Towards equitable SEND systems: South-Asian and Indian-Panjabi Sikh parents’ experiences with SEND-support in England

Abstract

The Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) code of practice mandates that education professionals ensure all children with SEND are treated fairly and have access to adequate services and education, irrespective of their ethnicity and culture. Despite this legislation, children from ethnic minority backgrounds receiving SEND-support continue to be disproportionately represented in England's education system. Understanding over- and under-representation is crucial to ensuring equitable SEND-support for all children in need. Culturally responsive practices can help ensure equitable access to support and are underpinned by guidance from governing bodies of the educational psychology profession in England. However, there is a dearth of literature exploring minority SEND experiences and the development of educational psychologists’ culturally responsive practices.
A systematic literature review explored how South-Asian parents understand their children’s SEND and how they describe their experiences with education professionals and SEND-systems in England. The findings from 11 studies were synthesised. Key findings suggest that South-Asian parents experience unmet language needs, cultural stigma and shame (sharam), and a lack of support, exacerbating power imbalances with education professionals, including educational psychologists. The empirical research used critical communicative methodology to explore Indian-Panjabi Sikh parents’ experiences with SEND-systems. Parents face significant barriers in navigating SEND-systems and are vulnerable to isolation due to a lack of perceived professional, familial, and community support. They discussed issues related to unmet language needs, absence of interpreters, cultural considerations, informed consent, and clear information on EP involvement and parental rights during EHCP processes. These experiences contributed to disempowerment and vulnerability to SEND-stigma and sharam (shame). Moreover, parents described SEND-support for autistic children in mainstream schools as inadequate. These findings highlight the unique difficulties parents face in understanding SEND and accessing support. The findings suggest that children from minority ethnic and linguistic backgrounds are at risk of receiving inadequate support when EPs and teachers lack cultural responsiveness. Given the new UK government in power, research exploring accessibility to equitable SEND-support for families of children with SEND from minority backgrounds is timely. Culturally responsive practices are discussed and identified in response.

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ORCID for Vasilis Strogilos: orcid.org/0000-0003-1754-4306

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