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Written evidence submitted by Speech and Language UK

Introduction:

We at Speech and Language UK (previously I CAN) welcome the Public Accounts Committee enquiry into educational recovery in schools. We are in complete agreement that COVID-19 and the subsequent lockdowns led to "learning loss" for all children, but particularly those from disadvantaged backgrounds and with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). At Speech and Language UK, we are working to help more than 1.7 million children in the UK who currently face challenges in talking and understanding words. Last year, we directly supported more than 65,000 children by designing tools and training for nurseries and schools and giving advice and guidance to families. Our two outstanding schools help children with the most complex speech and language challenges to overcome them.   

Overview:

Even before the pandemic our education system had problems identifying and helping children who were struggling with talking and understanding words. Since the COVID-19 lockdowns, the problem has only been exacerbated. Last year we published a report which found a growing number of children face challenges talking and understanding words – from an estimated 1.5 million in 2021 to 1.7 million in 2022 – a marked increase of 200,000[1]. Unfortunately we also know the impact that unaddressed languages needs can have on the life of a child, throughout their education and in to adulthood. For instance a child struggling with talking and understanding words from a young age can suffer:

• Worse literacy and numeracy: 6x less likely to reach expected standard in English, 11x less likely in Maths[2]
• Low GCSE grades: only 15% gain a 9-5 pass at GCSE in English and Maths[3]
• More mental health problems: 2x more likely to develop mental health difficulties in adulthood[4]
• Increased risk of offending: At least 60% of young offenders have language difficulties[5]
• Less secure employment: 2x more likely to experience unemployment as adults[6]

Covid recovery:

The government has invested in catch-up support for children with difficulties talking and understanding words in Reception through the Nuffield Early Language Intervention and further training for staff in early years through the Early Years Professional Development Programme. However, children across all age groups are struggling and therefore interventions are not just needed in the early years.  

The 2021 Spending Review announced extra recovery funding of £1.8bn to help schools and colleges tackle lost learning from the pandemic. But we here at Speech and Language UK know that talking and understanding words underpins almost all other learning. Without it a child will not be able to engage properly in phonics and reading recovery programmes and the money spent on those programmes could end up being wasted. That is why we believe that it is vital that part of any further recovery funding goes towards specific support for speech and language challenges.

We know that the pandemic impacted children, but that most do not have lifelong conditions affecting language development, they just didn’t have the usual experience in their early years due to lockdown. There are things we can do for these children that are effective and far cheaper than letting long term needs develop. With a relatively inexpensive intervention, done within a mainstream school setting, a large proportion of children currently behind would be fully caught up and need no further specialist treatment. The Educational Endowment Foundation’s recent evaluation found the cost of additional resources for speech and language intervention for early years was between £10 and £20 per pupil, with one intensive communications programme costing around £80 per child for a 30-week intervention, which included professional development[7]. If such interventions aren’t put in place we know the problems compound, making the child’s life and education far more difficult and the solutions more costly.

But teachers need the tools to identify children who need extra help, as well as helping them adapt their teaching and knowing where to refer children on to. It is essential that they are upskilled, trained and supported. Teachers themselves tell us they don’t feel sufficiently equipped to help those who are behind in talking and understanding words. In our poll, 41% of teachers said they didn’t have adequate training in this area, rising to 50% of teachers with 5 years or less teaching experience. It is worrying that the level of training is getting worse with time, not better, a clear sign that more action is needed[8].

Proposed solutions:

As stated above, before the pandemic, the provision for children struggling with talking and understanding words was inadequate. The pandemic has served to highlight these inadequacies and make them worse. If the government is serious about COVID recovery and even making things better than before the pandemic, we have a few suggestions.

We believe the Government needs to introduce: 

• A new free screening tool for class teachers that could be used at the start of key stages 1 and 2. This tool would measure and track where children are with talking and understanding words and identify who needs extra help.
• Better guidance for schools on the range of tools they can use to intervene to help children. Currently the Government only recommends one programme (the Nuffield Early Language Intervention). This is inflexible given the range of challenges schools face in delivering programmes. We can extend the range of options through supplying the evidence on our What Works database which was initially funded by the DfE.  
• Training in speech and language development and how to adapt teaching for children with long-term speech and language challenges in Initial Teacher Training, the Early Career Framework and training for SENCos. 
• Better guidance on the needs of children with lifelong speech and language conditions such as Developmental Language Disorder (DLD) in the SEND Code of Practice. 
• More emphasis on talking and understanding words into the Ofsted inspection framework to incentivise schools to concentrate on this area and boost literacy and numeracy results.  
• A national campaign to educate parents-to-be about talking and understanding words so that more families understand how to support their children with spoken language development.

The government should prioritise their education recovery spending on existing, cost effective, proven methods that would not only help reverse the “learning loss”, but could also improve outcomes for children to beyond pre-pandemic levels.

February 2023