Indigo is right, legally nothing changes, but we all know what 'legally' means to some schools/HTs. We have seen it happening in academies all across our borough and we are now in the position of not having one single secondary that hasn't gone for academy status.
Yes, they are trying to make a story out of it - but its not exactly the Daily Mail is it?
They talk to a few different people - a lawyer who specialises in SEN cases, ACE The Council for Disabled Children, Parent Partnership as well as a lawyer who represents schools and academies and the head of a highly inclusive academy - so its quite balanced. It actually discusses the need for proper documented data, as currently none is being collated, so the scope of the problem is unclear.
They also agree with Indigo, that it is driven by the Governors and HTs of the individual schools and that's the important bit. A good inclusive school will always be just that, as long as the administration remains the same. Some schools however can and do use their academy status to try and shirk their responsibilities towards SEN pupils. They are also concerned that some academies seem to be trying to protect their league table status by reducing the numbers of SEN pupils on the role - which is exactly what our local secondary is doing. Fortunately the Head has just moved on to pastures new, so as long as the Governors are on side, hopefully things may improve.
The other concern is that the that, unlike Indigo's school, academies that don't want to tow the line, will have more scope to evade their responsiblities under the new 'freedoms' afforded by academy status'. Yes, legally they have the same responsiblities, but as yet, they are not policed anywhere near as closely as maintained schools, so some schools may try to get away with it and that's a loophole that needs closing.
I don't see any problem with keeping an eye on the situation and seeing how it pans out and listening to this sort of report is all part of the process. imho.