Ministers have shelved SEND review plans to use performance league tables to reveal how inclusive mainstream schools are. The SEND and AP green paper said adding contextual information alongside results would 鈥渕ake it easier to recognise鈥 schools that were 鈥渄oing well for children with SEND鈥. SEND review improvement plan: Everything schools need to know While it provided few details, the government admitted it had heard 鈥渢oo many examples鈥 of mainstream schools that were not inclusive, although accountability measures could be seen as 鈥渁 disincentive鈥 to take on SEND pupils. But last week鈥檚 finalised failed to mention the proposal. The Department for Education told Schools Week it had 鈥渃arefully鈥 considered the 鈥渂enefits and drawbacks of making data on how many pupils in a school have SEN more prominent in performance tables鈥. But the proposals had 鈥渕ixed feedback鈥, with concerns it could 鈥渞isk generating perverse incentives鈥. 鈥淲e will continue to show information about a school鈥檚 cohort, including pupils with SEN, alongside attainment and progress data, but we do not plan to make cohort information more prominent for now.鈥 Concerns relate to identification ‘inconsistencies’ It is understood concerns related to inconsistencies in how children with SEND are identified, which the new national standards seek to rectify. A 2021 report by the Education Policy Institute found a 鈥渓ottery鈥 in SEND identification. The primary school a pupil attended made more difference to their chances of being identified as SEND than anything about them as an individual, their experiences or where they lived. Bridget Phillipson Leora Cruddas, the chief executive at the Confederation of School Trusts, said it was the right decision 鈥渁t the moment鈥. 鈥淲hat the improvement plan rightly focuses on is improving the expertise of the workforce鈥his is likely to result in much better outcomes for pupils and young people.鈥 But James Bowen, a policy director at the heads鈥 union NAHT, said it was 鈥渄isappointing鈥 as there 鈥渋s a strong sense within the profession [that] the current accountability system does not appropriately recognise the most inclusive schools鈥. 鈥淭here is no doubt this would be a complex issue to deal with, but it is important that schools doing a particularly good job for pupils with SEND are recognised and certainly not penalised.鈥 Vic Goddard, the headteacher of Passmores Academy in Essex, which is known as a 鈥淪END magnet school鈥, said contextual league tables would tell 鈥渁 story鈥 to parents that was not just about results. Scrapping the idea was 鈥渏ust another weakening of the position of the schools that are inclusive鈥. Dashboards will not show school-level data Plans to publish 鈥渋nclusion dashboards鈥 are due to be trialled next month, but they will only show metrics based on the local area rather than school-level. It will take at least three years for the government鈥檚 major SEND reforms to be fully rolled out. Key policies, such as producing national SEND standards and funding tariffs, will be trialled as part of a 拢70 million 鈥渃hange programme鈥. Claire Coutinho Ministers will then finalise policies and decide whether to legislate, but not in this parliament. A 拢9.8 million, two-year contract has now gone live for the creation of 鈥渁 blueprint of the future system鈥. Documents say testing 鈥渨ill be the critical success factor along with the ability to iterate at pace鈥. A 鈥渃ontinuous feedback loop of intelligence鈥 will need to be made to the DfE to 鈥渓earn fast and understand in real time what is working and what isn鈥檛.鈥 Bridget Phillipson, Labour鈥檚 shadow education secretary, told MPs on Monday the plan was 鈥渟ymptomatic of a government who have simply given up and who are governing through a mixture of distraction and delay, pushing the tough decisions to the other side of the election鈥. But Claire Coutinho, the children鈥檚 minister, told the Commons that 鈥渋t is important that we consult and take time to get it right鈥 when 鈥渟etting out steps like national standards鈥.