Draft SEN legislation and EAL

Colleagues will note that the Draft Legislation on Reform of provision for children and young people with Special Educational Needs (HMSO, 2012) continues to include the following wording as point 1.4 on the first page.

A child or young person does not have a learning difficulty or disability solely because the language (or form of language) in which he or she is or will be taught is different from a language (or form of language) which is or has been spoken at home.

Whilst this is to be welcomed, what is not year clear is the provisions put in place to ensure that those pupils who are bilingual or learning EAL and who do have special educational needs will be fully accomodated within the new system. Concerns include: whether the new 2 year old check will be carried out in the language of the child/home; how the proposed published 'available local offer' will be accessible to all parents; and most importantly whether the offer and provision available for such pupils will take children's bilingualism fully into account in the provision that will be made for them.

NALDIC hopes to gain clarity on some of these issues in the forthcoming months.