£200m SEND training investment: A significant step, but not a standalone solution
The government has formally announced a £200 million investment in special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) training, making it available to staff across early years settings, schools and colleges in England.
In an open letter to the sector, the Secretary of State for Education set out a clear ambition: every child and young person with SEND should feel “seen, included, valued and capable of achieving great things”, and every educator should have the confidence, tools and training to make inclusion the norm rather than the exception.
As the sector awaits the Schools White Paper, the announcement marks the most comprehensive national SEND training package the English education system has seen. But schools and system leaders in the North East are clear that while this investment is welcome, training alone cannot resolve a systemic crisis.
What has been announced?
The £200m investment will fund new SEND and inclusion training for staff in every early years setting, school and college, including teachers, leaders, teaching assistants and wider support staff.
The Department for Education (DfE) has confirmed that, from next year, teachers and leaders will be able to sign up for a flexible national training programme focused on:
- Adaptive teaching strategies
- Evidence-informed interventions to support a wide range of needs
- Working effectively with parents and communities
- Inclusive practice becoming standard across settings
For early years practitioners, a new national CPD programme will provide free, accessible training focused on inclusive practice, child development and early support for children with SEND.
Crucially, the government has been explicit that teaching assistants and support staff will be included in the professional development offer, recognising their central role in inclusive education.
A shift towards system-wide inclusion
In her announcement, the Secretary of State acknowledged what many in the Schools North East network and wider sector have long argued: educators’ commitment to children with SEND “hasn’t been matched by the investment in training needed”, resulting in inconsistent support and gaps in confidence.
The new training package is intended to address that inconsistency, ensuring high-quality resources and materials are developed with the sector, adaptable to local context and learner need, and shared widely to support whole-workforce development.
Schools and colleges are being asked to prioritise SEND and inclusion within professional development plans, signalling a shift towards inclusion as a core professional responsibility rather than a specialist add-on.
Why training matters… and why it isn’t enough
There is strong evidence underpinning the focus on training. Teachers play a key role in early identification of SEND, yet previous reviews have highlighted gaps in ongoing professional development for staff already in post.
This programme represents a clear move beyond initial teacher training and leadership pathways, focusing instead on building confidence and capability across the existing workforce.
However, as Schools North East and The National Network of Special Schools for School Business Professionals (NNoSS) highlighted following discussions with ministers and officials at the SEND national conversation in Darlington last week, training is a tool – not a cure.
“We can’t train our way out of a systemic problem”
While the investment in professional development is welcome, Schools North East and NNoSS has been clear that SEND reform cannot rely on training alone.
Teachers are not unskilled; they are overstretched. A trained teacher cannot make up for the absence of speech and language therapists, long waits for educational psychology input, or fragmented health and care services.
Without restored and properly funded multi-agency support, there is a risk that responsibility for systemic failures continues to fall disproportionately on schools.
Chris Zarraga, Director of Schools North East, said: “This investment in SEND training is welcome and long overdue, and it rightly recognises the commitment and professionalism of the education workforce. But training alone will not fix a system that is under sustained pressure.
“Teachers are not lacking skill or goodwill – they are working within a system where specialist services are stretched, waits are too long, and regional inequalities are stark. If this training is to have a real impact, it must sit alongside a properly funded, whole-system approach that restores multi-agency support and reflects the realities facing schools in places like the North East.”
The importance of regional context
SEND provision does not exist in a vacuum. In the North East, high levels of poverty, health inequality and workforce pressures intersect with SEND need, creating what has been described as a “double disadvantage” for pupils.
Any national training programme must therefore be adaptable to the regional context, ensuring that inclusive practice reflects the realities facing schools and communities in different parts of the country.
This aligns with the Secretary of State’s emphasis on resources that can be adapted to settings’ contexts and learner needs, but the challenge will lie in how flexibly this is implemented in practice.
Training within a wider reform agenda
The government has positioned the SEND training investment as part of a broader reform programme, building on the £3 billion investment announced in December to create tens of thousands of additional specialist places across mainstream and special schools.
Alongside the training announcement, several themes emerging from recent listening sessions suggest further policy developments may be imminent, including:
- Greater emphasis on accountability and measuring success, though concerns remain about the imbalance between education and health accountability
- A renewed focus on the SENCO role, including questions about leadership status and protected time
- Stronger wraparound partnerships between schools, health services and local authorities
- Increased consideration of the diverse social determinants and lived experiences when it comes to early identification and support
- Greater collaboration between mainstream and special schools, and across phases
There remains no firm commitment on any potential changes to EHCPs, beyond confirmation that a legal basis for additional support will remain.
Waiting for the white paper
The £200m SEND training investment is a significant and overdue commitment to the education workforce. It reflects a clear recognition from the government that inclusive education depends on confident, well-supported staff at every stage of a child’s journey.
But for schools in the North East and beyond, its impact will ultimately depend on what accompanies it.
Training must sit within a fully funded, whole-system approach that restores specialist services, strengthens multi-agency working and recognises the regional realities shaping SEND need. Until the Schools White Paper is published, the sector will continue to welcome progress – while reserving judgement on whether this marks the beginning of genuine systemic reform.