My Lords, the intention of this amendment is straightforward. It is to probe and clarify. When you are training teachers in this field, can they be sure of the 20% to 25% of their students who have been identified as having special educational needs? When you get to further education, the proportion of those with special educational needs often rises. Those who have passed all their exams are not doing level 1 and level 2 qualifications, so in that situation you have a higher density.
Anybody who ever doubts this just needs to look at the number of people who we know have a neurological condition that is passed on. The figures make it clear. You are going to have a higher number of people. If we look at the number of people who have been identified as having these needs in the school system, many more will be unidentified. The maths just tells you that from the genetic stock and the numbers we have got.
What I am trying to get out of this is whether people will be trained to identify and train those people in front of them correctly. People will have different learning pathways. If someone cannot take notes from a blackboard very easily, can we do something else? Does the teacher know how to spot these people? Remember these are not the people who have been identified and have the plan; it is those who are on the edges.
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We should remember that the plan—I was there when we did it and know all the mistakes we made—was never meant to cover all those with it; it was meant to cover only those at the top. It has become more popular because those at the bottom in the school system are not being spotted or dealt with. You have a large number of people with a diverse range of problems, and learning strategies that should be employed to help them get through the courses which the teacher should know about to enable them to do their job in a reasonable way.
When the Minister replies, will she let me know what steps are being taken to make sure that the cohort of professionals who are dealing with it are given the tools to do it? If we do not, the teacher will go back to what they know and repeat it. If that is counterproductive, because the person cannot learn in that pattern, we are reinforcing failure. Please let us know what goes on.
Institutions often have a variety of support structures already in place for other courses; for instance, degree courses. Are people trained well enough to access them? Do they know what else they can do and what the technology can do for them? That is what I am trying to get at here.
I hope we get an answer that reassures me that steps are being taken. I draw the Minister’s attention to the fact that when you are dealing with teacher training for schools, there is an awareness strategy. It is there; indeed, I am afraid I helped draw it up. It is not that inclusive, but it is there. It should be expanded for this group, because there will be a higher density of people down there and probably more diverse needs within every class. That should be there. If this is not the way to do it, I ask the Minister to assure me that she will change it or to tell me where it is done, because we must address need to make it worth while educating these people to pass examinations, qualifications—call them what you like.
Can the Minister tell me that I am wrong to be worried? I beg to move.