More than half of teachers say the level of support for pupils with special educational needs and disabilities (Send) has decreased in the last five years, a survey suggests.
Only 5% of teachers say that the pupils with Send they teach always receive the educational support to which they are legally entitled to, according to a poll by the NASUWT teaching union.
The survey, of 2,126 NASUWT members in England between February and March, suggests 43% of teachers say the number of specialist support staff to work with pupils with Send had decreased in their school over the last five years.
The findings have been released ahead of the union’s two-day annual conference in Liverpool over Easter which starts on Friday.
The majority (51%) say the level of support for pupils with Send has decreased in the last five years.
Delegates at the NASUWT conference are due to debate a motion which calls on the Government to develop a comprehensive plan to meet the growing demands for Send provision.
The motion highlights the “significant rise” in pupils presenting with complex needs and the pressures on specialist settings and its impact on pupils and staff in mainstream schools.
The survey suggests that nearly three in four (73%) respondents said pupils remain in their school despite having an education, health and care plan (EHCP) which names a specialist school for them because that setting is full.
More than nine in ten (95%) said the needs of pupils they teach who have Send have become more complex over the last five years.
Meanwhile, four in ten said they were not always made aware of the specific support that each of the pupils with Send they teach is statutorily entitled to.
One respondent said: ““Everyone is stretched. There are experienced staff who know what some of the Sen children need but there is not enough time, adults, space or resources available.
“Staff feel like they are failing the children. The children are suffering and struggling.”
Another said: “I am not given the time to adapt the lessons for all the different contrasting and often conflicting requirements.
“I also do not have the expertise in dealing with the specific needs and have not been given that training.”
Patrick Roach, general secretary of the NASUWT, said: “The Government has inherited a Send system on its knees.
“Our latest survey findings point to the major challenges that will need to be overcome if any reforms to Send provision are to be successful.
“Any plan for rebuilding trust and confidence in the Send system must be properly resourced and integral to wider reforms to curriculum and assessment, inspection, accountability and measures to tackle the teacher recruitment and retention crisis and the ambition to recruit 6,500 more teachers.”
A Department for Education (DfE) spokeswoman said: “The evidence is clear that the Send system has been left on its knees – with too many children not having their needs met and parents forced to fight for support.
“It will take time, but as part of our Plan for Change, we are thinking differently about what the Send system should look like, to spread opportunity, restore the confidence of families up and down the country and deliver the improvement they are crying out for.
“We are already making progress by investing £1 billion into Send and £740 million to encourage councils to create more specialist places in mainstream schools, paving the way for significant, long-term reform.”
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