📚 UK SEN Students During the Pandemic: Experiences and the Next Steps for Reform | 英国特殊教育需求学生疫情期经历与改革下一步
Between 2020 and 2022 the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted every part of the UK education system, but it hit pupils with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) hardest. This article reviews what happened to SEN pupils during school closures, what the evidence shows about lost learning, therapy and wellbeing, and how policy has responded in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. It then sets out the reform agenda that is now on the table.
2020 年至 2022 年间，新冠疫情打乱了英国教育体系的每一个环节，而受影响最深的正是有特殊教育需求与残障（SEND）的学生。本文回顾疫情停课期间 SEN 学生的真实处境，梳理有关学业倒退、治疗中断与身心健康的证据，并对比英格兰、威尔士、苏格兰与北爱尔兰的政策回应，最后梳理当前摆上桌面的改革议程。
1. Who Are the UK’s SEN Pupils? | 英国的特殊教育需求学生是谁
In England, ‘special educational needs’ is a legal category with two tiers. Most pupils with SEN are recorded as receiving ‘SEN support’ in a mainstream school; a smaller group hold an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP), a statutory document that names provision and gives legal entitlements. In recent school censuses roughly 18 per cent of pupils in England have been identified with SEN, and around 4 to 5 per cent hold an EHCP.
在英格兰，”特殊教育需求”是一个法律类别，分为两个层级：大多数 SEN 学生被记录为在主流学校接受”SEN 支持”（SEN support）；人数较少的一部分学生持有一份”教育与健康照护计划”（EHCP），这是列明具体支持内容并赋予法定权利的法律文件。近年学校普查显示，英格兰约有 18% 的学生被认定为有 SEN，其中约 4% 至 5% 持有 EHCP。
The four UK nations use different frameworks: England’s SEN and EHCP system sits under the Children and Families Act 2014; Wales replaced SEN with ‘additional learning needs’ (ALN) and ‘individual development plans’ (IDPs) under the Additional Learning Needs and Education Tribunal (Wales) Act 2018; Scotland uses ‘additional support for learning’ (ASL) and co-ordinated support plans; Northern Ireland retains statements of special educational needs, with reform legislation passed in 2016 only partially commenced.
英国四个地区使用不同框架：英格兰的 SEN 与 EHCP 体系依据《2014 年儿童与家庭法》；威尔士依《2018 年额外学习需求与教育法庭（威尔士）法》以”额外学习需求”（ALN）和”个别发展计划”（IDP）取代 SEN；苏格兰采用”额外学习支持”（ASL）与协调支持计划；北爱尔兰仍保留”特殊教育需求声明”制度，2016 年通过的改革立法至今仅部分生效。
Official categories matter sociologically because they are labels. The four broad areas of need in England are communication and interaction (including autism and speech, language and communication needs), cognition and learning (including dyslexia and moderate or severe learning difficulties), social, emotional and mental health (SEMH), and sensory or physical needs. Who gets labelled, and with what, is shaped by school practices, resources and professional judgement as much as by any purely medical fact.
从社会学角度看，官方分类本身就是一种”标签”。英格兰将需求分为四大领域：沟通与互动（含自闭症、言语语言沟通需求）、认知与学习（含阅读障碍、中度或重度学习困难）、社会情绪与心理健康（SEMH）、感官或身体需求。谁被贴上标签、贴上哪种标签，既受医学事实影响，也深受学校实践、资源配置与专业判断的影响。
2. The Pandemic Shock: Closures, Bubbles and Attendance | 疫情冲击：停课、气泡管理与出勤
On 20 March 2020 schools in England closed to most pupils. Only ‘vulnerable’ children and the children of key workers could attend, and pupils with an EHCP were explicitly named as vulnerable. In practice attendance among this group was very low for long periods – frequently reported in single figures as a proportion of those eligible – because families were shielding, fearful, or simply not contacted.
2020 年 3 月 20 日，英格兰学校对绝大多数学生关闭，只有”弱势”儿童和关键岗位工作者的子女可以到校，而持 EHCP 的学生被明确列入弱势群体。但实际上，这一群体长期出勤率极低——在符合条件者中所占比例常被报道为个位数——原因包括家庭 shielding（自我隔离保护）、恐慌，或者根本未被学校联系到。
From September 2020 to summer 2021, pupils moved in and out of ‘bubbles’ and year-group isolation. For a child with autism or a sensory impairment, repeated, unpredictable changes to routine and support staff were uniquely damaging. Many pupils lost the one-to-one adult they had built a relationship with over years.
