Debate contribution: Special Educational Needs Coordinators

Debate contribution by Mr Danny Baker on 28 April 2026.

MLA: Mr Danny Baker
Party at the time: Sinn Féin
Date: 28 April 2026
Type: Debate contribution
Business: Private Members' Business
Heading: Special Educational Needs Coordinators
Assembly identifier: Official Report component 5510243

Text

I thank the proposer of the motion. What Michelle said was spot on and covered all of the issues. We all want to play our role in supporting children with additional needs and their families. My knowledge comes from parents; campaign groups, such as Caleb's cause; support groups, such as Families with Ups and Downs, SHINE Autism Support Group and Colin Autism Support Group; our teachers; school leaders; classroom assistants; and, of course, our SENCOs. Today is about our SENCOs. I will read out a small part of the evidence that the Education Committee heard from a SENCO:
"In reality, our role is ever-expanding and becoming more complex with, it feels, more being added to it almost by the week, never mind by the month or year. We are the go-to person for everybody. We are there for parents; children; staff; the Education Authority (EA); people from the statutory assessment and review service (SARS); external agencies; the Department of Health; and the local impact teams (LITs). We are everyone's go-to person. Increasingly, our role is one of paperwork management, rather than of working with children directly."
We heard that just a few months ago. The warning signs have been there for a long time. The SEN reform agenda risks making the same mistakes all over again. Caleb's cause has shown us the cost of getting things wrong at transition points. It has shown us what happens when children and young adults with additional needs do not receive support in time; families are left to fight a system instead of being supported by it; and gaps, delays and pressures turn into real-life consequences. At the centre of preventing those failures, standing quietly in every school, are our SENCOs. They are the ones who identify need, coordinate support and fight to make sure that no child is left behind. They are being asked to do the impossible: to spend hours well beyond those that they are contracted to work, providing that help and support to families. SENCOs are not just coordinators; they are full-time teachers. They manage their classrooms or the specialist provision in mainstream schools (SPiMS) by day and complete their complex SEN responsibilities in the margins of an already overflowing workload. Now, under the Minister's reforms, through local impact teams and changes to classroom support, more will be added to their workload: more coordination, administration and responsibility. What happens when SENCOs, who are already overwhelmed, are asked to carry ever more? That question is not rhetorical. We have already seen it: delays, missed needs and families losing trust and all hope.
We cannot claim to learn from campaigns such as Caleb's cause while we create the conditions that risk repeating those failures. No one opposes the need for reform; we just need better reform that is resourced and realistic and that recognises that SENCOs are not an unlimited resource but are human beings who carry out one of the most demanding roles in our education system. Minister, I ask you, please, to listen to SENCOs, parents, teachers and support staff, to the Children's Law Centre and to children's rights advocates. You have a choice to either listen to the warnings or risk repeating past failures.

535 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

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