On Monday 22nd May, the Disability Policy Centre and Mile End Institute hosted a panel at Toynbee Hall on inclusive education. Disability Rights UK education policy officer, Bethany Bale, presented on the panel - alongside Michelle Daley (Director for the Alliance for Inclusive Education), Bal Deol (a researcher at Staffordshire University), Dr Nicole Brown (Associate Professor at the Institute of Education at University College London), and Sir Robert Buckland MP.
Bethany outlined some of the key barriers currently facing Disabled young people in education. These included:
- The institutionalised ableism in education policy and the fact that the UK education system was never built for Disabled people (the term ‘in-educatable’ was only abolished in 1970).
- Limited resources and restricted funding leading to the gatekeeping of support.
- A lack of accountability for local authorities and education providers who don't deliver on their legal obligations.
Bethany also argued that "a lack of real transformative change" has left current education policy "just trying to patch the gaping holes in a broken system".
The full event can be watched on the Mile End Institute YouTube channel and a summary of all speaker's contributions can be found on Queen Mary University's website.
A full list of DR UK's education policy issues, including key evidence and our policy asks, can also be found on the policy section of our website.