2020 年 9 月至 2021 年夏，学生在”气泡”与年级隔离之间反复进出。对自闭症或感官障碍儿童而言，作息与支持人员反复且不可预测的变动造成的伤害尤为独特。许多学生失去了那个他们花数年才建立起关系的、一对一的成年人。
The attendance gap did not disappear when restrictions ended. Pupils with SEN have consistently been more likely to be ‘persistently absent’ (missing 10 per cent or more of sessions) than their peers, and the gap widened after 2020. Attendance is now treated as a SEND issue as much as a behaviour issue.
限制解除后，出勤差距并未消失。SEN 学生成为”长期缺勤”（缺课达 10% 及以上）的可能性一直高于同龄人，且这一差距在 2020 年后进一步扩大。如今，出勤已被视为一项与行为同等重要的 SEND 议题。
3. Remote Learning and the Digital Divide | 远程学习与数字鸿沟
Remote education was rarely designed with disabled pupils in mind. Platforms were sometimes incompatible with screen readers, live lessons were not always captioned, British Sign Language interpretation was patchy, and printed packs excluded pupils who needed tactile or adapted materials.
远程教育在设计之初很少考虑残障学生。部分平台与屏幕阅读器不兼容，直播课并非都有字幕，手语（BSL）翻译时有时无，而纸质学习包则把需要触觉材料或改编材料的学生排除在外。
Alongside accessibility sat material deprivation. Estimates from Ofcom and others suggested that a substantial minority of children – concentrated among those on free school meals – lacked reliable access to a laptop, tablet or home internet. The Department for Education’s device scheme distributed over a million devices, but delivery was slow and often arrived after the periods of greatest need.
与可及性问题并存的是物质匮乏。Ofcom 等机构的估计显示，相当一部分儿童——尤其集中在领取免费校餐的群体中——无法稳定获得笔记本电脑、平板或家庭网络。教育部的设备发放计划虽配发了超过一百万台设备，但配送缓慢，往往在最需要的时期之后才到位。
The burden of delivery fell heavily on parents and teaching assistants. Because a large share of SEN support in mainstream schools is delivered by teaching assistants, the shift online removed the adult who usually adapted tasks, prompted, scribed and regulated.
执行重担大部分落在家长和助教身上。由于主流学校的 SEN 支持很大一部分由助教提供，转为线上后，那位平时负责调整任务、提示、代写和情绪调节的成年人也随之消失。
4. Lost Therapies: Health and Care Services | 失去的治疗：健康与照护服务
An EHCP is deliberately a plan spanning education, health and social care. During the pandemic that joint working largely broke down. Speech and language therapy, occupational therapy, physiotherapy, school nursing and community paediatrics were paused, reduced or moved online, and online delivery was often ineffective for young children or pupils with significant communication needs.
EHCP 的设计本意正是跨越教育、健康与社会照护的联合计划，而疫情期间这种协同基本瓦解。言语语言治疗、作业治疗、物理治疗、学校护理与社区儿科或被暂停、或被缩减、或转为线上，而线上形式对幼儿或沟通需求显著的学生往往效果有限。
Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) saw referrals fall in 2020 and then surge, leaving waiting lists that in some areas stretched into years. Assessment pathways for autism and ADHD were similarly overwhelmed, which matters because an EHCP or a diagnosis is often the gateway to funded support.
儿童与青少年心理健康服务（CAMHS）在 2020 年转介量下降，随后激增，部分地区等候时间长达数年。自闭症与多动症的评估通道同样不堪重负——这一点至关重要，因为 EHCP 或诊断往往是获得有资金支持的服务的前提。
The reported consequences were regression rather than simply slower progress: loss of speech and language gains, loss of continence or self-care skills, loss of mobility, and increased dependence on parents for tasks the child had previously managed independently.
各方报告的后果并非”进步变慢”，而是能力倒退：语言能力的进步丧失、如厕或自理技能退步、行动能力下降，以及孩子在原本已能独立完成的事情上更加依赖父母。
5. EHCPs and Statutory Duties Under Strain | 承压的 EHCP 与法定义务
The Children and Families Act 2014 sets statutory timescales: six weeks to decide whether to assess, sixteen weeks to decide whether to issue a plan, and twenty weeks in total. Under the Coronavirus Act 2020 the government issued a notice temporarily modifying certain duties, telling providers to use ‘reasonable endeavours’ instead. In England the modified duties were not applied in practice, and the notice was withdrawn in summer 2020, but the signal to families was damaging.
