Matt Keer

did a bat write this

If we were talking about a kid, insightful parent carers and teachers might wonder if might be time for specialists to carry out executive function & social / pragmatic language assessments

Things that look like they’ll be harder to obtain in our brave new future

SEND system review has been going on for more than six years, all told - and the current rope-a-dope phase has lasted nearly a year

Is it any wonder that people doubt their commitment to early intervention?

Lenehan said: “Government is taking a while, probably longer than you hoped, to get its plans right. And in the midst of that, there’s a lot of planning, a lot of thinking, a lot of testing, does this work, does that work with what we’re trying to do?” But she said it has caused a “vacuum of information”, which means “at least two thirds of the stuff that I read is not true”. Lenehan had previously told Schools Week that officials are considering a shake up of the education, health and care plan system that would likely lead to a narrowing or new structure of support as part of reforms.

Sounds like a really awkward situation. If only there was some way to avoid it

2016 photo of a booze section in Waitrose, a high-end English supermarket. The photo shows a card that describes Carlsberg Special Brew, a notoriously strong and rough lager that’s stereotypically drunk only by alcoholics The card says ‘Stronger lager with cognac flavour. Full bodied, fruity tasting with a good clean bitterness’

Incredible Waitrose’s-tasting-notes-for-Special-Brew energy

DWP plans will see more than 50,000 disabled people lose job support DWP plans mean large numbers of disabled people will no longer qualify for a work allowance to support people looking for employment.

At least 50,000 disabled people could lose access to financial employment support if the government goes ahead with plans to scrap the WCA benefit assessment, according to a new report from Citizens Advice

The true figure is likely to be higher

By me, for Big Issue www.bigissue.com/news/employm...

They should learn, but the siren call of AI will be strong here

Consultation will probably end up as a couple of hand-picked focus groups, with written responses fed into an off-the-shelf LLM and a sentiment analysis tool

image shows Helen Hayes MP, chair of the education select committee in front of images of quotes from the report

image shows Helen Hayes MP, chair of the education select committee in front of images of quotes from the report

image shows Helen Hayes MP, chair of the education select committee in front of images of quotes from the report

image shows Helen Hayes MP, chair of the education select committee in front of images of quotes from the report

On SNJ Today: The Education Committee's SEND Inquiry report tells the Government to boost inclusion—after deciding what it is—but leave legal rights alone. Pt 1 of our analysis is from @captaink77.bsky.social @catrionamoore.bsky.social & pix by @tanialt.bsky.social www.specialneedsjungle.com/s...

image shows Helen Hayes MP, chair of the education select committee in front of images of quotes from the report

NEW POST: In a massive week for SEND, the Education Committee's "Solving the SEND Crisis" report tells the DfE: strengthen inclusion—but don’t dilute SEND legal rights. Here's part one of our analysis, courtesy of @captaink77.bsky.social & @catrionamoore.bsky.social www.specialneedsjungle.com/s...

“We will look at this issue in the round and make sure that there’s adequate food supplies,” Raab told the Brexit select committee. “It would be wrong to describe it as the government doing the stockpiling … of course the idea that we only get food imports into this country from one continent is not appropriate.”

It's presumably intended to reassure, but the energy given off is basically this

Giving Every Child the Best Start in Life - Hansard - UK Parliament Hansard record of the item : ' Giving Every Child the Best Start in Life' on Monday 7 July 2025.

Sir Humphrey LARPers will also have spotted that this form of words is weaker than the DfE line in early July:

"There will always be a legal right to the additional support that children with SEND need."

hansard.parliament.uk/commons/2025...

Written questions and answers - Written questions, answers and statements - UK Parliament Information from UK Parliament on written questions & answers, written statements and daily reports.

Catherine McKinnell, 23 July, written answer to PQ:

"We have made no decisions yet on the future of education, health and care plans. There will, however, always be a legal right to additional support for children and young people with SEND."

questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-ques...

Topical Questions - Hansard - UK Parliament Hansard record of the item : 'Topical Questions' on Monday 21 July 2025.

Bridget Phillipson, 21 July, HoC oral questions:

"I can confirm that children with SEND have a legal right to additional support and that Labour will protect that"

hansard.parliament.uk/commons/2025...

