Access to education for children and young people with medical needs: a practitioner's view

Recent estimates suggest that in any one year there are around 100,000 children who need to receive their education outside school because of illness or injury. This figure does not include the growing number of young people who cannot attend their own schools because of mental health difficulties. In November 2001, the Department for Education and Skills published statutory guidance which 'sets out minimum national standards for the education of children who are unable to attend school because of medical needs.' Christine Seymour, Headteacher of a hospital school and home tuition service in a large, rural county and Chairperson of the National Association of Hospital and Home Teachers, examines how this guidance can assist in raising educational standards and removing barriers to achievement for this group of vulnerable children. She begins by summarizing the developments over the past decade which led to the statutory guidance and sets the document in the context of the Social Inclusion agenda. She explores the potential impact of such guidance on current and future practice from a practitioner's viewpoint, drawing on experiential observation and case study material to provide illustrative evidence.