The autism and learning disability training rolled out to all hospitals should be extended to education.
That’s the view of campaigner Paula McGowan OBE. She led the fight for mandatory autism and learning disability training for health staff following the death of her 18-year-old son Oliver.
The teenager suffered an allergic reaction to antipsychotic medication at Bristol’s Southmead Hospital, in November 2016.
Paula McGowan wants all education staff offered training in autism and learning disabilities
Neurodivergent students ‘failed’
McGowan’s petition appears on the UK Government and Parliament site. It says “neurodivergent students are being failed and denied the most basic support” in schools.
The petition argues that the training for health staff “could easily be adapted to meet the needs of staff based in educational settings”.
She wants the training to be available to staff working across the age ranges in education, from nurseries to universities.
By the time of this news story’s publication, the petition had already reached more than 29,000 supporters.
Training ‘should be available to everyone in schools’
McGowan, 57, who lives between Australia and Bristol, said the training should be available to everyone in schools.
She said: “That means teaching assistants, it means teachers themselves, it means lunchtime supervisors are all getting a good quality training that’s been designed and delivered by neurodivergent people.”
Autistic pupils are twice as likely to be regularly and unlawfully excluded from school, a report by Birmingham University showed last year.
The research found that in the five years to 2022, every region in England had seen an increase in the number of school exclusions. The increase ranged between 45 per cent and 100 per cent.
The exclusions were due to a failure of staff to make reasonable adjustments, inadequate systems and policies, and budget cuts, say the researchers.
‘Significant investment’
The Department for Education said it is “putting significant investment into the high-needs budget”. It said this will be worth 50 per cent more than four years ago, at £10.1bn by 2023-24.
The Department is also developing a practice guide on autism for frontline staff.
Related:
- Autism training underway for NHS staff
- NHS staff autism training becomes law
- Medical staff still lack autism training
Published: 4 July 2023
