Conservatives tackled over special needs in schools

In the Conservative manifesto, Tories have stated they will end the bias towards the inclusion of children with special needs in mainstream schools, stating:

"The most vulnerable children deserve the very highest quality of care, so we will call a moratorium on the ideologically-driven closure of special schools.”

Parent Jonathan Bartley has voiced his concerns to Cameron that the bias ‘against’ inclusion was the wrong way to go, as he had been trying to get his wheel-chair using son into a local school for the past two years. He said that Cameron was not representing the needs of children in mainstream education and instead wanted to segregate disabled children.

Cameron, himself father of a disabled child who died last year, argued that he was ‘passionate’ about helping parents find the correct education and stressed that he would not make it any harder for parents.

Liberal Democrat plans would end such a presumption that the number of children in special needs schools would fall over time, instead encouraging the co-location alongside mainstream schools.