I had the opportunity recently to talk to several parents who have sons or daughters with learning difficulties or who are on the autistic spectrum who are struggling to support their children in mainstream schools. They chose a mainstream education over a more specialist environment because they believed that this was the best route to help their son or daughter learn as much as possible and to be meaningfully included in society.

Please believe me when I say that I fully believe in the principle of inclusive education. I just wonder if some mainstream schools do. I don’t know if it is the stringent targets they have in terms of educational attainment or if it is simply that many teachers do not have the skills and experience to support people properly but I do know that, for many, it just isn’t working.