The SEND Review Programme is designed to help secondary schools reflect on, develop, and improve their whole-school SEND (Special Educational Needs and Disabilities) provision. Delivered by the National Association for Special Educational Needs (nasen), the programme supports SENCOs through training and coaching, enabling them to work collaboratively with colleagues to lead inclusive, school-wide change.
Participants undertake a self-evaluation of their school’s SEND provision, take part in peer school visits, and receive support to develop and implement effective school development plans. The programme aims to improve the well-being, attendance, and – over time – attainment of pupils with SEND, while also promoting positive outcomes for all learners across the school.
The EEF funded this evaluation for several reasons. First, the impact of SEND on academic attainment is closely related to the EEF’s focus on socio-economic disadvantage. It also aligns with the EEF’s work on SEND in mainstream settings and the emerging evidence which suggests that high-quality teaching for pupils with SEND benefits all learners. Additionally, the programme has been delivered widely, with some modifications, addressing a gap in evidence on SEND interventions in secondary schools.
Due to the impact of COVID-19, the programme was delayed, and the duration was shortened from 16 to 11 months and delivered from September 2021 until July 2022. In addition, data was collected two years after the delivery to give time for the programme to embed in schools. This had considerable implications for the quality of data collected over an extended trial period. This means the findings have a very low security rating.
With these limitations in mind, the evaluation found that pupils with SEND in SEND Review schools made one additional months’ progress in GCSE English Language, on average, compared to pupils with SEND in other schools. Tentatively positive results were also found for pupils eligible for Free School Meals, as well as all pupils in SEND Review schools, not only pupils with SEND.
There appears to be no evidence that pupils with SEND in intervention schools have lower absence or exclusion rates than pupils in control schools, and their wellbeing does not appear to be any different to control groupAs part of a Randomised Controlled Trial (RCT), settings will be randomised into either the intervention or control group. Settings in the control group continue with their usual practices and help provide a comparison to measure the intervention’s impact. They are usually offered a monetary compensation as thanks for their contribution. pupils with SEND.
The implementation and process evaluationAn IPE is used to understand how and why an intervention has (or has not) been successful. Data is analysed to explore programme quality, reach, adaptation and differentiation, as well as setting fidelity and responsiveness to the trial design. found that the programme was well received, and led to a range of positive changes in line with the goals of the programme, such as strategic leadership of SEND and an improved culture of collaboration across schools to support pupils with SEND.
Given the low confidence in these results, particularly regarding the primary outcome, a follow-up report is planned for late 2025, using data from the National Pupil Database.