Admin overload: SENCOs spending over 10 hours a week on paperwork, report finds

SEND administration adds over 10 hours a week for over half of SENCOs, but new tech is capable of reducing the workload, according to a new report on Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) provision across England and Wales.

The Tes SEND Report 2024 showed that 91 per cent of teachers feel acquiring funding from their local authorities is ‘difficult’ or ‘very difficult’, with delays in acquiring funding adding to the challenge.

This comes as 86 per cent of respondents believe the SEND population in their school has increased compared to three years ago.

Max Lienard, chief operating officer at Tes, a magazine for education professionals, said: “A growing demand for SEND support is putting pressure on every level of the system, with all involved recognising the need for a long-term plan to ensure every pupil can thrive at school.”

36 per cent of respondents in the report said the Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) process regularly exceeded the 20 weeks that local authorities work towards, with the report showing only 11 per cent received more than 75 per cent of their funding request.

The report also found teacher confidence working with students with SEND requirements was low, with 35 per cent feeling ‘very confident’. One in five respondents also feel less confident in their practice than they did three years ago, with more than half of respondents citing the increased challenges of delivering SEND support.

Previous research by Tes suggests, however, suggests that new technology can ‘alleviate the administrative burden’ for SENCOs. In one survey, research showed how Provision Map, software that enables schools to map and manage SEND provision effectively and efficiently, saved SENCOs 20 per cent of their time.

 Max Lienard said: “We believe that technology plays a key role in streamlining teacher workloads, and by using tech like Tes’ Provision Map SENDCOs are able to considerably reduce the time spent on administrative tasks.

“This helps schools and trusts ensure that their SEND leads are focusing on pupils, and not pupils’ paperwork.”

In another survey, Class Charts, software that helps teachers deliver seating plans, identify bad behaviour, and reward good behaviour, was found to give back the average UK school 10,000 hours of lost teaching time each year.

The data for multi academy trusts (MATs) showed 40 per cent of teachers in a MAT felt ‘positive’ to ‘very positive’ about the impact MATs had on SEND, compared to just 12 per cent that felt it had a ‘negative’ impact.

When asked on the reason, respondents spoke positively of support, training and expertise, especially for senior leaders where 53 per cent felt positive or very positive about being part of a MAT.

Read the full report here.