Children with additional learning needs 'let down' at Welsh-Medium schools, say campaigners
Parents of children with additional learning needs (ALN) say that the education system in Wales 'needs to change' in order to better support them.
ALN Reform Wales and its supporters have taken their calls for change to the Senedd in Cardiff, holding a peaceful protest on Friday, 13 October.
According to an organisation that supports these parents, it "hears at least once a week that someone has either taken their child out of a Welsh-medium school or is considering taking them out."
A recent report from June 2023, by both the Children’s Commissioner for Wales, and the Welsh Language Commissioner found that “a significant number of Welsh-medium pupils either receive support through the medium of English, or do not receive the full support they need.
Beth Tingle, Digital Community Lead at Behaviour Support Hub, said, “I have a son with autism, and trying to fight to get him the right support and education is very stressful for me.
“I know what I have to do, but a lot of parents don't know what their rights are and their children’s rights.”
Chantelle Jenkins, Service Delivery Facilitator, said: “My daughter needed to leave a Welsh-medium school because she has additional needs, and they said that a setting where there were fewer children would be better for her.
“But there was no placement available in Rhondda Cynon Taf, so she had to leave a Welsh school to enter a more suitable placement for her.
“She was on 'dual placement', so she needed to do one day at the Welsh-medium school and then four days at the English school, but because there wasn't enough Welsh, she couldn't go to a Welsh-medium secondary school.”
It was only in September when a school opened a specialist placement in the county, and according to Beth, "before this there was no specialist placement at all in Rhondda Cynon Taf through the medium of Welsh.
"The government has said that it must provide Welsh education for children [with ALN], but this is not happening at the moment.”
Co-Founders of the organisation attended the initial consultations at the Senedd in Cardiff, and saw the first draft of the ALN code around ten years ago.
Claire Jones was one of them, who told ITV Cymru Wales: “On paper it looked amazing… I didn't think it would take 10 years, but we were really excited about it.
“But actually, there are issues within the new code. And we’ve only been able to identify them since the code has been implemented.
“They’re big problems.”
Without intervening themselves, many parents feel some schools will not do enough to support their children.
Laura Martin, parent and teaching assistant, said: “I think if you are not a persistent person, nothing will change. There is a way the school makes you feel guilty as a parent, that you are to blame for the way your child behaves, that it is a reflection on you as a parent.
"And even if they don't make you feel guilty directly, they don't encourage you not to feel that way, they don't say 'look, there's help here, there's help there.”
Laura is a teaching assistant in a Welsh-medium primary school and "every single member of staff, especially in this school, has had training of some kind with ALN.
“The team that works with ALN children is open, and shares strategies with the teachers and teaching staff, and even with the lunch ladies.
“Everyone is happy to have the training.”
Chantelle, from Behaviour Support Hub, said “From primary to secondary, it’s never-ending. So by the time you get to secondary you’re absolutely exhausted and haven’t got any fight left in you.
“So to then still battle through the system just to get an education is massive. It is so draining.
“It affects everyone involved then as well, doesn’t it?”
Heledd Fychan, Regional Member of the Senedd across South Wales Central, Plaid Cymru, spoke to ITV Cymru Wales during today's peaceful protest outside the Senedd and said: “I get hundreds of parents contacting me because the ALN system does not work.
“The truth is, we are letting down so many children and young people that deserve better here in Wales… I think the Welsh Government needs to listen to parents and their experiences because the system is defective.”
“We need to put children and young people first, and look at their need. Assessments take too long, there’s a lack of Welsh provision in several places in Wales, which means there is no right for the child to get support in Welsh.
“But in every language, the support just is not there.”
“At the moment we have young people whose mental health is worsening, not going to school, and then missing out on lots of opportunities in the future, if they do not change the system.”
This follows a petition calling for the reform of the additional learning needs Code of Wales 2021, which has over 10,000 signatures, and will be considered for debate by the Petitions Committee.
It says that “only a couple of years into the changes and promises of earlier and better support for children and young people with ALN, more and more ALN pupils are being missed in Wales.
"There is still a large focus on Universal Provisions as opposed to the holistic approach of Person Centred IDPs [Individual Development Plan] for ALN pupils.”
An IDP is a statutory plan maintained by a school or local authority that sets out a description of a child’s ALN, other associated information, and the way in which a learner’s needs develop and change over time.
Enfys Howells, Service Delivery Manager at Behaviour Support Hub, said: “I attended a meeting last week for my nephew, so on a personal level. A PCP [Person Centred Planning] meeting for an IDP, so he has a learning need.
“He was given an IDP with absolutely no problem. He was given a reading pen, a laptop, lots and lots of support.
On comparing her own nephew’s experience, and her colleague, Chantelle’s daughter, she added: “That’s two schools in the same borough doing things very, very differently. So it is absolutely crazy, so one child is having support, and one child is not.”
In their recent report and review with several schools, Estyn agrees that “many schools that participated in the review had a generally secure understanding of the definition of ALN.
“However, a few local authorities and schools stated that they were unclear of the legal definitions and what this meant in practice.
“These local authorities and schools admitted to using their own definitions and waiting for clarification from tribunal outcomes.”
Enfys told ITV Wales, lots of the families who they support wouldn’t be struggling academically.
“We work with a family whose teenage daughter is 13, mainstream provision, diagnosis of autism, but her attendance was below 70% because she had such school-based anxiety that she could not get through the school gates,” she said.
“The school refused an IDP, based on the fact that it was a home-issue because they couldn’t get her across the door, rather than it being a school-based issue that’s causing her anxiety.
“For us, those are the families that are falling through the net…They are the ones who are screaming out for help, can’t get their kids to school, people are having to give up jobs, relationships are failing because of the pressures.”
A Welsh Government spokesperson said: “Equity and inclusion are central to our education reforms which aim to improve outcomes for all children.
“We recently announced £20 million to improve the inclusivity of learning environments, create quiet or sensory areas, upgrade or purchase new equipment, and for works to improve additional learning provision through the medium of Welsh.
“We asked Estyn to review schools and local authorities’ progress on implementing the Additional Learning Needs system and supporting pupils with ALN.
“Welsh medium education is for everyone, which is why we have ensured that Welsh-medium ALN provision is a key part of local authority Welsh in Education Strategic Plans.”
A Welsh Government spokesperson said: “Welsh medium education is for everyone, which is why we have ensured that Welsh-medium ALN provision is a key part of local authority Welsh in Education Strategic Plans.”
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