The majority of children with autism are in mainstream schools. Around 1 in 100 children are on the autism spectrum, so all schools should expect to teach children with autism and have the understanding, training, resources and specialist support to do so.
However, teachers do not receive any mandatory training in special educational needs (SEN), despite having legal duties to adapt their teaching and approach to meet the needs of pupils with SEN. Over 70% of schools are dissatisfied with their teachers’ training in autism. Only 30% of parents of children with autism in mainstream education are satisfied with the level of understanding of autism across the school.
What we’re doing
The Welsh Assembly Government is developing a new online resource for teachers, and has agreed to include on that site the National Autistic Society’s (NAS) resource pack for teachers.
A key action of the Welsh Assembly Government’s ASD Strategic Action Plan is to produce ASD Quality Standards for schools. NAS Cyrmu continues to work with the Welsh Assembly Government as part of a group of stakeholders with expertise to contribute to the standards.
We are part of a group of voluntary sector organisations working on the reforms that are taking place in education. The group is preparing a joint paper for the Welsh Assembly Government calling for mandatory training in SEN for all teachers.
We are also supporting the Welsh Assembly Government in the production of autism-awareness information for newly qualified teachers, and are assisting in the development of an early professional development training programme in autism for teachers.