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What, or who, do you think holds the key to tackling the SEND crisis? More teaching assistants? A local specialist? An inclusion base? Or perhaps, like the Finns, you’d prefer a co-teacher, along with a Dutch “working-together alliance”?

Countries around the world are reaching for various experts and structures in response to rising SEND needs. But the truth is, inclusion flows from teams, not individuals.

At the end of June, schools minister Georgia Gould convened an international roundtable at the Department for Education in collaboration with the Centre for Education Systems. The aim was for five jurisdictions that are currently reforming their SEND systems (the Netherlands, Finland, France, Wales and England) to share lessons learned along the way.

For example, in 2014, the Netherlands introduced its “Learning That Fits” reforms - these included funding changes and new regional structures within which schools worked together to allocate SEND resources. But the Dutch now recognise that this didn’t deliver the step change in inclusion that was needed. The Netherlands is therefore embarking on another round of reform that will provide a more specific, national framework for inclusion.

Meanwhile, in 2011, Finland introduced a three-tier support framework to encourage earlier, less intensive intervention guided by pedagogical support to complement its 2010 funding reforms. However, new reforms are now underway to remove tiering and introduce guidance on the number of pupils per class who can be in receipt of different levels of support.

Common problems

It’s clearly not easy, and that picture is a familiar one for England. After all, it was only just over 10 years ago that a major programme of reforms was introduced only for the wheels to come off, as demand for education, health and care plans skyrocketed and families found themselves fighting for support.

Ultimately, the system turned out to be driving a vicious cycle of late intervention and escalation, thereby reducing the resources available for early help. This created an adversarial dynamic, where schools, families and local authorities were pitted against each other, rather than able to work together to find solutions. Going back to the drawing board was the only way forward.

The lesson from that experience is that the SEND system needs decisive, long-term change, not another round of piecemeal fixes. Reforms have to rebuild the trust and confidence of children, young people and families who have been let down by a system that too often reacts too late.

Who’s got the expertise?

Reflecting on these experiences - as well as France, Finland, the Netherlands and Wales’ journeys - during June’s discussion at the DfE, a recurring theme was that the location and flow of expertise are critical factors in determining the success of any reform.

Countries have taken different approaches, and this is likely to be a key to the success of England’s current change programme.

In France, they have invested in teaching assistants, who have received a 13 per cent pay rise, and inclusion hubs, which they are rolling out across all secondary schools.

In Wales, reforms to the SEND system were accompanied by curriculum reforms to support coherence within the education system. These changes have positioned teachers as providers of “person-centred” education working within a new definition of “additional learning needs”.

Meanwhile, in Finland, “welfare services” are funded and commissioned by health authorities and provide in-school support in the form of psychologists, nurses and welfare officers, without the need for a formal assessment or diagnosis.

Team-powered inclusion

What became clear as the roundtable discussion unfolded was that no system could depend on a single source of expertise, and that inclusion needs to be planned strategically at a team level.

As one delegate explained, inclusion isn’t just about self-efficacy - it’s about collective efficacy. That means leaders have to work with their teams to ask: what are the needs within this group of pupils? What expertise will be needed to support that? Who do we need to have on the team so that, as a collective, we can provide it? And how will they work together?

The Netherlands is now looking to embed this approach via a national framework for inclusion and by redeploying special school teachers in mainstream settings as a collective resource. Finland has also deployed a co-teaching approach for years. This involves specialist teachers working right alongside classroom teachers.

The risk is that if expertise is concentrated in one type of setting, one room, or one group of specialists, demand for it will just keep growing and capacity will always fall short.

That’s why, like England, many countries are now striving for a system-wide, collective approach.

Lessons learned

England is not alone in its pursuit of inclusion. Many of our neighbours are grappling with the same big questions about what inclusion is, whose expertise is required, and which structures should be deployed to deliver real change on the ground.

We can take comfort in the fact that no one seems to have got it right the first time, either.

But we can’t afford to get it wrong again. The stakes are too high - for children who need support now and for the sustainability of a system that is close to collapse.

Opportunities to work with other countries, pool our knowledge, learn from each other’s experiences, and build the evidence base are a great way of increasing the odds of success this time round.

Ellie Harris is an associate of the Centre for Education Systems and an expert in SEND policy. Loic Menzies is chief research officer for the Centre for Education Systems and senior research associate at Jesus College Intellectual Forum, Cambridge University.

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