SEND ITE resources

Schools White Paper and Consultation on SEND reform

Dear colleagues

Today (Monday 23 February 2026) marks the publications of the department’s landmark Schools White Paper and consultation on SEND reform.

As part of the package of announcements, I wanted to highlight the launch of the new Teacher Training Entitlement (TTE). The TTE sets out four strategic priorities that will guide our work on professional development, with an aim to ensure every teacher and leader can access high-quality professional development opportunities:

1. Strengthen the existing national offer of professional development. We will embed the new Early career teacher entitlement that started delivery in September 2025, and reform National Professional Qualifications (NPQs) for school leaders to better reflect the training needs of today. This will include new content on supporting pupils with SEND and people leadership skills as well as reviewing NPQ training to help more teachers from underrepresented groups step into senior roles. We have also committed to an expanded and enhanced early headship coaching offer. The review of NPQs is already underway, followed by a further review of the Early Career Teacher Entitlement in 2027.
2. Extend the national offer so there is training at every stage by introducing new professional development programmes for experienced teachers and leaders. We will develop new models of CPD programmes that complement the ECTE and NPQs, starting with:

• New inclusive teaching and inclusive leadership programmes, to help teachers and leaders meet all children’s needs and lead schools that are inclusive by design
• New training for reception classroom teachers to help ensure every child gets the best possible foundation in their first year of school.
1. Ensure development opportunities are clear and accessible to all teachers and leaders. Our first steps will involve working with Universal RISE, alongside Teaching School Hubs, to ensure all schools know how to access high-quality professional development within their communities.
2. Support strong development cultures in schools, by supporting and better promoting research on implementing effective CPD, ensuring NPQs reflect this. This includes work underway with the National Institute of Teaching on their recently launched CPD portal and developing a promising Teacher Education Dataset to help dig into what makes teaching most effective.

Across these four strategic four priorities our focus will be on addressing the key challenges highlighted in the White Paper for disadvantaged pupils and those with SEND.

An evidence-based and impactful CPD offer is also being established for Further Education.

Thank you for all the thinking and feedback you’ve shared with us as we’ve been developing these priorities. We look forward to continuing to work in partnership with you to deliver this vision for what professional development can achieve for our schools and children.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us at Enquiries.CPD@education.gov.uk

Kind regards,

Emma Hubball (she/her)

Deputy Director – Developing Teachers and Leaders

SEND: built in, not bolted on

Teachers can feel disempowered by the expectation to teach learners with a wide variety of needs. The resources signposted on this page help to demystify the teaching of children with SEND and empower new and developing teachers. The resources emphasise the importance of inclusive teaching and learning that is driven by knowledge of the child and how they learn. Teachers do not need to become experts in every SEND diagnosis to be effective. Teachers need to learn how to deepen their knowledge of the pupils they teach and how to adapt their classroom environment so they can plan, teach and assess for all their learners with equal confidence.

The nasen Sendgateway https://nasen.org.uk/ hosts a wealth of resources that can support Initial Teacher Education and Early Career Development of teachers. These resources are free to download and designed to support ITE and ECF curriculum development.

Teacher Handbook: SEND

The SEND Teacher Handbook can be found here – and is a one click download and includes a wealth of resources that will support to development of adaptive teaching and will build the confidence of new teachers and their mentors to work with children with identified and unidentified special educational needs (SEND).

Download here:

ITE Resources for SEND & Inclusion

To accompany the handbook the sendgateway hosts a range of resources designed for mentors and tutors to use for training and teacher education for inclusion and effective support of children with special educational needs.

The full suite of resources can be found here https://ittr.sendgateway.org.uk/

The easy to use presentation power points can be found on the website or downloaded via the links below:

Permeating Themes:

• Access to teaching
  • Supporting trainees to better understand their own learning needs, as well as advice on seeking support to teach whilst appropriately managing a disability
• The language we use

  • It is important to be aware of the language we use and the impact our words and tone can have. Using strengths-based language when working with children with SEND enables teachers to teach beyond the constraints of medical labels and low expectations. Positive language ensures young people are respected and that teachers are ambitious for what they can achieve.

• Adopting a graduated approach to pedagogy and practice

  • How to respond when a child is struggling to make progress in your lesson. A graduated approach that involves a four-part cycle of Assess, Plan, Do & Review can support all teachers to help move the learning forward.

• Noticing

  • Noticing can be a teacher’s superpower. Noticing a learner’s strengths and challenges informs how we plan and teach. The skill of noticing can be practised and developed.

• Classroom environment

  • The role of the teacher in creating an inclusive classroom environment where all children have the opportunity to access, participate and thrive.

• Teacher identity and inclusion

  • Building a vision and set of personal and professional beliefs for being an inclusive teacher.

• Co-learning with (and as) experts

  • Working effectively with other experts in the classroom. The importance of co-design and co-production as part of an effective pedagogic partnership.

• Working with Teaching Assistants

  • Building effective partnerships with support staff in your classroom.

We plan to add to this resource bank over time and welcome contributions from ITE providers.