Wednesday, December 24, 2025
Reform under fire on special needs education
The paper says that the schools standards minister Georgia Gould has slapped down comments from Reform party figures, which have included claims of children being “naughty”, bad parenting and an overdiagnosis of SEND issues:
She fiercely rejected the idea of parents doing something wrong and warned such claims impact children’s sense of identity and belonging at school.
Asked about Reform, Ms Gould told The Mirror : “I've seen comments about over diagnosis, comments about parents being the issue, about these being just naughty children.
“I think that when I speak to parents and young people, those comments have a real world impact for how they feel about themselves and their communities, how children feel with their sense of identity and belonging at school. I completely reject the idea that this is something that parents are doing wrong.
“Any parent - I would do the same - would want to get what's best for their child and I think we should be working alongside parents, listening to them and changing things together, not blaming them for the system failures we're seeing.”
In recent months, Reform’s deputy leader Richard Tice has spoken out multiple times about the SEND system. He has claimed there has been an “over-diagnosis” of kids with SEND and said it was “insane” to see children wearing ear defenders in classrooms.
The Boston and Skegness MP also suggested some parents were trying to make money through the SEND system. He said middle class families were “playing the game” by allegedly trying to save VAT on private school fees by getting an exemption through the SEND system.
Earlier this year, Nigel Farage similarly claimed there is an overdiagnosis of mental illness and other general behavioural disabilities within children that is “creating a class of victims”.
Dr David Bull, Reform's chairman, was later criticised by Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson for claiming that “many of these kids are naughty kids, bad parenting”.
Day after day, Reform demonstrate just how unfit for government they really are.
