We wrote last year about the “tough task of implementation” facing the education sector in delivering the new Additional Learning Needs (ALN) system, which was established by legislation passed in the last Senedd.
Last month, the Welsh Government changed the timescale of implementation so these changes will now take place over four years (September 2021 to August 2025) rather than three (September 2021 to August 2024).
The Minister for Education and Welsh Language says that the pressures of responding to the enduring impact of the pandemic, plus the task of moving learners from the current Special Educational Needs (SEN) to the new ALN system, mean “more time is needed to embed effective change”. Our article in autumn 2022 discussed the numbers of children identified with having SEN or ALN and whether there has been any ‘raising of the bar’ in how they are assessed.
The new ALN system is being introduced according to different timescales among:
- newly identified learners who have come under the new ALN system since September 2021; and
- existing learners with SEN who are being transferred to the ALN system in phases, depending on their year group and type of provision.
Some things haven’t changed
All newly identified learners with ALN will be supported under the new system, as has been the case since September 2021. Learners in year groups scheduled to move to the new system by August 2023 will continue to do so. There is also no change to the ‘flow-through’ approach for post-16 learners entering sixth form or further education from September 2023, who will have already transferred to the ALN system.
So what is changing?
The year groups who were set to transfer at some point between September 2023 and August 2024 will now transfer between September 2023 and August 2025, giving an extra year for implementation.
Scheduled transfer to the ALN system of learners who are currently supported via School Action or School Action Plus
Scheduled transfer to the ALN system of learners with statements of SEN
Scrutiny of implementation
The pressures facing schools in delivering the new ALN system have been highlighted in the Senedd’s scrutiny, including in the Children, Young People and Education Committee’s (CYPE) ongoing inquiry into implementation of education reforms. The CYPE Committee is asking for people’s views by 24 April ahead of its next ‘check-in’ on progress.
It will be interesting to see whether these changes are viewed as a delay to implementation or as an extra year to get things right.
Article by Michael Dauncey, Senedd Research, Welsh Parliament
