Special Educational Needs: Autism

Department for Education written question – answered at on 30 May 2018.

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Photo of Lord Storey Lord Storey Liberal Democrat Lords Spokesperson (Education)

To ask Her Majesty's Government how efforts to ensure that, from September, every new teacher will have an understanding of autism will be co-ordinated and delivered; and how long it will take to achieve this objective.

Photo of Lord Agnew of Oulton Lord Agnew of Oulton The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Education

Teachers are required to have a clear understanding of the needs of all pupils, including those with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), as part of the Teacher’ Standards, attached.

The government already funds a range of SEND-specific resources and training to support the entire school workforce. The department has funded the Autism Education Trust (AET) since 2012 to deliver autism training to early years, schools and post-16 professionals in England. The AET has now trained more than 150,000 education staff to encourage a ‘whole school’ approach to supporting children and young people with autism. In March 2018, the department extended this contract by a further two years.

In July 2016 the department published a new framework for Initial Teacher Training (ITT) content, which includes specific content on SEND, including autism. The revised content framework, attached, states that “providers should ensure that SEND training is integrated across the ITT programme”.

Teachers_Standards (PDF Document, 184.35 KB)
A_framework_of_core_content_for_ITT (PDF Document, 419.21 KB)

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