schools are under the control of British law to ensure that special help is provided to children with special educational needs. It is fair to mention that there is a program called “school action” in which more than half of the pupils with special educational needs are listed. If other support is needed, the child is classed as 'school action plus', which may involve the school bringing in specialists from outside”.