This form of words first emerged from DfE in mid-July; it's a slight dilution on an previous line, and obviously it's not a pledge to maintain children's current legal rights

Deep SEND reform is coming. It's unlikely that the DfE has capacity. They've not been able to deliver even modest and simple change projects (inclusion dashboards, & digitised EHCPs)

That means much more work for the consultants, & the ACOBA limits on our intrepid ex-DfE civil servant have expired

So SEND is “lose, lose, lose”? Not for these private sector winners in the DfE’s SEND Change Programme - Special Needs Jungle So SEND is “lose, lose, lose”? Maybe for families but not for these private sector winners in the DfE’s SEND Change Programme

Politicians like to say SEND is "lose, lose, lose" - but that's never been true for a particular cadre of people, and the @schoolsweek.bsky.social story at the top of the thread is a clear example. Here are some more: www.specialneedsjungle.com/private-sect...

The sharp-elbowed middle-classes *are* doing nicely from SEND: it's just not who you immediately think of

It's the PE slimeballs. It's the private specialists gouging LAs and families alike. It's the failed central & local govt apparatchiks dabbling in consultancy, & it's the consultants themselves

The DBV project failed to deliver the targeted savings. Both the NAO and (checks notes) the DfE itself now say its SEND financial intervention schemes weren't fit for purpose.

And they also say that the SEND improvement plans that the DfE's Indra Morris signed off weren't up to scratch either

Miracles and magic: Delivering Better Value in SEND. But better value for whom? - Special Needs Jungle In one of 2 articles, SNJ’s Matt Keer demystifies the DfE's Delivering Better Value in SEND programme for in-debt councils. Is it magic or mayhem?

The methodology behind the DBV finding is deeply flawed: a case review sweat lodge where participants were invited to assume no resource or policy constraints spoiler: those constraints are fucking everywhere), & where the affected families had no say www.specialneedsjungle.com/miracles-mag...

DBV is now complete, but its message lives on. When the government refers to research which says that 'tens of thousands of kids with SEND in special schools can be educated better in mainstream SEND units,' it's DBV Phase 1 they're referring to www.dbvinsend.com/insights

Revealed: covert deal to cut help for pupils in England with special needs Government contract aims to reduce the number of specialist care plans by a fifth

Why the semantic gymnastics? A DfE minister had previously told the HoC Education Committee that there were no EHCP reduction targets, despite the DBV contract "targeting at least a 20% reduction in new EHCPs issued"
h/t @cjayanetti.bsky.social www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023...

EXCLUSIVE: DfE answers further questions on “targets” for EHCP cuts, removing children from specialist provision and plans to boost SEND in schools - Special Needs Jungle The DfE answers further questions on “targets” for EHCP cuts, removing children from specialist provision and plans to boost SEND in schools

Why was DBV controversial? It had success criteria that targeted a >=20% reduction in new EHCPs, & a 2% reduction in special school placements

DfE denied that these specified & quantified success criteria were targets www.specialneedsjungle.com/dfe-answers-...

This former DfE senior civil servant held the SEND policy brief in 2022-23

The controversial £19.5m contract was Delivering Better Value in SEND, signed in June 2022 with Newton Europe: the DfE SEND team were the key customer for their work

Newton Europe now have a new ACOBA-cleared senior adviser

DfE confirms AI used in evidence analysis for curriculum review Government says the use of artificial intelligence is now ‘common practice’ for large consultations, as school leaders question why the role of AI in the curriculum review was not stated at the start

The DfE is totally going to use AI to help it analyse consultation responses for the upcoming Schools / SEND White Paper, particularly the responses from us peons. High chance that they'll lose insight, whilst reinforcing the voices of bigwigs who've already fucked it up www.tes.com/magazine/new...

Elsewhere, the HoC Education Select Committee has used MS Copilot to help it analyse written SEND inquiry evidence submissions from parents (check the link)

Potentially problematic wrt equity, but committee says all individual submissions have been read committees.parliament.uk/writtenevide...

Other firms are bringing AI tools to market that they claim will 'help' LAs to determine SEND funding allocations

Schools should beware: the lack of specificity in the offer & the complexity of the problem all promise to make the use of AI here a goat-fuck of Caligulan proportions

EXCLUSIVE: Plans for digital, standardised EHCPs ditched. Does Labour want to kill off statutory SEND provision completely? - Special Needs Jungle EXCLUSIVE: Advanced plans for digital, standardised EHCPs have been ditched by the DfE. Is Labour aiming to dump statutory SEND completely?

Ironically, these EHCP drafting tools are arriving to market just as government looks like it's preparing to fire a bolt-gun through the EHCP process (see this article for an indicator) but we won't be seeing the last of AI in this sector any time soon www.specialneedsjungle.com/digital-stan...

Like any tool, the benefits and/or threats that AI-powered EHCPs offer depend on the end-users

For example, will LAs using these AI tools redeploy their SEND case officers to improve quality elsewhere in the process, or will they just get shitcanned?