Psychology & Inclusion Briefing: SEND, Mental Health and Systems Change
- Dr Shungu Hilda M’gadzah
- Jul 25
- 4 min read
News, research and developments shaping people, practice and systems.
Welcome to the Psychology & Inclusion Briefing from Inclusion Psychologists.
This briefing brings together developments across educational psychology, SEND, mental health, safeguarding, inclusion and systems change - with a focus on what they may mean for professional practice.
THE BRIEFING #001
SEND reform turns attention to education outside school
The Department for Education is currently consulting on how England should strengthen arrangements for children and young people receiving Education Otherwise Than at School (EOTAS), health-related alternative provision and education through accredited online providers.
The consultation, which opened on 10 July and closes on 18 September 2026, asks how support can be improved, responsibilities clarified, provision quality-assured and outcomes strengthened, including progression and, where appropriate, reintegration.
This matters because the question is not simply where a child receives education.
We also need to understand why a child became unable to access conventional schooling, whether the alternative genuinely reflects their needs and preferences, and whether barriers within the original environment remain unchanged.
For educational psychologists and SEND professionals, this reinforces the importance of formulation rather than assuming that placement alone explains either the problem or the solution.
Mental health is increasingly being treated as a whole-system issue
The Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health's State of Child Health 2026 continues to highlight concerns about children and young people's mental health and the difficulty of tracking trends consistently across the UK because of limitations in routine standardised data.
The Government has also acknowledged rising demand, long waits and particular pressures affecting children with neurodevelopmental and SEND needs. Its developing Mental Health Strategy is intended to bring together health, education, local government, workplaces and the voluntary sector, with greater emphasis on prevention and earlier intervention.
Meanwhile, nearly six million children and young people can now access Mental Health Support Teams through schools and colleges in England, according to government figures published in June.
The direction is important.
Mental health cannot be separated neatly from housing, poverty, relationships, education, belonging, community and access to services.
The challenge will be ensuring that whole-system language produces whole-system practice.
Safeguarding guidance places greater emphasis on mental health and changing needs
The 2026 edition of Keeping Children Safe in Education has now been published ahead of coming into force on 1 September.
Changes include updated guidance concerning children requiring mental-health support, young carers, safeguarding requirements on school premises, safer recruitment and other areas of child protection.
For schools, this is another reminder that behaviour, attendance, emotional wellbeing and safeguarding cannot always be understood as separate domains.
What appears initially as disengagement or challenging behaviour may require a much broader understanding of what is happening around - and to — the child.
Physical environments are becoming an inclusion issue too
Recent discussion about rising temperatures in UK schools and workplaces has highlighted how poorly adapted environments can affect concentration, safety, learning and productivity.
Suggested responses include greater flexibility, hydration, changes to working patterns and better-designed buildings and learning environments.
There is a wider inclusion principle here.
We frequently ask:
How can this person cope better with this environment?
A systems perspective introduces another question:
How should the environment change so that more people can function well within it?
WHY THIS PSYCHOLOGY AND INCLUSION BRIEFING MATTERS FOR PRACTICE
Across these developments, a common shift is visible.
We are moving — albeit unevenly — from locating difficulties primarily within individuals towards recognising the interaction between people and systems.
A child unable to attend school may not simply have an attendance problem.
A pupil experiencing distress may not simply need greater resilience.
A neurodivergent learner may not simply need to adapt more successfully.
And a professional struggling within an environment may not necessarily be the part of the system that requires fixing.
For psychologists, educators and leaders, the practical task is therefore not simply to identify need.
It is to understand the relationship between need, environment, experience, barriers and systems.
THROUGH THE SSF LENS
One question runs through today's briefing:
When someone cannot function within a system, which do we examine first — the person or the system?
At the negative end of the Six Stages Framework continuum, difference can quickly become individualised: the child is difficult, the parent is demanding, the employee is not resilient enough.
Movement towards the positive axis introduces curiosity.
At +3 and +4, we begin examining interaction, context and lived experience.
At +5 and +6, the question changes again: rather than continually helping individuals survive poorly fitting systems, how might we redesign the system itself?
The Cave of Symptoms is particularly relevant.
If we focus only on what we can immediately see — absence, anxiety, disengagement, distress or behaviour — we may miss the conditions producing it.
QUESTION FOR PRACTICE
When someone is struggling within a system you work in, how often does the conversation begin with:
“What is wrong with them?”
rather than:
“What might be happening between this person and this environment?”
Sometimes the most important change in practice begins with changing the question.
Better systems. Better outcomes. Better together.
Inclusion Psychologists | Psychology • Inclusion • Systems Change
Internal links
Inclusion Psychologists – Educational Psychology Services
SEND / Educational Psychology Assessments
The most direct current IPL page I can find is the booking/services page, which includes Psychological Educational Assessments and EHCP/SEND-related assessment options:
Six Stages Framework
External links
Use authoritative original sources rather than lots of secondary commentary.
For #001 I would prioritise:
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