This research investigated the way in which the children's rights agenda is being implemented in practice in the field of SEN/ASN, taking into account the wider policy context of declining budgets, reduced local authority power, increasingly complex governance arrangements and policy divergence across England and Scotland. The project's specific objectives are to analyse: The extent to which children and young people with SEN/ASN in different social, geographical and educational contexts and with different types of difficulty are able to realise their rights effectively; The degree to which the rights of children and young people with SEN/ASN intersect with those of parents/carers and are driven by, or influence, the decision-making of schools and local authorities; The way in which capacity for autonomous decision-making is understood and acted upon in different social and educational contexts; The factors which promote or inhibit the realisation of rights by children and young people with SEN/ASN, including those who are looked after by the local authority; The impact of a children's rights approach on the broader education and social policy landscape. Since the late 1970s, in the field of special educational needs (SEN) in England and additional support needs (ASN) in Scotland, there has been a growing focus on parental involvement in educational decision-making. Despite the emphasis on the empowerment of children in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) and the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD), parental rights in education have tended to trump those of children and young people. There has also been some disparity with regard to the emphasis on the educational rights of children and young people with SEN/ASN in different parts of the UK, and competing understandings of the concept of autonomy. In both England and Scotland, new legislation aims to place the rights of children and young people with SEN and ASN on a par with those of their parents. In the light of this change, this research will consider whether we are witnessing a paradigm shift in the field of special and additional support needs analagous to that which occurred in state education in the 1980s and 1990s, when marketisation and consumerism attained a much higher profile. The research addresses important questions with regard to: the practical realisation of the rights of children and young people with different types of difficulty and in different social and geographical contexts; the way in which children and young people's rights sit alongside those of their parents; the measures which may be taken by schools and local authorities to promote the rights of children and young people. In considering the way in which the rights of children and young people with SEN/ASN are implemented in England and Scotland, the research took account of changes in the wider social policy landscape, including the ongoing impact of devolution, growing diversity of governance arrangements in English schools and public sector austerity. A range of research methods were used in this project, including analysis of policy, legislation and administrative data; a survey of local authority policy and practice in relation to the rights of children and young people; key informant interviews to elicit views on the factors which were likely to promote or inhibit the realisation of the rights of children and young people with SEN/ASN; qualitative work with children and young people and their parents/carers in home and school settings.

Since the late 1970s, in the field of special educational needs (SEN) in England and additional support needs (ASN) in Scotland, there has been a growing focus on parental involvement in educational decision-making. Despite the emphasis on the empowerment of children in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) and the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD), parental rights in education have tended to trump those of children and young people. There has also been some disparity with regard to the emphasis on the educational rights of children and young people with SEN/ASN in different parts of the UK, and competing understandings of the concept of autonomy. In both England and Scotland, new legislation aims to place the rights of children and young people with SEN and ASN on a par with those of their parents. In the light of this change, this research will consider whether we are witnessing a paradigm shift in the field of special and additional support needs analogous to that which occurred in state education in the 1980s and 1990s, when marketisation and consumerism attained a much higher profile. The research addresses important questions with regard to: (1) the practical realisation of the rights of children and young people with different types of difficulty and in different social and geographical contexts; (2) the way in which children and young...

Sample information for qualitative research on the educational experiences of children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities.

This is the second (wave 2) in a series of follow up reports to the Mental Health and Young People Survey (MHCYP) 2017, exploring the mental health of children and young people in February/March 2021, during the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and changes since 2017. Experiences of family life, education, and services during the COVID-19 pandemic are also examined. The sample for the Mental Health Survey for Children and Young People, 2021 (MHCYP 2021), wave 2 follow up was based on 3,667 children and young people who took part in the MHCYP 2017 survey, with both surveys also drawing on information collected from parents. Cross-sectional analyses are presented, addressing three primary aims: Aim 1: Comparing mental health between 2017 and 2021 – the likelihood of a mental disorder has been assessed against completion of the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) in both years in Topic 1 by various demographics. Aim 2: Describing life during the COVID-19 pandemic - Topic 2 examines the circumstances and experiences of children and young people in February/March 2021 and the preceding months, covering: COVID-19 infection and symptoms. Feelings about social media use. Family connectedness. Family functioning. Education, including missed days of schooling, access to resources, and support for those with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND). Changes in circumstances. How lockdown and restrictions have affected children and young people’s lives. Seeking help for mental health concerns. Aim 3: Present more detailed data on the mental health, circumstances and experiences of children and young people by ethnic group during the coronavirus pandemic (where sample sizes allow). The data is broken down by gender and age bands of 6 to 10 year olds and 11 to 16 year olds for all categories, and 17 to 22 years old for certain categories where a time series is available, as well as by whether a child is unlikely to have a mental health disorder, possibly has a mental health disorder and probably has a mental health disorder. This study was funded by the Department of Health and Social Care, commissioned by NHS Digital, and carried out by the Office for National Statistics, the National Centre for Social Research, University of Cambridge and University of Exeter.

