How are SEN kids schooled in other countries?

[SixFiveThreeThree]

As discussed elsewhere, the spiralling costs of SEN schools are bankrupting councils across the UK.

This got me thinking: how do other countries fund SEN education? Are comparable countries like Germany and France also bankrupting themselves over this issue?

Funding varies a lot by country.

this looks at Sen across the EU countries.
https://ec.europa.eu/social/BlobServlet?docId=15993&langId=en

in general there isn’t much agreement about Sen between countries - so some children who are obviously physically or otherwise disabled are generally identified quite early by most countries and are offered either special school or inclusive education.

most countries have some kind of special school system but how big it is varies quite a lot, and who pays for it varies. In France for example it comes under medical rather than education budget.

the other kinds of Sen - dyslexia, adhd, autism etc have wildly varying methods of diagnosis by country and it’s therefore not really possible to easily conpare.

the report above for example shows Iceland as having 25% of their school population as having SEN.

in England ehcps are legally enforceable and are binding on local councils. Sen spending is generally going up in most countries but not all countries are seeing the big increase in autism and adhd diagnoses that the U.K. is.

In most other countries, if a child doesn't pass the year (ie has not made sufficient progress) they redo the year. This alone is probably a good incentive to study and for parents to seek support outside school - who wants to be the ony 14 year old in a class of 11 year olds?

My dd was very academically capable though. But couldn’t cope with mainstream.

My autistic child who isn’t in school is academically well above average even in our decile 1 area.

This isn’t the case.

if you think about it, it would lead to severely disabled children with learning difficulties staying in reception (or the first year or school) until they are 18 or so.

most countries look to identify severely disabled children ideally before the start of mainstream schooling and they are offered special schools.

blind kids, deaf kids, kids in wheelchairs don’t even start in mainstream.

in addition, if it becomes clear that a child is not going to cope in mainstream most countries have some way of moving them to an appropriate school.

so for example I have friends in Switzerland. Children who “fail” reception get to resit it the next year. If after that they are not at standard they move to a special school.

My DS is in the county autism class. We're a small county, I think the population is 25000. He gets picked up by a taxi and brought home in the afternoon too. I think they all have moderate autism, because there is another special school in a different town where a couple of kids from DDS class have transferred to. They have higher support needs.

There isn't even a word for "SEN" in some European countries, because the right to education is so deeply ingrained in society.

https://www.euneoscourses.eu/how-does-finland-fund-its-special-education-programs/

https://www.techclass.com/resources/education-insights/finlands-approach-to-special-education-how-every-student-gets-individualized-support

Thanks. Which country is this please?

Denmark. Can't believe I managed to write a response and miss that crucial detail!