SEND Training Autumn 2026: What Schools Need to Know

The national SEND training programme did not arrive as one finished course catalogue on 1 September. Schools have useful resources available now, more in-house materials were planned for the autumn, and the wider free courses for teachers and leaders are planned for autumn 2027.

That distinction matters. A school waiting for the whole programme may lose a year. A school treating a single INSET session as completion will not get much further either.

Key points: The national SEND training programme is not a single launch. Existing DfE-funded resources are available now, Whole School SEND lists its free neurodiversity train-the-trainer packages for October 2026, and wider teacher and leader courses are planned for autumn 2027. Schools should use this term to set priorities, apply learning and check its effect.

What can schools use in autumn 2026?

The Department for Education announced more than £200 million for a national SEND and inclusion training programme in January 2026. Its announcement covered free courses, in-house training materials, support for teaching assistants and early years CPD.

The autumn is the beginning of that package, not the finish line.

A later DfE procurement notice separates the timetable into different parts:

materials for school and further education in-house professional development were planned to launch from September 2026
early years course delivery was expected to begin in April 2027
courses for school and further education teachers and leaders were planned for autumn 2027
course delivery for school teaching assistants and further education support staff was also planned for autumn 2027

The notice is a planning document. Its dates are planned delivery dates, not a guarantee that every resource will appear at once.

There is something concrete for schools to act on now. Whole School SEND currently lists free, DfE-funded neurodiversity train-the-trainer packages for primary, secondary and further education settings for October 2026, with pre-registration open. Existing Universal SEND Services online units, events and toolkits are already available.

Is SEND training mandatory now?

Do not turn a reform proposal into a current statutory claim.

The government's SEND reform consultation proposes a future SEND Code expectation that settings ensure staff receive SEND and inclusion training and signpost government-funded provision. It says staff will benefit from the national programme by the end of this parliament.

The current statutory reference remains the 2015 SEND Code of Practice. The proposed wording has not quietly replaced it.

Schools still have strong reasons to act. The current Code makes class and subject teachers responsible and accountable for the progress and development of pupils in their classes, including where teaching assistants or specialist staff provide support. Staff cannot carry that responsibility on awareness alone. They need enough knowledge to adapt teaching, use the pupil's current support information and raise concerns when provision is not working.

What SEND training can schools use now?

Start with the classroom problem, then choose the resource. Do not begin with a course catalogue and hope staff find a use for it.

The DfE's RISE support for inclusive mainstream education page points schools to:

Universal SEND Services CPD units, events and toolkits
Inclusion in Practice research and school case studies
free introductory assistive technology resources

The Education Endowment Foundation's mainstream SEND guidance can help leaders choose a focus. It covers the school environment, understanding pupils' needs, teaching, interventions and use of teaching assistants.

A school does not need to tackle all of that in one term. Choose one problem staff can see and leaders can review. Examples include:

pupils cannot start independent work without repeated adult prompting
adjustments vary sharply between subjects
staff know a diagnosis but not the strategies in the current support plan
nobody checks whether practice changes after training

How should leaders plan SEND CPD this term?

Use a short sequence that leaves room for practice and review.

1. Define the pupil problem

Write one sentence about what staff or pupils experience. "Improve autism awareness" is too broad. "Reduce missed task instructions during the move to independent work" gives the training somewhere to land.

2. Choose the staff group

Make follow-up role and phase specific. A science department, reception team and lunchtime staff may need different examples of the same principle.

3. Name the change in practice

Record what staff will try: perhaps a visual instruction sequence, a planned check for understanding or clearer use of assistive technology.

4. Update current pupil support information

If training changes an agreed adjustment or strategy, update the current support record rather than leaving the decision in slides. Staff should see which pupils it affects, what to do and when it will be reviewed. A shared document workflow stops the change depending on one person replacing several copies.

5. Review evidence, not attendance

Attendance tells you who was in the room. It does not tell you whether practice changed.

Set a review point four to six weeks later. Ask staff what they used, sample current plans and gather proportionate pupil evidence. Record whether the strategy helped, needed adapting or was not used consistently.

What should a SEND training impact record contain?

Keep the record short enough to maintain. For each training focus, record:

the classroom problem or inconsistency being addressed
the staff teams or roles involved
the resource, trainer or programme used, with the date
the practice change staff agreed to try
which support plans, passports or provision records need updating
the person checking implementation
the review date
a proportionate sample of work, observation, pupil feedback or review notes
the decision to continue, adapt, stop or seek specialist advice

Use it as a control record connecting professional development to the school's existing improvement work and pupil-level review cycle.

The DfE's standard for teachers' professional development says effective development should focus on pupil outcomes, use evidence and expertise, include collaboration, continue over time and be prioritised by leadership.

Ofsted's independent review of teacher professional development found that teachers wanted more SEND training, but only around two fifths of surveyed teachers considered their recent professional development relevant, sufficient and high quality. They also wanted time for follow-up and embedding.

That is the trap to avoid. A new national offer may improve access to resources, but schools still have to create the conditions for staff to use them.

Where does MeritDocs fit?

Training should change the support pupils receive. That depends on the working SEND record being current.

MeritDocs keeps SEND documents searchable and auditable, with review dates, versions and export available. After CPD, the SENCO can update the relevant plan or pupil passport, keep the previous version and make the current position easier to find.

It also gives leaders a cleaner review question: did the agreed change reach the pupil's live record, and was it reviewed when promised?

Frequently asked questions

Are all national SEND training courses available from September 2026?

No. Existing DfE-funded resources are available now, and new in-house materials are starting to appear. The DfE's planning notice said the wider courses for school teachers, leaders and teaching assistants were planned for autumn 2027.

Does every teacher have a new statutory training duty from September 2026?

The government has proposed a new expectation for settings through a future SEND Code of Practice. Schools should not describe that proposal as though it has already replaced the current 2015 Code.

What should a school do before the full course rollout?

Choose a specific classroom problem, use current free resources, agree one practice change, update relevant pupil support information and review the effect after four to six weeks.

The decision for this term

Do not wait until autumn 2027, and do not pretend the entire national offer is already live. Use what is available, begin with one visible barrier and build in follow-up before the training happens.

MeritDocs supports the part that usually gets lost after the session: carrying an agreed change into the current SEND record, keeping the review date visible and preserving a dependable history of what the school decided.

Sources and methodology

This article was checked on 1 October 2026 against the DfE programme announcement, reform consultation, procurement timetable, current SEND Code, RISE resources, Whole School SEND pages, the DfE professional development standard, Ofsted's review and EEF guidance. Planned dates and consultation proposals are kept separate from current duties.

SEND training in autumn 2026: what schools can use now and what waits until 2027