Research Section: The School Placement of Pupils with Down's Syndrome in England and Wales

Abstract

Data on the placements of over 3,000 children with Down's syndrome (born between 1980 and 1992) were collected from 94 areas around the country, over the 12 year period studied. Analysis showed an increase in the proportion of children attending mainstream schools, with wide local variations. Very small numbers of children had mixed placements (part‐time mainstream/special school) and placements in specially resourced units. Changes in school type occurred from mainstream to special school, typically at around 8 or 9 and again at 11 to 12 years. There was a disproportionate number of boys with Down's syndrome in special schools, apparently because more boys than girls entered special schools at 5 or 6 years old.

Getting in and staying there: Children with Down syndrome in mainstream schools

“…Norwich (1994; demonstrated similar local variations for all children with statements of SEN. There was a strong correlation between Norwich's (1997) LEA data and data on children with Down syndrome (Cuckle, 1997); where LEAs had high proportions of all statemented children in mainstream schools, they were also likely to mainstream high proportions of children with DS. As expected, in each LEA the proportions of children with DS in mainstream were smaller than all children with statements.…”

“…A study of over 3,000 children aged five to sixteen with Down syndrome in England and Wales showed an increase in the proportions in mainstream schools from about 4% to 38% in the years between 1983 and 1996 (Cuckle, 1997). There are two reasons for this increase; more have gone into primary school at five or six years old in recent years and more have stayed in mainstream than previously.…”

“…In order to explain the local differences found in Cuckle (1997) and in Norwich (1994; 12 LEAs with widely varying proportions of children with DS in mainstream schools were contacted by telephone. Officers responsible for placements were asked about their LEA's policies and what role the parents had in initial placements.…”

“…In the Netherlands (Scheepstra et al, 1996) the number of children with Down syndrome in "regular education" has been growing, and the authors attribute considerable influence to parental support groups in encouraging parents to seek mainstream placements; this was also suggested in Cuckle (1997). Some earlier work had been carried out involving a series of 13 case studies of children aged between three and twelve in the early 1990s.…”

“…Having been placed in a mainstream school, what influences whether an individual child stays there? From about 1,000 complete school histories, Cuckle (1997) saw that in recent years more children with DS had stayed in mainstream schools than previously, however children did still transfer to special schools most typically around age 9 and again at eleven or twelve. The study did not address the question of what contributes to continuing mainstream placements, however there are a few small studies which contribute some information.…”