A profile of special educational needs and disability in Northern Ireland using educational and social data

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Background: Pupils with Special Educational Needs (SEN) in Northern Ireland (NI) experience extreme educational disadvantage and the Department of Education (DE) has made considerable investment to ensure identification, assessment and appropriate support to meet their individual learning needs. Where there are delays in identifying SEN and inadequate resource provision, there can be short and longer term impacts, affecting these pupils' attainment levels and options in further or higher education or employment. Pupils with SEN represent 22% of the NI school population and these figures are projected to rise with a growing population, advancements in medical technology and better recognition of conditions. Provision for SEN costs education authorities a substantial proportion of their budget and is becoming increasingly unsustainable. It is imperative, therefore, that education provision is relevant, responsive, efficient and cost-effective. Context: Research on SEN in NI, however, is limited to small studies that do not involve all of the pupil population. Evidence suggests an ecological relationship between SEN prevalence, educational outcomes and wider social, health and economic influences exacerbated by a volatile political situation and under investment. Understanding this relationship has accountability implications, in terms of identifying appropriate provision in the short term and in strategizing for the longer term prospects of these pupils. Outcomes based accountability (OBA) is used by government as a monitoring tool for policy planning and decision making. Population accountability is one dimension of OBA that measures the well-being of vulnerable groups through population level data in order to generate joined-up policy responses for improved provision. It is within the context of population accountability that the project is located.Purpose: The purpose of the project is to create a longitudinal profile of pupils with SEN in NI using a range of available government data sets. Through exploration and exploitation of the data, researchers will generate a population accountability framework for this pupil population: individual pupil data will enable comparative analyses of SEN prevalence with wider educational outcomes, whilst linkage with other data sets will create, for the first time, a whole child profile that illustrates the contextual circumstances of the lives of children with SEN.DE data from 2010 onwards will be used along with NI Census data and NI multiple deprivation data (NIMDM). The DE annual pupil survey and school leaver's survey record individualised disaggregated data on all pupils. Census data details the household circumstances of pupils with SEN, whilst the multiple deprivation measures illustrate the socio-economic context in which the pupil lives.Aims: The project aims to:1. Create a typology of SEN pupils based on their individual educational profile. 2. Identify associations between the educational profile of pupils with SEN, and their family and socio-economic circumstances.3. Understand how SEN varies and is influenced at a School level e.g. how does SEN vary across school type/sector?4. Understand how SEN profiles change overtime and why.5. Create a population accountability report card to inform and influence the policy development, planning and monitoring of SEN in NI.Policy on SEN has changed significantly in NI and across the UK, with implications for education and health providers. The project, therefore, is extremely timely in terms of its educational insights and longer term impact. It addresses a critical policy knowledge gap but also demonstrates the rich potential of future data linkages to profile and track these children across transitions from childhood and adolescence into adulthood. This will be insightful for NI but will have wider influence across UK jurisdictions and Ireland in proactively planning for pupils with SEN.