Nursery World - Mandy Wilding: Let’s upskill SENCOs in early years PVI settings

There are three challenges highlighted in the Government’s green paper on special educational needs and disabilities and alternative provision

Mandy Wilding, nasen: 'There is still much work to be done to upskill the PVI workforce to identify and provide for the needs of the youngest children'

The challenges identified in the SEND and AP green paper, published in March, span navigating the SEND system and alternative provision, which is currently not a positive experience for too many families; outcomes for children and young people with SEND or in alternative provision (AP) being consistently worse than their peers across every measure; and that, despite unprecedented investment, the system is not financially sustainable.

Although not specifically mentioned in the review, all three are key challenges for the early years sector and, more specifically, early years PVI settings.

Nasen is delighted that the review states that the Government proposes to ‘increase the number of staff with an accredited Level 3 SENCO qualification in early years settings to improve SEND expertise’.

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