The local authority interactive tool (LAIT) is an app that presents information in interactive tables and charts, along with local authorities’ rank positions in England and against statistical neighbours.

It includes local authority, regional and national data on:

• children looked after and adoption
• child protection
• the children’s social care workforce
• special educational needs and disability
• pupil attainment and attendance
• children’s health
• youth justice
• post-16
• finance

The ‘Children’s services statistical neighbour benchmarking tool’ allows you to select a local authority and display its ‘closest statistical neighbours’ (local authorities with similar characteristics). The tool has been reviewed and rebuilt to include updated socio-economic variables from the 2021 census. More information is available in the associated update note and technical report.

This report presents findings from the third (wave 3) in a series of follow up reports to the 2017 Mental Health of Children and Young People (MHCYP) survey, conducted in 2022. The sample includes 2,866 of the children and young people who took part in the MHCYP 2017 survey. The mental health of children and young people aged 7 to 24 years living in England in 2022 is examined, as well as their household circumstances, and their experiences of education, employment and services and of life in their families and communities. Comparisons are made with 2017, 2020 (wave 1) and 2021 (wave 2), where possible, to monitor changes over time.

Dataset of interview and questionnaire data resulting from the age 24 wave with the original participants of the Manchester Language Study in adulthood (24 years of age). The Manchester Language Study is a longitudinal study of a national random sample of all children who were attending language units. The study covers a 20 year period. It began in 1995 when the children were 7 years of age. In this young adulthood phase we undertook interviews with 84 participants with a history of Language Impairment (LI) and a comparison group of 88 age-matched peers (AMP) who had no history of special educational needs or speech and language therapy provision. We also collected data via questionnaires from a close relative or friend they nominated themselves. Missing values(216) are dropouts from previous waves. The interviews were extensive covering personal and social functioning and societal engagement. The personal domain includes general health (weight, exercise, leisure, diet, smoking, alcohol, drugs), mental health (anxiety, depression) and educational/training qualifications. The social domain includes personal relationships (marital status, children, friendships, stable partnerships, parents, siblings) and social adjustment (aggression/criminality). Societal engagement includes employment (including occupational adjustment), independence (living context, transport, driving), finances (banking, financial literacy, debt, gambling, receipt of benefits) civic participation (voting, volunteering), TV viewing and new media use (computers, mobile phones). Research activity includes (1) the identification of the range and profile of personal, social and societal (PSS) functioning in young adults with a history of LI, (2) the examination of concurrent relationships among individuals’ attributes, environmental factors and PSS functioning leading to a number of discoveries, for example, the discovery that prosociality is one of the key protective factor associated with most areas of functioning in individuals with LI in young adulthood and (3) the identification of predictors of distinct development pathways of adjustment in social, emotional, behavioural and employment/education outcomes in young adulthood.

Language impairment (LI) affects one in fifteen children in the UK. LI involves problems with talking and with understanding spoken language. These difficulties are usually not transient. However, there is limited information about how these children “turn out” in adulthood. This project aims to fill this knowledge gap. It is based on the Manchester Language Study, the largest UK study of individuals with a history of SLI. The original cohort was a random sample of all 7 year old children who were attending language units in England in 1995. These individuals participated in this project when they were aged between 23-25 years of age. A range of areas of functioning were examined in adulthood, in the personal, social and societal domains. For example: general health (exercise, diet), personal relationships, education, employment, finances, and civic participation (voting, volunteering). Quantitative as well as qualitative data was gathered via direct assessment, participants’ self-reports, reports from significant others, and consultation with national records. The project identifies pathways to positive adjustment (resilience) as well as risk pathways in adulthood.