Special educational needs and disabilities
Learners with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) can ask their education provider for support with lessons, assessments and access to learning.
Ask for support
Tell your school, college, Study School, Learning Hub or other provider about the difficulty you are experiencing. You can describe what happens in lessons or assessments and what might help.
You do not always need a diagnosis before a provider can consider support.
How support is agreed
The Education Access and SEND Framework uses a graduated approach:
- Assess the learning need and the barrier.
- Plan the support with the learner.
- Do or put the agreed support in place.
- Review whether it is helping and make changes where needed.
Support may involve accessible materials, changes to teaching, communication help, reasonable adjustments or specialist advice.
Assessment and qualifications
Ask your provider about reasonable adjustments to tests or assessments. Adjustments should address the barrier while maintaining the essential requirements of the assessment.
If you disagree
Use the education provider’s complaints or review procedure. The correct route depends on the decision and the provider.
See Schools, Study Schools and Learning Hubs for information about education services.