Who Goes to SLD Schools?

This paper describes the results of a national survey of schools for children with severe learning difficulties (SLD) which aimed to obtain a profile of the characteristics of children attending these schools. A postal questionnaire was sent to headteachers of 75 SLD schools which sought to elicit their perceptions as to the proportion of pupils in their schools with profound and multiple learning difficulties, challenging behaviour, degenerative and life‐threatening conditions, additional physical and sensory impairments and autism. Headteachers were also asked to supply information about pupil numbers, proportions of boys to girls, proportion of pupils with statements of special educational needs, previous placement of pupils, staff numbers and composition, and pupil exclusion numbers. The results indicated that headteachers considered that the pupil populations in their schools were changing to include more pupils with profound and multiple learning difficulties, challenging behaviours, degenerative and life‐threatening conditions, additional physical and sensory impairments and autism. Just over a half of all schools reported that their pupil roll was increasing, whilst a significant number reported having to replace qualified teachers with classroom assistants as a way of reducing costs. Over a third of schools reported that not all of their pupils had statements of special educational needs, whilst one in four schools reported that they had excluded pupils in the last year. The findings are discussed in the context of curricular implications, training needs of teachers and the overall need to monitor future trends in the SLD school population.