The Department for Education should better monitor the distribution of pupils with special educational needs and disabilities in schools, given fears that SEND magnet schools are facing “unrealistic” expectations, according to a new report.

New research from the National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER) says that schools with strong reputations for inclusion are often treated as “last resort” placements when specialist capacity is limited, and that not all SEND needs can be met in mainstream schools.

The findings follow previous NFER research showing that primary and secondary schools with the highest rate of pupils with SEND have, on average, more than twice the proportion as those with the fewest.

There have been concerns that schools that develop a reputation for being inclusive are becoming “SEND magnet” schools, attracting more pupils with special educational needs and therefore facing increasing pressure on their resources. And heads have also said that running a resource provision or SEN unit can mean becoming a magnet school.

‘SEND magnet schools’ under pressure

Using national pupil data, survey findings from 800 Sendcos and senior leaders in schools and interview responses from schools and local authorities, the NFER found that in schools with lower intakes of pupils with SEND, it may be more difficult to develop strong practice.

The clustering of pupils with SEND in certain schools created expectations of support that “exceeded” what could be achieved, the researchers warn.

According to Sendcos in the survey, schools with reputations for good inclusive practice “often attracted” expectations of “highly individualised” support that they could not provide.

The report states: “High-SEND schools noted that expectations were frequently shaped by advice from other schools, professionals or parent networks.

“This could set unrealistic expectations about what they could offer, as compared to a special school.”

Researchers found that the clustering of pupils with SEND in certain schools was driven by “structural steering”, meaning pupils were drawn to schools known for strong inclusion and diverted to them when other schools were full.

The NFER also found that some schools were less inclined to promote inclusive practice and, in some cases, discouraged SEND admissions, citing pressures on capacity and performance measures.

Schools that already provide strong inclusive practice may find this difficult to sustain, the report says, because increased demand for SEND support could intensify pressures on Sendcos, leadership time and budgets.

Referring to the rise of SEND magnet schools, the researchers say: “Over time, this can shape system behaviour: other schools may become more reluctant to admit pupils with SEND or may seek to avoid developing a SEND-inclusive reputation, which, in turn, pushes more demand back on to the same high-SEND schools.”

Matt Walker, principal investigator and senior research manager at the NFER, said the findings indicate that support for pupils with SEND is “not being shared evenly” but concentrated “in a minority of schools and placing unsustainable pressure” on them.

“While these schools are demonstrating what effective inclusion can look like, the system itself is working against them, repeatedly steering pupils towards the same settings,” he said.

“At the same time, schools with fewer SEND pupils often do not develop the same breadth of expertise and experience, meaning the system is neither building capacity nor sharing responsibility effectively.”

The researchers’ findings follow the announcement of significant reforms aimed at making mainstream schools more inclusive, outlined in the schools White Paper.

The government has committed to a £3 billion investment over the next four years to ensure all mainstream schools have “inclusion bases” - either specialist or support bases - to enable “more children to get the opportunity to be educated in a local mainstream setting”.

Despite the government’s ambition to increase specialist support in mainstream settings, the NFER report concludes that not all SEND needs can be met in mainstream schools and the aims will be “hard to realise” if responsibility for SEND “continues to cluster in a minority of settings”.