《2014 年儿童与家庭法》规定了法定时限：6 周内决定是否评估，16 周内决定是否出计划，全流程共 20 周。依《2020 年冠状病毒法》，政府曾发布通知，临时修改部分义务，要求服务方改为”尽合理努力”。在英格兰，修改后的义务实际上未被援引，通知也于 2020 年夏撤回，但这一信号对家庭造成的伤害已经产生。
EHCP 法定流程：6 周（决定是否评估）+ 10 周（评估与出草案）+ 4 周（最终出计划）= 20 周
Even before 2020, compliance was poor. Nationally, only around half to two thirds of new EHCPs were completed within 20 weeks in a typical year, and the proportion fell further during the pandemic. Requests for assessment, and the number of plans maintained, rose sharply after 2021.
即便在 2020 年之前，合规情况也不理想。通常年份全国仅有约一半至三分之二的新 EHCP 能在 20 周内完成，疫情期间这一比例进一步下降。2021 年之后，评估申请量与在册计划数量都大幅上升。
A useful way to express the pressure is the demand ratio, calculated as:
衡量压力的一种方式是计算需求比：
需求比 = (当年新提出的 EHCP 评估申请数 ÷ 当年实际完成的新计划数) × 100%
When this ratio rises above 100 per cent, a backlog is accumulating: more families are asking than the system is completing, and delays compound year on year.
当该比值超过 100%，意味着积压正在形成：提出申请的家庭多于系统完成的数量，延误便逐年叠加。
6. Mental Health, Wellbeing and Regression | 心理健康、福祉与能力倒退
NHS surveys of children and young people showed a marked rise in probable mental disorders after 2020, and children with SEN or a long-term condition were consistently more likely to be affected. Anxiety about returning to school, sometimes described as emotionally based school avoidance, became a significant reason for absence.
英国国家医疗服务体系（NHS）的儿童与青少年调查显示，2020 年后可能出现精神障碍的比例明显上升，而有 SEN 或长期健康问题的儿童受影响的可能性一直更高。对上学的焦虑——有时被称为”情绪性拒学”——成为缺勤的重要原因。
Social isolation was severe. Friendships, lunchtime clubs, and the informal social curriculum of school disappeared, and pupils who already struggled to read social cues lost the very environment in which those skills are practised.
社交孤立十分严重。友谊、午间社团以及学校中那些”非正式社交课程”全部消失，而本就难以读懂社交线索的学生，恰恰失去了练习这些技能的唯一环境。
Safeguarding risks also rose. Some families experienced bereavement, domestic abuse, or sharp income loss; disabled children are statistically more likely to live in poverty. Reduced professional contact meant that safeguarding concerns were less likely to be noticed.
保护风险同时上升。部分家庭经历丧亲、家庭暴力或收入骤减，而残障儿童在统计上更可能身处贫困。专业接触减少，意味着保护性问题更难被察觉。
7. Families as Unpaid Case Workers | 家庭成为无偿的个案工作者
During closures, parents became therapists, teaching assistants, behaviour support and IT technicians simultaneously, often while working. Surveys by parent carer forums and charities repeatedly found high levels of stress, exhaustion and financial strain, with mothers disproportionately absorbing the cost.
停课期间，家长同时担任治疗师、助教、行为支持者和 IT 技术员，往往还要兼顾工作。家长照护者论坛与慈善机构的调查一再发现，家长压力、疲惫与经济负担居高不下，而母亲承担了不成比例的成本。
Beyond care, families had to become system navigators: requesting assessments, chasing annual reviews, commissioning private reports and preparing tribunal appeals. This is a form of cultural and social capital – knowing how to work the system – that is unevenly distributed, which is precisely why the SEND system reproduces advantage.
除了照护，家庭还必须成为”制度导航员”：申请评估、催办年度审查、自费购买私人评估报告、准备法庭上诉。这是一种文化与社交资本——知道如何”操作”这套制度——而它在人群中分布不均，正因如此，SEND 体系本身会复制优势。
- Financial cost: lost earnings, childcare, travel to distant specialist provision, private assessments.
经济成本：收入损失、额外照护、远赴专科学校的交通费、私人评估费用。 - Emotional cost: blame narratives, adversarial meetings, guilt about siblings.
情绪成本：被归咎的叙事、对抗性的会议、对兄弟姐妹的愧疚。 - Time cost: hours spent on paperwork, phone calls and appeals.
时间成本：耗费在文书、电话与上诉上的大量时间。
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