How accessible is university for learners with SEND?
What do you understand by ‘SEND’ or ‘special educational needs and disabilities’? There can be an assumption (probably an unconscious one) that learners with SEND will not be on a pathway to higher education, as they have ‘learning difficulties’. This is a misconception. There are many reasons why a young person is on the SEND register, many of which should not and do not mean that they don’t have the academic potential to access HE.
Take the young person with autism, who achieves highly in their chosen subjects but may find social interaction and change or transition challenging, and so is anxious about moving on to HE and doesn’t apply. Or the young person with a physical disability who communicates via eye gaze technology, but has exceptional ability in science (Stephen Hawking, anyone?). How about the young person who has recently been identified with dyslexia, which helps to explain why they have struggled to get their essays in on time – their potential in history...