The overall aim of this opportunity is to establish an excellence framework of suppliers who can work with the Education and Training Foundation to deliver high quality, responsive and innovative Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) Continuing Professional Development (CPD) and support for those working in the Further Education (FE) and Training sector.

We know that organisations are more likely to be inclusive if their leaders and governors have a clear vision for SEND provision and outcomes for learners. We want to identify organisations that have leaders who:

- place learners with SEND at the heart of strategic planning, recognising that this approach benefits all learners and leads to organisational excellence

- include SEND strategic objectives in their corporate plan and support this with an effective development plan for staff.

- lead by example to promote an inclusive culture and ethos that actively welcomes and engages learners with SEND, parents, carers and families of learners with SEND, and other relevant stakeholders, ensuring that the learner’s voice remains central.

- understand and monitor how learners with SEND achieve their goals and aspirations, across multiple sites where appropriate, adapting provision accordingly to maximise outcomes such as academic qualifications, the development of skills and behaviours in preparation for adulthood.

We are looking for organisations who have high aspirations for their learners with SEND resulting in learners being represented on all learning programmes across the organisation including apprenticeships and T Levels. Wherever possible, we want our learners to be on programmes which lead to meaningful employment and/or independent living and we want to make this the norm across the FE system. We wish to highlight the importance of inclusive curriculum planning and development – a curriculum with clear ‘intent’ which leads to the ‘impact’ the learner aspires to.

We are looking for organisations who have developed strong relationships, including taking co-creation approaches with the following:

- Parents and carers

- Local, regional and national employers

- Universities

- Voluntary and community organisations

We would like to showcase how to develop and maximise these relationships and to deliver joint activities where parents, carers, employers, universities and voluntary organisations are advocating for these joint approaches.

We are looking for organisations who have a track record of delivering high quality information, advice and guidance to learners with SEND resulting in the majority of learners going on to have successful lives. Organisations should have a good understanding of the full range of support and schemes available including (and not limited to) supported employment, inclusive apprenticeships, supported internships, job-coaching, job-brokering, job-carving, and benefits such as Access to Work and Disabled Students’ Allowance.

Both the SEND Reforms 2014 and the recent SEND Green Paper highlights the importance of organisations working together across the SEND system to support learners with SEND to achieve their aspirations.

We are looking for organisations who have a track record in bringing different partners from within the SEND system together to better serve our learners. This may include, (but is not limited to) initiating, facilitating and delivering partnerships between:

- Mainstream and specialist FE providers

- School, FE and HE providers

- Local authority, health and social care providers

The SEND system is complex and has a range of data which has the potential for us to understand where it is and isn’t working. Data includes statistics and information on:

- Analysing supply and demand for provision for learners with SEND

- Commissioning provision and planning of places across the FE system

- Numbers of learners with SEND with and without Education, Health and Care Plans

- Local inclusion partnerships, including SEND forums and their effectiveness

- Learner attainment, destination, exclusions and characteristics including transition between life stages

We wish to identify organisations who have an understanding of the data and can work with us to interrogate and identify where there is potential to use it to understand and improve the experience of learners with SEND.

The FE system and its funding streams are complex and even more so for FE providers who wish to support their learners with SEND effectively. We are looking for organisations who have an understanding of the complexity of the funding systems and would be able to explain and navigate professionals through how to make funding work effectively to maximise the potential of learner success. The following funding streams to be considered could include but is not limited to:

- National Funding Formula

- High Needs National Funding Formula (including elements 1, 2 and 3)

- Disadvantage Funding

- Adult Education Budget

- Apprenticeship support

Specialist colleges and FE providers and organisations who have expertise in a particular learning difference play a key role in supporting our learners. There is much for us to learn from specialist provision and we want to draw on this knowledge and skills so mainstream staff and providers can benefit to support more learners in mainstream provision.

We wish to increase knowledge, skills and expertise of inclusive practice across the FE sector, and to raise the status of the SEND professionals so that ultimately this essential part of the workforce has parity of esteem with other curriculum areas. Inclusion should be at front and centre of every organisation and not side lined to a SEND team. We want to see a sector where there are more specialists in learning difference to provide a resource to draw on for all staff, so everyone can support all learners to achieve their aspirations.

We are looking for organisations who are ahead of the curve in how they support and develop staff which underpins a positive experience for learners with SEND support leading to the majority achieving their aspirations. And just as importantly, organisations who are recognised for their excellence in how they support the mental health and wellbeing of their staff and learners.