Support for children with special educational needs (SEN) - European Alliance for Families Policy Brief
The European Alliance for Families (EAF) was set up to explore demographic and economic challenges in the EU from a family perspective. Its purpose is to share the best of policymaking for families and to foster cooperation and mutual learning in the field. This is achieved through information provided on the EAF website, which enables policymakers from the Member States to search evidence-based family practices from around the EU and to share knowledge about practices that are being developed, and also by bringing together government, civil society and European Union representatives for seminars and workshops to exchange ideas and learn from each other.
This policy brief was developed by RAND Europe, which in 2011 was appointed by the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion to provide content and technical support for the European Alliance for Families platform.
The document is designed to provide insights into issues of interest to policymakers. It has been reviewed by one of the EAF’s external experts in family policy, and internally, following RAND’s quality assurance processes.
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Mutual learning and the sharing of best practice on the provision of support for children with SEN are lacking at the European level. This is complicated by a marked absence of pan-European data on the prevalence of SEN, attributable to varying definitions of SEN between countries and divergent methods of SEN identification. Correspondingly, there is a case to be made for a harmonised classification framework of SEN in Europe. A political consensus has emerged on the importance of inclusive education, reflected by a general trend towards placement of children with SEN in mainstream education, and away from special schooling. Many Member States have made good progress in developing coherent, localised and inclusive early intervention strategies, which provide for consultation with affected families. Information on the support mechanisms available to parents of children with SEN is incomplete, although examples of good practice exist for replication.
