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Children Unsuitable for Education in School
The Mental Health Act 1959, by amending Section 57 of the
Education Act 1944, introduced certain changes in the law relating to
children suffering from a disability of mind which makes them
unsuitable for education at school. These changes became operative
on the 1st November 1960, and their effect broadly was to extend the
rights of parents and to simplify administrative procedure.
Under the new provisions, children are no longer reported as
'ineducable' but are recorded as 'unsuitable for education in school'.
The object of this change was to implement a recommendation of the
Royal Commission on the Law relating to Mental Illness and Mental
Deficiency that children should not be declared 'ineducable', and that
severely sub-normal children who cannot profit by education at an
ordinary or special school should be recommended for training in
training centres provided by local health authorities, or in hospital.
The Minister has stressed that the small number of children who,
although capable of profiting from education, are not satisfactorily
placed in an ordinary or special school, may well be provided with
education under powers conferred by Section 56 of the Education Act,
either at home or in hospital.
A main object of the legislation was to ensure that parents
are kept fully informed of the significance of each stage of the
procedure and of their own rights. To this end, the letter sent to
parents by the local education authority informing them that they will
be required to present their child for examination includes a statement
of the duties and functions of the local education and health authorities
relating to their child's care, couched in friendly and non-legal
language. In this way unnecessary distress to parents may well be
avoided.
When a child has been recorded as unsuitable for education in
school, the letter sent by the local education authority to the parents
informing them of this now has to include a statement of the type of
provision which is likely to be made for their child's care. In
order that this may be done, the medical officer who has carried out
the statutory examination consults the senior medical officer for
Mental Health, and their recommendation for the child's placement is
included in the borough school medical officer's report to the local
education authority for submission to the appropriate committee.
When the local education authority has decided to record a
child as being unsuitable for education in school, the parents have a
right of appeal to the Minister against the authority's decision.
The revised provisions also give to parents a new right to
request a review by the education authority of their child's case at
any time after twelve months and this right may be exercised annually
thereafter. Should the parents still reject the decision of the
authority, the Minister acts as the final arbiter.
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